The San Francisco Giants have filled their hole at third base by agreeing to terms with free agent Matt Chapman on a contract worth $54 million over three years, Jeff Passan reports. Chapman will have an opt-out after each of the first two seasons, and the contract will pay him $20, $18 and $16 million, respectively, per Jon Heyman, assuming that Chapman doesn't exercise any of his opt-outs.
Chapman is coming off a 2023 season with the Blue Jays in which he slashed .240/.330/.424 with 17 home runs in 140 games. While overall, he was a solidly above-average hitter for the position, his numbers at the plate declined significantly as the season wore on. In the field, Chapman won the Gold Glove for the fourth time in his career.
CBS Sports recently ranked Chapman as the fourth-best free agent available this offseason. Here's what we wrote at the time:
The reprise of this free agent class is "yes but." It applies to Shohei Ohtani's UCL, Blake Snell's command, Cody Bellinger's ball-tracking data, and so on. In Chapman's case, it applies to his hit tool. He's a brilliant defensive third baseman with elite strength and plate discipline. He's also extremely ineffectual against elevated pitches, resulting in a well-below-average in-zone contact rate. That, plus Chapman's tendency to hit pop-ups, explains why he's so streaky. (To wit, his April OPS this season was nearly higher than the sum of his May and June OPS.) The marketplace is largely without good infielders, so someone will take the plunge and hope that he can deliver a few more years of well-above-average play. There's just more downside risk than his otherwise strong foundational skills would suggest.
Chapman, a one-time All-Star, will be going into his age-31 season in 2024.
