The Best Fits For Willy Adames

MLBTR has taken a look at the markets for Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes and Alex Bregman in a trio of posts for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. We’ll continue that with a look at the likely market for one of the top free agent infielders: Willy Adames.

The longtime Brewers shortstop is among the most potent bats in the game at his position. Adames slugged a career-high 32 home runs in 2024, topping his previous highwater mark of 31 round-trippers, set in 2022. Over the past four seasons, he’s tied with Corey Seager for the MLB lead in shortstop home runs (112). He’s more strikeout-prone than some teams might like, but he’s cut his strikeout rate in four consecutive seasons now, fanning in one-quarter of his plate appearances this past year. That’s still a fair bit, but it’s no longer egregiously north of league average, which sat at 22.6% in 2024.

The Brewers bought low on Adames early in the 2021 season when he was struggling with the Rays, sending a pair of generally unproven relievers to Tampa Bay: J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen. It worked out for both parties in the end. Adames became an All-Star shortstop, and both pitchers became key parts of Tampa Bay’s staff — Rasmussen in particular. He’s rattled off four straight seasons with a sub-3.00 ERA, much of it out of the rotation.

Adames hit .244/.323/.457 in parts of four seasons in Milwaukee. That overall line is dragged down by a pedestrian 2023 season, but Adames has been at least 9% better than average at the plate in four of the past five years, by measure of wRC+ (and at least 19% better in three of the past five). He’s typically graded out as a plus defender, though his defensive metrics took an unexpected dip last year — due largely to an uncharacteristically error-prone stretch in July where he made eight miscues in just three weeks.

Teams will likely still view Adames as a player with strong defensive tools, and he’s willing to move to another position — third base or second base — if the right opportunity presents itself. Adames made the no-brainer decision to reject a qualifying offer from Milwaukee. He’s surely kept a watchful eye as fellow shortstops Trevor Story ($140MM), Javier Baez ($140MM) and Dansby Swanson ($177MM) all cashed in on major free-agent deals heading into their own age-29 seasons. Adames, whose gregarious personality and reputation as a clubhouse leader only further enhance his appeal to clubs, arguably has as much or even more earning power than any of that bunch.

Let’s take a look at which teams could be involved.

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