Because $150 million was not enough money the Giants signed third baseman Matt Chapman to a $151 million, six-year contract extension. The four-time gold-glover is having a strong season with a 6.0 bWAR that leads the Giants and ranks eighth in MLB. That stat ties him with Arizona’s Ketel Marte, and his 121 OPS+ is fourth among third basemen, behind Boston’s Rafael Devers (146), Cleveland’s José RamÃrez (136) and Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm (123), entering play Wednesday. Now, I am not a believer in bWAR but my duties as a modern day baseball blogger require me to mention this statistic.
Chapman is a great third baseman. He makes plays that few, if any other players make on the hot corner and I can remember two games in particular where he made plays to save leads and close out a win for the Giants. Chapman also has power to all fields and appears to be a leader and a true professional in the clubhouse. These are all wonderful things and anyway you slice it, Chapman is having a solid season for the Giants this year. The deal is also an admission that Casey Schmitt is not part of the future plans for the Giants as a starter at third baseman. It appears Schmitt will at best play an infield utility role.
The length of the contract is probably longer than I would have liked. Chapman is 31 and the contract runs through his age 36 season. He also leads the Major Leagues in errors by a third baseman with 15. Now, that stat may mean he gets to more balls than others but I have to say it is still quite a few errors. At his best at the plate Chapman is a number 6 or number 5 hitter yet because the Giants are woefully lacking offensively he is forced into the three or four spot and it puts him in a pressure-filled place in the line up. It makes a difference where a batter hits in the line up and Chapman is not quite elite offensively. So, $151 million is a ton of money for this type of player, regardless of his intangibles. I have mixed feelings about the signing.
Discussion about this post