LAS VEGAS — After the season Willy Adames endured in 2026, something had to change.
Just two years into the richest contract in Giants history, the 31-year-old shortstop endured the toughest campaign of his career by nearly every measure.
Speaking one floor above the MGM Sportsbook at the ARIA Resort and Casino as Major League Baseball’s general managers meetings concluded Wednesday, Buster Posey said he isn’t a gambling man.
But if he were, the Giants’ top baseball decision-maker offered, “I’d bet that Willy has a pretty good bounce-back year next year.”
It’s a confident prediction for a player on the wrong side of 30, one hampered by a troublesome back that nagged him all season and ultimately forced the Giants to shut him down in August after the fewest games he had played in a year.
Adames reached several career lows last season, including on-base percentage (.289), OPS (.713) and walk rate (7.3%). The numbers that came closest to career bests offered little encouragement: a 27.5% strikeout rate and 18 errors.
So what explains Posey’s optimism?
“I just think he’s motivated,” Posey said. “I think he was pretty frustrated with how the year went, not only for the team but for himself personally. I think he’s motivated.”
Adames conveyed those sentiments when he met with Posey, manager Tony Vitello and the rest of the Giants’ leadership at season’s end. His representatives at CAA echoed the same message when they met with San Francisco officials this week at the sprawling Strip property.
With $155 million still owed to Adames over the next five years, along with questions about his health and performance, the two sides appear bound to one another.
Even so, The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon reported this week that the Blue Jays had explored the possibility of trading for Adames. The Giants were willing to listen on all of their high-priced position players at the trade deadline, and Posey said that approach hasn’t changed.
“We’ve gotta listen on pretty much anybody,” he said this week.
If Adames returns to a Giants uniform in 2027, a difficult conversation awaits.
Before last season, Adames had missed just three games across the previous two years and hadn’t played fewer than 139 in a season since his midseason rookie debut.
Vitello resisted pulling him from the lineup, even when Adames lost track of the number of outs while chatting with Mookie Betts at second base.
Adames didn’t receive his first day off until the Giants’ 28th game and missed only two of their first 83. When his back flared up in late June, he refused an injured-list stint, occupying a roster spot despite being unable to play.
That approach isn’t sustainable as he heads into his mid-30s. Posey said the Giants will schedule more regular days off for him going forward, whether Adames likes it or not.
“He won’t like it,” Posey said. “But I think we have to do it just to put him in the best spot to be successful. He can be mad at me. If he wants to get mad at me, it’s coming from a good place because we want him to be as productive as possible.”
Posey retired after his age-34 season, but he played long enough to know the aging curve is unforgiving once players pass 30. He had to overhaul his own training regimen, and he’s urging Adames to do the same alongside the Giants’ training staff.
“You can’t just go in and throw around the heaviest weight all the time and expect to keep your mobility the same,” Posey said. “I think there’s an emphasis for him … to really structure his workouts to increase his athletic movements. Maybe think of it — I don’t know this, but the way I’m thinking — is like less bulky muscle mass.”
Posey hopes the revised workouts will improve Adames’ range at shortstop, one dimension of a defensive profile that ranked among the league’s worst. Defensive Runs Saved, Fielding Run Value and Outs Above Average all placed him among the three weakest shortstops in the majors.
For Posey, the goal this offseason is to reverse the fortunes of a team coming off one of the roughest seasons in franchise history. Adames’ objectives aren’t far off.
And for Posey to reach his, he needs his shortstop to reach his as well.