Willy Adames is drawing “very broad” curiosity in free company, with MLB Community’s Jon Morosi (X hyperlink) naming the Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, and Pink Sox as golf equipment trying on the All-Star infielder. The Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees are additionally talked about in a considerably extra speculative vogue, beneath the final premise that groups with infield wants — slightly than particular shortstop wants — have Adames on their radar.
Studies surfaced a few weeks in the past that Adames was open to transferring off shortstop if the scenario warranted, thus additional opening up his market of potential suitors. Taking a look at Morosi’s record, the Braves would seemingly be the one one of many 4 golf equipment that will be taking a look at Adames as a shortstop, since Atlanta has a transparent want on the place.
Orlando Arcia struggled via a really tough 12 months on the plate in 2024, and changing Arcia with Adames at shortstop would offer an enormous improve to the Braves’ lineup. Signing Adames would characterize a brand new frontier for Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, as Marcell Ozuna’s four-year, $65MM deal from the 2020-21 offseason is the biggest free agent contract Anthopoulos has handed out over his seven-plus years operating the Braves’ entrance workplace.
Adames’ anticipated contract would greater than double Ozuna’s deal. MLBTR predicted a six-year, $160MM contract for Adames. Including someplace within the vary of $26.6MM in common annual worth onto the Braves’ books would proceed to spice up a payroll that has loads of long-term commitments in place, although Ozuna and Raisel Iglesias are each free brokers after the 2025 season, and technically Chris Sale might be as effectively if Atlanta doesn’t train a membership choice on his providers for 2026.
Signing with Boston would open up a number of defensive potentialities for Adames. Trevor Story is the incumbent shortstop and nonetheless a wonderful defender, even when accidents have restricted Story’s offense and taking part in time altogether over his three seasons with the Pink Sox. Story continues to be owed $77.5MM via the 2027 season, and whereas he can choose out of his contract after the 2025 marketing campaign, an opt-out doesn’t appear in any respect probably given the veteran infielder’s previous few years.
The Sox used Story at second base in 2022 when Xander Bogaerts was nonetheless on the workforce, so Story may shift over to the keystone once more to accommodate Adames. Or, maybe the only reply is simply to put in Adames because the common second baseman, hopefully lastly ending the revolving door that has been Boston’s second base place lately.
Star prospects Marcelo Meyer and Kristian Campbell may slot into the infield combine as early as 2025 if Campbell isn’t utilized as an outfielder. As soon as the Sox see what they’ve within the children and want to seek out taking part in time, the Pink Sox may them maybe use Adames as a 3rd baseman, bumping Rafael Devers into a primary base or DH function. There are many transferring elements defensively, but Adames would offer a transparent increase to a lineup in sore want of a giant right-handed bat.
Bo Bichette is coming off a depressing 2024 season, but he stays Toronto’s on a regular basis shortstop heading into his remaining 12 months of workforce management. With Bichette within the fold, the Jays may use Adames at second or (extra probably) third base, because the Blue Jays’ collective of in-house younger infielders are nearly all higher suited defensively to the keystone than the new nook.
If Bichette was to depart in free company subsequent winter, Toronto may discover merely transferring Adames again to shortstop, thus addressing a significant place in comparatively simple vogue. Second and third base may then be occupied on a extra everlasting foundation by one of many Blue Jays’ incumbent infielders, relying on which stood out throughout the 2025 season. Once more, the offensive improve is clear, since Adames, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and what the Jays hope shall be a resurgent Bichette type a strong lineup core on paper.
It’s price mentioning that Adames has performed just about his total MLB profession on the shortstop place, and he hasn’t performed wherever else on the diamond since making 10 appearances as a second baseman throughout his 2018 rookie season with the Rays. Shifting to 3rd base would due to this fact characterize a wholly new problem for the 29-year-old, which gives an attention-grabbing backdrop to the Astros’ pursuit.
Since Jeremy Pena and Jose Altuve have the center infield positions coated, Houston would due to this fact be taking a look at Adames as a 3rd baseman if Alex Bregman signed elsewhere. Astros GM Dana Brown has described re-signing Bregman as “our largest precedence,” so whereas Bregman’s departure is much from a foregone conclusion, the Astros absolutely have some backup plans in thoughts if their longtime third baseman did go away.
Changing Bregman with one other high-priced free agent infielder would rely as a little bit of a shock, given how Brown has mentioned his membership “could should get just a little bit inventive” in managing the payroll this winter. The identical applies to the Blue Jays, as Toronto already posted a team-record excessive payroll in 2024 with solely a last-place end within the AL East to indicate for it. The Pink Sox have loads of payroll room open, and whereas the workforce has shied away from main free brokers in the previous couple of years, Boston has already been linked to a variety of high names (Juan Soto, Max Fried, Teoscar Hernandez, Blake Snell), so the Sox appear to be signaling that they’re able to once more store within the high-rent district.
Since Adames is bound to reject the Brewers’ qualifying supply, a brand new workforce would face some kind of penalty for signing him. The Braves and Astros each exceeded the posh tax in 2024, and thus signing Adames or any certified free agent would price the membership $1MM in worldwide bonus pool cash, plus their second- and fifth-highest picks within the 2025 draft. It’s a steep penalty to pay, although the draft hit might be barely lessened within the type of a compensatory choose after the fourth spherical if both the groups’ personal certified free brokers (Houston’s Bregman, Atlanta’s Fried) signed elsewhere.
The Blue Jays (simply barely) and Pink Sox stayed beneath the tax threshold this season, so each must surrender $500K of worldwide bonus pool cash in addition to their second-highest 2025 draft choice. The Sox even have a certified free agent of their very own in Nick Pivetta, and if Pivetta departed, Boston’s compensatory choose may come earlier than the beginning of the third draft spherical.
