Buster Posey gives frank assessment of Willy Adames future as Giants shortstop

LAS VEGAS — Something had to give after the season Willy Adames had in 2026.Only two years into the richest contract ever awarded by the Giants, the 31-year-old shortstop slogged through the worst season of his career by just about any measure.One floor above the MGM Sportsbook at the ARIA Resort and Casino as the MLB general managers meetings wrapped up Wednesday, Buster Posey said he wasn’t a betting man.But if he were, the Giants’ top baseball official said, “I’d bet that Willy has a pretty good bounce-back year next year.”That’s a bold claim about a player on the wrong side of 30 with a bad back that bothered him all season and eventually led to shutting him down in August after the fewest games of his career.Adames set a number of career lows last season: on-base percentage (.289), OPS (.713) and walk rate (7.3%), to name a few.The numbers closest to career highs didn’t tell a more optimistic story: strikeout rate (27.5%), errors (18).So why, then, the sense of optimism from Posey?“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 relayed those feelings when he sat down with Posey, manager Tony Vitello and the rest of the Giants’ top brass at the end of the season.

His agents at CAA reiterated that when they sat down with San Francisco officials this week inside the sprawling property on the Strip.With the money still owed to Adames — $155 million over the next five years — plus the trajectory of his health and play, the two sides would seem to be stuck with each other.However, The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon reported this week that the Blue Jays had bandied about the idea of trying to trade for Adames.The Giants were open for business on all of their big-money position players at the trade deadline, and Posey said their stance is the same now.“We’ve gotta listen on pretty much anybody,” he sa...