The San Francisco Giants find themselves in another lost season, and Wednesday’s lineup announcement against the Cleveland Guardians offered only modest news amid the wreckage.
Shortstop Willy Adames, sidelined since leaving a game against the Houston Astros on Aug. 12 with a back issue, is back in the starting nine. He will play his usual position and bat third as the Giants try to avoid being swept in the series after an 8-1 loss in the opener.
Adames has appeared in 116 games this year without ever landing on the injured list, a testament to his durability if not his production.
The numbers tell a story of underperformance: a .224 batting average, .285 on-base percentage, and .413 slugging mark for a .697 OPS. He has 19 home runs, 48 RBIs, and 59 runs scored.
Those figures sit well below what the Giants envisioned when they signed him to a seven-year, $182 million contract in December 2024, the largest deal in franchise history at the time.
That contract was meant to stabilize the infield and add middle-of-the-order power after Adames’ strong 2024 campaign with Milwaukee, where he hit 32 home runs. His first year in San Francisco in 2025 showed flashes of that player, with 30 homers and an above-average OPS+.
This season has been a regression. The extra-base pop remains, but the overall offensive output has been league-average at best and frequently worse.
Strikeouts have climbed while walks have dropped, leaving a player earning tens of millions who is not driving the lineup the way a franchise shortstop should.
The Giants as a whole have followed a similar trajectory. Sitting at 51-74 and 24 games out of first in the National League West, they are playing out the string.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey has already confirmed that first-year manager Tony Vitello will return next season, signaling patience with the current regime even as results have disappointed.
Adames’ return at least gives the Giants their regular shortstop back for the remaining weeks. Whether he can recapture the form that justified the big contract remains an open question.
At 30 years old and in the second year of that deal, the organization needs more than durability. It needs the impact bat they paid for. So far in 2026, that version of Adames has been missing.
