This is the TOUGHEST situation in MLB...

The San Francisco Giants are in the toughest and most confusing situation across Major League Baseball. Buster Posey has some massive decisions to make on three of his most expensive contracts that he went into himself. We're going to break down the current situation surrounding the San Francisco Giants entering the offseason here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host, Michael Monreal, and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We are so, so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now, before we get into today's video, if you haven't yet, go down below, hit that like button and hit that subscribe button. Those are the two easiest ways to help support the channel and really do help us continue to be the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. As a matter of fact, about 75% of you guys watching the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. Completely free, takes just a second of your time, and it would be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. Now, we can get right into today's video. I'm sure all of you can guess what we are talking about today, and that is, of course, the three most expensive contracts on the San Francisco Giants, Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Willie Adamez, and we'll actually mention Jung Hoolien here as well because he's pretty pricey over the next three seasons, and he's almost guaranteed to opt in after the 2027 campaign. So, just as a quick refresher, I do want to go through kind of how the Giants got stuck with these deals. So, earlier this year in June, the Giants season was completely underwater. The Giants gouged the trade market and reports said that San Francisco is open to offers for Devers, Adamez, and Chapman. This is, of course, before Devers went on an extremely significant tear through the last few months of the season. Willie Adamez was not having a good year. Matt Chapman was dealing with some injuries. He was not hitting whatsoever. So, these three deals just looked extremely poor, and I'm sure the Giants were going to pay down some of that money in order to get them off of the roster. Now, go to August 4th, 2026. The deadline passed, and of course, the Giants sold a ton. Elliot Ramos, Eric Miller, Luis Suarez, Caleb Killian, Robbie Ray, Tyler Malley, they sold a lot of significant pieces, but Devers, Adamez, Chapman, they all remained in San Francisco past the deadline. Now, fast forward all the way to September 30th, you know, towards the end of the season, offseason reality has officially set in. Rival executives believe moving the three veterans before a lockout will be extremely, extremely difficult. Now, quickly, I also want to just throw out what type of money is still owed to these three big players. Rafael Devers has north of $200 million, still guaranteed with the San Francisco Giants. Willie Adamez, $130 million guaranteed. Matt Chapman, $100.7 million guaranteed. So, for all three of these guys, it is a hefty, hefty chunk of change, and the biggest thing that we have to kind of talk about now is what Buster Posey decides to do. Obviously, he could, you know, keep them all and hope that they all bounce back from their last years. Of course, we'll talk about Devers, him being the exception, but specifically Willie Adamez, Matt Chapman, he could either keep them, hope that they bounce back to what they did prior to last season, which are, you know, very good, very well above average big leaguers, or sell them low, eat some of that contract, and just get that money completely off your books, and then go build a pitching staff, which we know is exactly what the San Francisco Giants need to do. Now, when talking about Willie Adamez specifically, there's no strengths that stand out in his profile from last year. Sure, he hit 21 home runs when he's healthy, which his power output has always been very good for a shortstop. However, his is much harder to move. That 83 WRC plus is just in MLB's 19th percentile. The strikeout rate fell into the 11th percentile at 30.3 percent, which, of course, we hate seeing those strikeouts wrap rack up. We've seen so many times over the past few years that, you know, good giant centers come up in big situations and just completely strike out, completely whip, and don't get anything across the board. Not to mention, Willie Adamez was an abysmal defender at shortstop this past season. Now, getting into specifically what he's done for the Giants, a 230-289-424 slash line, 21 home runs, just 0.4 wins above replacement in 2026 from the Giants shortstop after posting four to five years in a row of at least three to four wins above replacement. So, it was, by basically every metric, an extremely down year for Willie Adamez. Now, let's get into Matt Chapman specifically. Obviously, Matt Chapman, a very good defender, so his strengths are always going to be war. 2.7 war this year. I know it says hitting in parentheses, but a lot of that value comes from his ability to defend third base at an elite, elite level. Now, weaknesses. WRC plus at 11, a hard hit rate of just 31.4 percent, which, of course, is not a necessarily good rate. You know, Bryce Eldridge is a prospect. He was posting hard hit rates in the 60s, which is, of course, really good, but seeing Matt Chapman post just half of that in a major league season is really frustrating, if we're being completely honest. Now, getting into what Matt Chapman did this past year, it was a 235-324-368 slash line, a 96 WRC plus, 1.3 fangraff wins above replacement, only seven home runs. Now, yes, I know he missed, you know, basically half the year with an injury, an abdominal injury, which obviously was very painful, and it seemed like he'd be dealing with for a pretty extended period of time, but still, these numbers are just not going to cut it. The only positive, besides the defense for Matt Chapman, is the strikeout rate continuing to fall throughout his career. He used to be in the 30s as a young player. Now, he's been in the 23-24 percent range with San Francisco Giants, which is a good thing. Now, I am also going to throw out another bad contract that does get kind of slept on in this entire conversation. Jung-Hoo Lee. Now, this year, Jung-Hoo Lee's owed 23.25 million dollars, and if he opts in after the season, which seems very likely because he has not lived up to the contract, you know, price tag-wise, he's owed over 20 million dollars a year through 28 and 29. So, the Giants are paying a very hefty price for a league average player, you know, we'll get into his numbers, but a guy that just hasn't showcased the superstar ability the Giants thought they were getting when he came over from the KBO. Now, in his two full seasons and some change in Major League Baseball, Jung-Hoo Lee is a 276-320-404 slash line, good for a 102 WRC+. This was last year, of course. Only one win above a placement after posting 2.4 war in his basically rookie year of 2025. He did hit 10 home runs last year, so he did reach that double digit mark and 57 RBIs, but looking across the board, he was basically the same player he was in 2025 outside of war, which a lot of that came from defensive positional adjustment in center field. Of course, he's playing right field this year, so I really, I'm interested to see what the Giants do with Jung-Hoo Lee. I'm actually having an article go out at JustBaseball.com on what the Giants do do with Jung-Hoo Lee because they have all these young guys, he is very expensive, he's not a well above average player, so they are in an interesting situation with Jung-Hoo Lee that I don't really think gets talked about enough in the grand scheme of things. Now, of course, there is one exception for these bad contracts, and that is Rafael Devers. He was quite literally one of the best hitters in baseball from May 1st till the end of the season. Of course, end of the year injured, he's doing all this with an abdominal injury, which is just crazy to think about, but Devers this year, his 525 is in the 99th percentile, his 37 home runs in the 97th percentile, and his 865 OPS was in the 95th percentile of hitters across Major League Baseball. Of course, all of that is extremely impressive. He almost had a 40 home run, 100 RBI season if he would have stayed healthy through those last two weeks, so we really don't have to talk about Rafael Devers because I think it's clear that he is part of the solution here in San Francisco, even if him and Bryce Eldridge play the same exact position. So, you know, going back to this entire conversation, what does Buster Posey do? They are in the most confusing, most interesting situation across Major League Baseball. You have these bad contracts that, look, Buster Posey signed these thinking they were going to be long-term fits for the Giants and lead them to another contention window. Of course, that has not happened, now that some of these contracts look really bad after some very down years in 2026. Now, of course, these guys could bounce back from injury and be four to five to six win players again like they've shown in the past, but they're getting up there in age. They're getting into their mid-30s. I'm not sure how much you can expect that to take place. John Cooley, you can maybe expect a jump because he's getting more comfortable in Major League Baseball, but even that feels like a stretch. Not to mention, the Giants have one of, if not the best farm systems in Major League Baseball, so that means that in, you know, a year to three years, somewhere in that range, all of these prospects are going to make their way to the big leagues and take over some of these positions. You have Joshua Gonzalez in the spot of Willie Adamez. You have Casey Schmidt, who's already on the big league roster, who can play a very, very good third base, who, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a better offensive player than Chapman over the next few seasons. So, there's a lot to talk about here, but I do think Buster Posey is going to have to get extremely creative if he truly thinks the Giants can contend in 2027, like him, like Zach Manassian, like Tony Vitello, all expressed as, you know, their true belief at the post-season press conference. That is going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed, go down in the comment section, let me know your thoughts on this entire conversation. I want to hear your thoughts on what the Giants do on all these contracts. I would love to hear what you guys have to say, and if you enjoyed it, make sure to hit that like button and hit that subscribe button. It's completely free, takes just a second of your time, and it's the easiest ways to help support the channel. As always, thank you so much for watching, and we will see you next time.