Mets rumors: Signing Willy Adames to play third base seems too familiar in a bad way

A name appearing in plenty of recent New York Mets rumors is Willy Adames. A bit surprising considering he hasn’t played a defensive position other than shortstop aside from 10 games in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays, the plan would be to move him to third base and essentially do what the Mets had intended to with Carlos Correa.

They, of course, backed out of the deal once they got a better look at Correa’s medicals. He has proven to be worth far less than the $300 million he was going to get from the San Francisco Giants and then the Mets. Adames will earn close to half that amount.

Adames was probably not one of the first names many of us expected to appear in early offseason Mets rumors. The more the thought creeps into my brain, the more it feels too much like what the team might have looked like if they kept Javier Baez.

Mets rumors of signing Willy Adames is too 'round peg for a square hole' with hints of Javier Baez in his game

Baez was a necessary trade deadline addition for the Mets in 2021. Francisco Lindor was hurt at the time. He took over shortstop and eventually moved over to second base. Despite his poor relationship with the fans because of the thumbs down fiasco, he produced. Baez hit .299/.371/.515 with 9 home runs in 47 games for the Mets. The Mets only get crushed for the trade because Pete Crow-Armstrong had some really good minor league seasons immediately after. He continues to have promise but has yet to break through.

The career timelines of the two infield sluggers are much different. Baez had several monster years early in his career. He didn’t begin to fade until he joined the Detroit Tigers beginning with his age 29 season. Coincidentally, it’s how old Adames will be for most of the 2025 season.

Different beasts defensively, the tendency to strike out at such an enormous rate made both a turnoff. Adames fanned 173 times in 688 plate appearances last season. He did walk 74 times to help differentiate himself from Baez. The ex-Mets infielder has a combined 75 walks in three seasons with the Tigers (62) and his time with the Mets (13). 

One can accept the increase in strikeouts by Adames because he does walk more than the average player. He also has developed into a good power hitter. It’s still hard to shake the feeling that signing a player to as much money as Adames will get only to have him play a position he has never played in the majors has added risk. 

He’s not far removed from a poor 2023 season either when he batted .217/.310/407. Even in 2022 when at the time he set new career highs in home runs and RBI with 31 and 98, he batted just .238/.298/.458. For all of the praise Adames gets, his career .248/.322/.444 slash line too closely resembles the .251/.293/.437 belonging to Baez. This includes three miserable years in Detroit for Baez. Prior to it, he was batting .264/.307/.477 in his career.

No free agent is perfect. Adames still makes more sense on a team in need of an actual shortstop and not the Mets where if things don’t work out well at a new position they’re in some deep trouble.