Matt Chapman signs a long-term extension with the San Francisco Giants for six years, $151 million. He has been a crucial piece to the Giants. Farhan Zaidi has finally decided to hand out a long-term deal. Chapman is only the second player to receive a six-year contract under the Zaidi regime. The Giants have finally chosen a direction to try and win now.
Matt Chapman Signs Six-Year $151 Million Contract Extension With Giants
This was a huge commitment to make from the Giants. Chapman pairs up with Jung Hoo Lee as the only two Giants to receive a six-year contract from President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi. Chapman’s extension is the largest contract handed out since Buster Posey‘s nine-year extension in 2013. With a lot of doubt surrounding the job security of Zaidi, he was able to secure one of the fan favorites and best players on the team.
The Giants decided to secure this deal early to prevent Chapman from having the chance to opt out this off-season. Both sides wanted this deal to happen as Chapman loves playing in San Francisco for his old manager Bob Melvin. He’s felt rejuvenated playing in the Bay Area after a tough 2023 season in Toronto. Chapman has been able to find himself in the orange and black having another career season. The Giants have been able to bring back that superstar they saw play across the bridge in the Oakland Coliseum.
Chapman has been having an MVP season for San Francisco, accumulating 6.0 wins above replacement. This is the highest total from a Giants player since Brandon Crawford in 2021 at 6.1 wins above replacement. Chapman has hit a team-leading 22 home runs and a .778 OPS. He has been a strong bat to an average lineup, and to lock him down for the next six seasons is huge for the Giants. Chapman is second amongst third basemen in the defensive metric outs above average at seven. He’s on track to win his fifth gold glove at the hot corner.
Zaidi was extremely excited to get this deal done. In his interview with NBC Sports, Zaidi was asked about the long-term goals of the team and he said, “We have some real pieces that we can start planning around and be a little out of this transition phase from veteran players to younger guys. Matt is the perfect veteran leader for the clubhouse.” The Giants have their cornerstone third baseman locked in for the next six years and can look to other areas of the team to improve. Having Chapman be the leading figure for future free agents to come to the Giants.
A lot of confidence has been put into Chapman as a long-term investment that other players want to play with. Chapman in his press conference after signing the extension had this to say about attracting players to San Francisco, “I’ve already had people reach out to me saying that now that I’m here they wanna come here. I don’t think that it’s gonna be a hard sell.” He is now the leading face of this young Giants team and it sounds like other players are interested in joining.
This offseason will be a tough task for the front office as this team is stuck in the middle of being great and being below average. Bringing back Chapman made this offseason just a little bit easier for the Giants. They plan to add to this young team and hunt for a playoff spot. This offseason will be filled with rumors surrounding Blake Snell opting out and whether or not the Giants can sign Juan Soto. But if anything, the Giants proved with the Chapman and Lee deals they are ready to go after the top dogs and pay top dollar to get them in the orange and black.
Main Image: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
