Chapman’s bet on self yields $151M Giants deal
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
Third baseman Matt Chapman and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a six-year, $151 million contract extension late Wednesday, keeping the veteran from opting out of his current deal to reach free agency.
The deal, which starts in 2025 and replaces the last two years of a three-year, $54 million contract he signed earlier this year, includes no deferred money and a full no-trade clause, sources told ESPN. The deal will expire in 2030, when Chapman will be 37.
Chapman, 31, has been one of the most productive players in baseball this season, combining a powerful bat with the best third-base defense in the major leagues. And less than a year after his market in free agency cratered, Chapman parlayed his strong season into a significant payday — and guaranteed himself more than $170 million between this season and the end of the extension.
It’s a stunning turnabout from the winter, when Chapman’s free agency dragged and landed him in San Francisco. All three years of his contract included opt-outs at the end, and Chapman went into spring training saying he wanted to bet on himself rather than take a lesser long-term deal.
The bet paid off.
“This offseason was a little strange with the free-agent market, but I was willing to bet on myself,” Chapman said during a news conference Thursday. “I believed in myself. I believed that the Giants would see my value as the season went on and what I bring every single day.”
Chapman was scratched from the starting lineup Wednesday, missing just his fourth game this season to work on finalizing the contract.
“Obviously, it was pretty important to get this thing done,” Chapman said. “We got it done, and now chances are I’m not going to be watching very much.”
Chapman was back in the lineup on Thursday, batting cleanup against Arizona. Giants manager Bob Melvin, who also managed Chapman in Oakland, said that the 31-year-old has become a clubhouse leader.
“We have some younger guys here that are learning their way and developing right now, and they watch the way he plays the game,” Melvin said. “There’s an expectation of how it needs to be played and he’s setting the example of that and guys have to fall in line.”
With a .247/.333/.445 line, Chapman has an adjust OPS 21% better than league average. His 22 home runs and 56 extra-base hits lead the Giants. And his glove, golden four times already, could be platinum-worthy this season.
All of it put him near the top of wins above replacement leaderboards throughout the game. His 6.0 Baseball-Reference WAR are the ninth most in baseball. At FanGraphs, it’s 4.5 WAR, 13th among position players. It’s reminiscent of the seasons that gave Chapman his first two Gold Gloves and his only All-Star appearance.
When he arrived in Oakland in 2017, Chapman had showcased power in the minor leagues that later would put him among the game’s exit-velocity giants. Chapman’s ability to hit the ball extremely hard — he’s 98th percentile in bat speed and 96th in average exit velocity — has persisted, and it gave the Giants the sort of confidence to pay him late into his 30s.
It was also a deal of necessity. At 68-72, the Giants are again one of baseball’s most disappointing teams. San Francisco has settled around .500 each of the past three seasons after a 107-win campaign in 2021, and it has left fans disenchanted and loud about potential changes inside the organization.
With president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi negotiating the contract with Chapman’s agent, Scott Boras, he doubled down on one of the successes of his winter. Another, left-hander Blake Snell, is likewise a Boras client expected to opt out of his deal and sign for a significantly larger number than the $60 million San Francisco guaranteed him for two years over the winter.
“The game rewards players like this,” Boras said.
Zaidi said conversations with Chapman began two-to-three weeks ago.
“We’re a team that’s trying to compete every year,” Zaidi said. “When we have an opportunity to get a great player who’s willing to bet on himself, that’s always an attractive proposition to us. And that’s what Matt did. He bet on himself and he got a very deserving reward today.”
Zaidi did not engage Thursday when asked about questions surrounding his future with the Giants.
Chapman joins a core that now includes right-hander Logan Webb (signed through 2028), center fielder Jung Hoo Lee (2029) and a cadre of young players who have shown flashes of excellence at points throughout the season: center fielder Heliot Ramos, catcher Patrick Bailey, shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald and left-hander Kyle Harrison.
A California native, Chapman said he feels comfortable in the Bay Area. He batted back concerns that San Francisco is not an attractive place for free agents, sharing other players have reached out about joining the Giants after news of his new deal.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a hard sell,” Chapman said. “This organization is amazing. They do everything they can for the players. We have a lot of good players. I think that we’re going to continue to build here. I think that people will see that from the outside and I don’t see that ever being an issue.”
Now that Chapman is off the market, a free agent class not teeming with high-end offensive options thins out even more. New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto is the prize of the group, and after Chapman’s signing, third base-hungry teams will turn their attention toward another Boras client, Alex Bregman. Teams that could be in the market for a third baseman include Bregman’s current team, Houston, as well as the New York Mets (if Pete Alonso leaves and Mark Vientos moves to first), the Yankees, Seattle and Toronto.
Other top free agent bats include Alonso, Milwaukee shortstop Willy Adames, Baltimore outfielder Anthony Santander, Arizona first baseman Christian Walker and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
Wake Forest and Oregon State announced a home-and-home series Wednesday that will see the Demon Deacons head to Corvallis in 2025 and the Beavers make the return trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 2029.
For Wake Forest, the 2025 game will replace a scheduled road trip to Ole Miss, which has been canceled by the Demon Deacons, a move that generated criticism from Rebels coach Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss beat Wake Forest 40-6 in Winston-Salem on Saturday. After the game, Kiffin criticized Wake Forest athletic director John Currie for canceling the return trip, saying that violated “an unwritten rule.”
A source told ESPN that Wake Forest had been working with Ole Miss for the past several years to move the return trip but was unable to reach an agreement.
The home-and-home with Oregon State will be more financially lucrative for Wake Forest and helps fill a need on the Beavers’ schedule created when the Pac-12 fell apart with 10 schools departing this summer.
“We are committed to making decisions that best serve our program and our student-athletes, and that includes bringing national games to Winston-Salem,” Currie said in a statement released by the school. “We have a high degree of respect for Ole Miss and their fans, and we congratulate them on their victory last weekend in sold-out Allegacy Stadium. But given the ongoing financial pressures of the new era of college athletics and our priority on continuing to grow resources to benefit our student-athletes, it was the right business decision to secure this two-game home-and-home series with Oregon State, and cancel the planned game in Oxford next year.”
Ole Miss suggested Wake Forest would pay a $1 million buyout to cancel the 2025 trip to Oxford, although sources at Wake Forest said that number was inflated. Wake Forest said in its statement that it honored the terms of the original contract with the Rebels, which dates back to 2014.
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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
USC landed a key commitment Wednesday when four-star wide receiver Jerome Myles, the No. 26 prospect in the 2025 ESPN 300, committed to the Trojans, continuing a hot late-summer recruiting run for Lincoln Riley & Co.
Myles, who decommitted from Ole Miss in June, is ESPN’s fifth-ranked wide receiver in 2025 and stood as the nation’s top uncommitted pass catcher prior to his commitment. The No. 1 prospect in the state of Utah this cycle, Myles picked the Trojans over Texas A&M and Utah, and he now lands as the second-ranked member of USC’s 2025 class, trailing only five-star quarterback Julian Lewis (No. 2 in the 2025 ESPN 300).
Myles, who felt home ties to Utah and visited Texas A&M in Week 1, told ESPN his recruitment swung on the plan Riley and his staff presented during Myles’ Week 2 visit to USC.
“USC just blew everybody out of the water,” Myles said. “They produce the most NFL draft picks. And the wide receiver development is crazy. And if I don’t make it in football out there, I’ll make it some way in life. They’re not all about just the football part. I like that.”
Myles initially committed to Ole Miss in the spring before pulling his pledge from the Rebels and reopening his commitment. His senior campaign at Utah’s Corner Canyon High School ended on Aug. 30 when Myles suffered a season-ending ACL injury, prompting the 6-foot-3, 220-pound prospect to push up his originally scheduled Oct. 30 commitment ceremony. With Myles off the board, four-star pass catcher Jaden Nickens (No. 162 in the ESPN 300) remains as the last uncommitted player among ESPN’s top-30 wide receivers in 2025.
Myles’ pledge comes 10 days after USC secured top inside linebacker prospect Ty Jackson (No. 44 in the ESPN 300), who visited the Trojans on the same weekend as Myles. USC has now added four top-100 pledges since July 30 with Myles and Jackson following Georgia outside linebacker flip Jadon Perlotte (No. 84 in the ESPN 300) and UCF safety flip Kendarius Reddick (No. 89)
USC currently holds the No. 16 recruiting spot in 2025, per ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle.
Myles took official visits to Utah and Texas A&M prior to pulling his commitment from Ole Miss in June. Last month, he told ESPN that USC, Texas, A&M, Utah, Georgia and Ohio State had made the cut among the finalists in his recruitment entering his senior season.
Myles’ connection with Texas A&M dipped after he visited College Station with Corner Canyon teammate and 2026 quarterback prospect Helaman Casuga during the Aggies’ 23-13 loss to Notre Dame on the opening weekend of the regular season. At USC a week later, Myles heard everything he needed from a coaching staff that made Myles a priority after offering him in July.
“I just wanted to learn more about their history and what they have in store for me,” Myles said. “When I went out there, they definitely impressed me.”
In Myles, USC has a speedy, deep-threat receiver to pair with Lewis in the 2025 class. Myles is a state champion sprinter in the 100- and 200-meter events. Across his sophomore and junior seasons at Corner Canyon, Myles totaled 53 catches for 1,185 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Myles is now the ninth ESPN 300 commit in USC’s 2025 class. The 11th-ranked Trojans visit No. 18 Michigan at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Week 4.
BALTIMORE — Craig Kimbrel‘s time with the Orioles could be coming to an end after the struggling team designated its former closer for assignment Wednesday following the latest in a series of rough outings.
Kimbrel gave up six runs on three hits in ⅔ of an inning of relief in Baltimore’s 10-0 home loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. Kimbrel has a 13.94 ERA in his past 11 appearances.
This season, his first with Baltimore, Kimbrel has a 5.33 ERA with six blown saves. Signed for $13 million, Kimbrel lost his job as closer in May.
The Orioles have lost eight of 11 games to fall four games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East.
“The mojo that we’ve had has just drifted away from us the last few months,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said Tuesday. “There are reasons for it that are obvious, but a lot of it is we’ve got people here that are experiencing a downturn — whether it’s themselves or the team.”
In a corresponding roster move, they recalled right-hander Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk.
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