The World Series opener puts Milwaukee and Tampa Bay in the spotlight tonight, but it also turns Willy Adames into the most useful case study in the sport.
Adames has already worn both uniforms. He came up with the Rays, got moved to the Brewers, and now sits on the other side of the ledger with the San Francisco Giants - a team that’s coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history. That alone makes the contrast impossible to miss: the Rays and Brewers have been operating with a sharp, calculated edge, while the Giants have been left staring at the bill.
His career path has taken a few turns. Adames first signed as an international free agent with the Detroit Tigers, then went to Tampa Bay in the trade that sent David Price to Detroit.
He debuted with the Rays, grew into a dependable young hitter, and eventually became valuable enough that Tampa Bay turned him into a trade piece again in 2021, sending him to Milwaukee for a package of pitchers. One of those arms was Drew Rasmussen, who is set to start Game 2 for Tampa Bay.
Adames kept producing in Milwaukee and became a favorite there too, thanks in part to his upbeat personality. After the 2024 season, he hit free agency.
The Brewers, who like the Rays rarely hand out major contracts, gave him a qualifying offer they knew he would pass on so they could at least collect draft compensation. Adames then landed a seven-year, $182 million deal with San Francisco.
That’s where the gap between the clubs really shows.
Milwaukee let a good player walk and kept rolling. The Brewers reached the NLCS in 2025 and are now in the World Series in 2026.
Tampa Bay moved Adames in 2021 and still made the playoffs in four of the six seasons since. Meanwhile, the Giants have not reached the postseason since 2021, and now they’re tied to a contract for a shortstop who is declining at the plate and in the field.
He has a no-trade clause, and even without it, there likely wouldn’t be many takers for that deal.
In the end, the Rays and Brewers extracted value and moved on. They got either useful players or draft compensation and avoided overcommitting in free agency. San Francisco did the opposite, and it’s hard not to see the result as a reminder of how far behind the Giants are.
The Adames signing was enough to excite some fans because the Giants had gone so long without landing a major free-agent name. But the warning signs were there from the start: he had never made an All-Star team, and through the 2024 season he carried a .248/.322/.444 career slash line. That kind of deal was always going to be a risky one.
Whether the issue is analytics, or simply Buster Posey being new in his role as president of baseball operations, the message is the same. The Giants have plenty to learn from the Rays and the Brewers.
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Willy Adames Must Fix This One Problem For Giants In 2027
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The numbers behind that change are the kind the Giants will study closely as they map out 2027. Adames chased more pitches outside the strike zone and offered at fewer strikes inside it last season, a combination that can chip away at a hitters overall value even when the power production holds steady. For a lineup that needs more reliable traffic on the bases, the next step is clear enough: improving his plate discipline has to be part of the offensive conversation. [Read more 🡒]