Why Yankees didnt sign Willy Adames despite…
There was a time final offseason when it appeared Willy Adames may finish up enjoying full time in The Bronx.
The Yankees had a need within the infield and Adames was close to — or maybe on the prime — of their checklist.
The mutual curiosity from participant and group led to a Zoom call which the shortstop — who finally signed with the Giants — referred to as “amazing.”
“I knew it was a possibility for me to play here,’’ Adames told The Post following the Giants’ win over the Yankees in the series opener Friday night at the Stadium. “We had a conversation and it was amazing.”
Adames, who grew up a large fan of Derek Jeter and wears No. 2 in his honor, was impressed by the Yankees’ gross sales pitch.
“It was really good and interesting,’’ Adames said of the meeting. “It was very different from everybody else. It was more about me the person than about my stats. I really liked that.”
Aaron Boone was on that call and was equally impressed with Adames.
“We’re a big fan of that player and getting to talk to him,’’ Boone said Saturday before the Yankees’ 8-4 win. “He’s definitely a guy we were very interested in and really liked.”
The difficulty, although, was that Adames, who went 2-for-5 on Saturday, was intent on getting his free agent deal performed earlier than Christmas and on the time of their assembly, the Yankees had been nonetheless concerned within the Juan Soto sweepstakes, which they ended up dropping to the Mets.
They weren’t prepared to pay Adames with the chance of re-signing Soto nonetheless on the market.
Willy Adames rips a double during the ninth inning of the Yankees’ 8-4 win over the Giants on April 12, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES through Reuters Connect
“We were going through the Soto stuff and weren’t able to commit to him, one way or the other,” Boone stated. “He went off the board pretty quick there.”
The 29-year-old agreed to a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Giants on Dec. 7, simply days earlier than Soto received his 15-year, $765 million contract from the Mets.
“The timeline didn’t work out for them to convey me to New York,’’ Adames stated.
Willy Adames throws to first for an out during the Yankees’ win over the Giants. Tom Horak-Imagn Images
Asked why he was so insistent on discovering a new home early in free company, Adames stated, “I wanted to do it before Christmas and not wait until January, with not knowing where I was gonna go or who my teammates were gonna be. My thing was to settle early so I could start communicating and building chemistry with my teammates and I’m happy I did.”
Still, previous to singing with San Francisco after 4 years with Tampa Bay and one other 4 with Milwaukee, Adames stated there was a critical pull to go to the Yankees.
“Who doesn’t want to play for the same team your idol played for?” Adames stated. “The same city, the same position. It would have been great. But I’m very happy with where I am right now.”
After Adames signed with the Giants and Soto with the Mets, the Yankees pivoted to pitching, signing Max Fried to a seven-year, $218 million deal, the biggest contract ever given to a left-handed starter.
Fried grew to become one of the primary items of the new-look Yankees, who appeared to make up for no less than some of Soto’s offense by trading for Cody Bellinger and bringing in free agent first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
Fried has been the lone optimistic for a rotation that’s struggled with out ace Gerrit Cole and, whereas Goldschmidt has gotten off to a good begin after a disappointing finish to his time in St. Louis final yr, Bellinger has been up and down within the first two weeks of the season.
And they didn’t add one other infielder, leaving Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza to separate time at third, with DJ LeMahieu set to start a rehab task quickly after being sidelined since early in spring coaching with a strained calf.
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