By Ken Rosenthal, Andy McCullough, Andrew Baggarly and Grant Brisbee
Third baseman Matt Chapman has agreed to a three-year, $54 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, a league source told The Athletic on Friday. The agreement, first reported by the New York Post, provides for exit options after each of the first two seasons.
Chapman, who turns 31 in April, was one of the best center backs in recent memory. Since his debut in 2017, he has won four American League Gold Glove Awards at third base. In 2018 and 2019, Chapman received the American League's Platinum Glove, awarded annually to the player considered by his peers to be the sport's best outfielder. (In both seasons, Nolan Arenado, Chapman's former high school teammate at El Toro High in Lake Forest, California, was the National League winner.)
Chapman was the eighth-best free agent on The Athletic's Top 40 Big Board and the best third baseman on the market. Before Chapman's winter turned into spring, The Athletic's Tim Britton predicted the third baseman would get a contract worth about five years and $95 million. Chapman previously turned down a 10-year, $150 million extension while still with the Oakland Athletics
He also reportedly turned down a nine-figure extension offered by the Blue Jays.
Scouts remain optimistic about Chapman's reflexes and elite throwing arm. Miami Marlins first baseman Josh Bell trained with Chapman over the winter. Bell once compared Chapman's instincts and quickness in taking his first steps to those of a person raised on another planet: “When you're born in a place with more gravity,” Bell said, “and you're put into a lighter gravity , then everything is easier for you.”
Chapman's defensive abilities have anchored his value while his on-field performance has fluctuated. He wields fearsome power but often has difficulty making contact. He is batting .226 since 2020, although his ability to draw walks and slugs has made him an above-average hitter, with an OPS+ of 109 in those years.
The 2023 season proved emblematic of Chapman's offensive volatility. He was a terror for Toronto in the first month of the season. Chapman hit .384 with an OPS of 1.152 in April.
He hit .205 with an OPS of .659 the rest of the season. While he has reduced his strikeout rate in recent years, his power has also declined. Chapman delivered 17 home runs in 2023, his lowest full-season total of his career.
Matt Chapman spent the first five years of his career with the Oakland A's. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
He has spent his entire career playing for competitors. Chapman was part of the homegrown core that gave the Athletics their last gasp in the late 2010s. Oakland selected him in the first round of the 2014 draft out of Cal State Fullerton.
He reached the majors in 2017. By 2018, he had become a mainstay on a club that won 97 games in consecutive seasons and then won the American League West in 2020. When the A's were demolished after a regression in 2021, Chapman was traded to Toronto.
The Blue Jays reached the postseason in both of Chapman's seasons with the club, but the team was eliminated in the wild card round each year.
Why the Giants signed Chapman
Bob Melvin didn't want the Giants to sign Chapman just because the third baseman was a familiar face from their time together in Oakland. He didn't want San Francisco to sign Chapman because he believes the 30-year-old can challenge his career highs of 36 home runs (in 2019) or 137 OPS+ (in 2018) or will do anything Cleanup hitter should do. Melvin's argument for signing Chapman wasn't his two-time Platinum Glove either.
It was the total package – the stability, the consistency, the day-to-day professionalism – that Melvin valued most as he seeks to create and maintain high standards with the franchise he grew up with.
For signing Chapman, the Giants will forfeit their second pick (51st overall) in the 2024 draft as well as $500,000 from their international bonus pool. If they were to sign Blake Snell, another qualified tender, they would lose their third pick (88th) and another $500,000 from their international bonus pool. —Andrew Baggarly, Giants senior writer
How he fits in San Francisco
In his current form, Chapman doesn't fit perfectly into the Giants' squad. They already addressed the need for a right-handed hitter when they signed DH Jorge Soler. Assuming Chapman is their third baseman, then JD Davis becomes a backup who could go elsewhere in a trade.
However, it's not out of the question that San Francisco could take a look at Chapman at shortstop.
However Chapman and the rest of the infield fit together on Opening Day, the Giants made good on their promise to improve their infield defense and a clear signal was sent when it comes to the question of how much of an impact Melvin will have after signing Personnel changes will have a three-year contract to manage. Melvin wanted his man.
He got his man – and for a guaranteed sum that was a fraction of what Chapman had expected. We'll find out if it was worth the wait. – Baggarly
What Chapman means to the Giants in 2024
There are several ways to think about Chapman. The first is a hitter with a batting line of .226/.322/.420 over the last three seasons. Added to that were two Gold Gloves and an average of 24 home runs in those seasons, but he's hardly a center fielder.
Second, it's a valuable player, period. There are some points to pick from, and his low-contact style won't help San Francisco put more balls in play, but if he had been with the Giants the last three seasons, his 2023 season would have been the second-highest in baseball. References WAR among position players since Farhan Zaidi took over, trailing only Brandon Crawford's MVP-worthy season in 2021.
Since 2021, Chapman would have had three of the top five WARs among position players in San Francisco. He's a brilliant fielder, he's quicker than you think and the power is legitimate.
The Giants can also now clear up their salary by trading Davis, who is still good (and young) enough that another team most likely wouldn't shy away from taking his full salary. This would perhaps leave San Francisco in the Blake Snell market, although as a writer looking for content I hold out hope for Zack Greinke.
One of the most valuable components of the deal is that Chapman's reach will help take some of the pressure off Marco Luciano when he's the starting shortstop. Or if the Giants choose Nick Ahmed, they'll have something of a super infield, which will be more than helpful with sinkerballers Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks already in the rotation and Alex Cobb joining them in some pairings should months.
There is also a possibility that Chapman could play shortstop, although he has played a total of one (1) game there in his major league career. He has the reach and arm for it.
They took their time, but Chapman in San Francisco has been rumored for so long because it always made too much sense. He will play for Melvin again and return to the Bay Area.
With a five-year contract it would have been tricky, but with a three-year contract with player exits? Welcome to the Giants. – Grant Brisbee, Giants editor
Required reading
(Top photo: Jerome Miron / USA TODAY)