Brewers Played Their Cards Right Leading Into Willy Adames's Departure

[Jack Stern]

The Brewers knew this day was coming and made the right decisions as it approached. They and Willy Adames can happily reflect on his time in Milwaukee while productively moving forward.

Image courtesy of © Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Willy Adames era of Brewers baseball is over. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on Saturday afternoon that the veteran shortstop agreed to a seven-year, $182 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, pending a physical.

A four-year partnership that began with Adames’s acquisition from the Tampa Bay Rays in May 2021 is now in the rearview mirror. During that time, he quickly became a leader for the Brewers on and off the field.

Adames immediately brought stability to the shortstop position. He posted a 113 wRC+ and belted 107 home runs, surpassing 30 homers in two seasons. Paired with solid defense in most of those years, Baseball-Reference credited him with 14 wins above replacement as a Brewer.

He also emerged as the most prominent veteran leader in the clubhouse. Several young Brewers players have cited Adames’s mentorship as impactful in their development. He was a leading member of Jackson Chourio’s support group, which helped the 20-year-old rookie break out as one of the club’s best players from June through the rest of the season. Brice Turang credited Adames with helping him become a Platinum Glove Award winner at second base.

His impending departure was a central talking point dating back to last offseason, and it lingered amid another successful regular season for the club. While never uttered publicly in certain terms, the consensus was that Adames would sign a lucrative contract in a larger market upon hitting free agency.

Faced with this looming reality, the Brewers were at a crossroads as Adames entered his final season of club control. They chose the right path.

Pundits speculated that the club would follow its recent precedent of trading players on expiring contracts. In a desire to compete every year, the Brewers flipped Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes to recoup long-term value before they left as free agents.

Counterbuilding moves are all about balance, though. Hader was a one-inning reliever with a potential replacement behind him in Devin Williams. Burnes was a durable starter with elite top-of-the-rotation upside, but pitching development is the Brewers’ specialty. They could keep chugging along without both pitchers, and they did.

The Adames case was different. He was too valuable at a premium position and as a clubhouse leader, and his presence assumed even greater importance as one of the few holdovers after an offseason of upheaval. Trading him would have severely disrupted the competitive vision for 2024. The immediate cost did not outweigh the long-term benefits.

With this in mind, the Brewers retained Adames through his final campaign before free agency. General manager Matt Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio revealed during the season that they rejected several trade offers to do so. He played in a career-high 161 games, hitting .251/.331/.462 (119 wRC+) with 32 home runs, the second most by a primary shortstop in franchise history. Manager Pat Murphy frequently cited him as one of his clubhouse pillars.

That platform showing cemented his eventual departure. Adames was among the few big fish in a lackluster infield free-agent market. Murphy and Attanasio openly admitted multiple times they expected other clubs would promise him more money than the Brewers were willing to devote to one player.

As they did in keeping him through his original years of club control, the Brewers made the right choice in not re-signing Adames to a deal in the neighborhood of the guarantee the Giants gave him.

Red flags in his profile paint Adames as a candidate to age poorly. His alarming defensive dropoff (8 Defensive Runs Saved in 2023 to -16 in 2024) raises questions about how long he’ll remain at shortstop. While he’s walked at a 10.9% clip over the last two seasons, his chase rate is roughly average. As a power hitter with a long and violent swing, his decline could hit harder and faster than others as he loses bat speed with age.

All of this means there’s a risk Adames plays out much of his deal as a third baseman with unremarkable or below-average offense. The Giants are evidently comfortable with assuming that risk, but it would not have been a wise gamble for his now-former team.

The Brewers played their cards right. Knowing his value to the 2024 team, they kept Adames to be integral to another winning season. When he elected free agency, they extended a qualifying offer to ensure a compensation pick after the first round of the 2025 draft. In his four seasons in Milwaukee, the Brewers won 366 games – the fifth-most in baseball – and reached the postseason thrice.

While neither side accomplished the ultimate goal of winning a World Series during that time, both received just about everything else they sought. The Brewers received what will likely go down as Adames’s best on-field seasons amid the most successful run in franchise history, a lasting clubhouse culture he helped build, and an extra top-30 pick in next summer’s draft on his way out. Adames earned his free-agent payday and enjoyed one last ride with an organization he grew to love before inking his new deal.

Was it the storybook ending of Adames winning a championship in Milwaukee? No. But as the book closes on his Brewers tenure, both parties should be pleased with the last four seasons and content with the transition to the next phase of his career.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

I wish Adames the best but no way do I want his profile for seven more seasons.

[biedergb]

Agree. A 4 year deal would have been something you can live with, but he was not going to settle for that, and obviously a team was willing to meet length and salary demands so good for Willy. 
And a top 40 pick to go along with two other picks in the 20s and 30s gives the Brewers key bonus pool money that they can continue to be creative with, and try to maximize the number of higher ceiling prospects.

For all the talk of a downfall last year, particularly after the Burnes trade, it was all for naught. Too bad we couldn’t exorcise the playoff series demons to win a series for the first time since that magical ‘08 run. But I am so much happier as a fan having that type of “losing” streak, then the 1993-2006 losing season record streak, or the 1982 - 2008 playoff drought streaks. It would be fun to see a playoff run again, but so so much better than feeling like all hope is lost during the season year in and year out.

Good luck Willy. Glad you are not in the NL Central. 

[BallFour]

Disappointed the Brewers never won a playoff series with Willy on the team. I am happy he got paid but Brewers fans would turn on him a couple of years into that contract. I am concerned about whether we can replace his presence. I never felt that way after we traded Burnes and Hader. Two guys that probably weren't close to the type of leader Willy was.

Sometimes It feels like with the Brewers I am cheering for an investment portfolio who always is in tune with what is the best for long term sustainability. It takes the human element out of what makes the sport fun. Willy's personality will be missed.