The San Francisco Giants have seen enough from one member of their 2024 free agent signing class to lock him into a six-year contract extension, according to multiple reports Wednesday night.
Third baseman Matt Chapman, whose contract with the Giants included a player option for the 2025 season, agreed to a new deal that eliminates the final two years of his previous contract and keeps him in San Francisco through the 2030 season. Chapman will make $151 million, an average of a little more than $25.1 million per season, under the reported terms of the new deal.
Jeff Passan of ESPN and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic were first with the news Wednesday.
I few hours ago, I said in jest to a Giants PR official that Chapman had been scratched because he was taking a physical before signing a huge extension. Well, actually… (!!!)
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 5, 2024
Chapman has had a nice bounceback season at the plate in his return to his native Northern California. He’s hitting .247 with a .333 on-base percentage and .445 slugging percentage (.778 OPS) in 136 games for the Giants. His 121 OPS+ is on track to be his highest since 2019, when Chapman made his lone All-Star team.
The Oakland A’s, the team that drafted Chapman in the first round out of Cal State Fullerton years ago, traded the 31-year-old to Toronto prior to the 2022 season. In two years with the Blue Jays, Chapman struggled at the plate relative to years past but was a more than capable defender at third base. He claimed his fourth career Gold Glove Award at the position in 2023.
Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images
However, Chapman’s free agent value took a tumble coming off a season in which he slashed .240/.330/.424 (.755 OPS). His 17 home runs were his lowest in a non-pandemic season since his rookie year of 2017, when Chapman appeared in only 84 games.
As a result, Chapman settled for a three-year, $54 million deal in March that would pay him through the 2026 season if he exercised a player option in his contract each of the next two years. If Chapman did not opt out, he and the Giants had a mutual option for the 2027 season.
Chapman’s agent, Scott Boras, rarely negotiates extensions for clients who have an opportunity to test the open market. Players rarely negotiate long-term extensions in September regardless of who is representing them at the bargaining table.
Clearly, the mutual affinity between Chapman and the Giants was strong enough to carve out an exception.
San Francisco (68-72) lost Wednesday to the Arizona Diamondbacks (79-61), the team directly ahead of them in the NL West standings, to fall further into irrelevancy in the postseason picture.
Whether their 2024 season ends in a few weeks or in more than a month, the Giants did not want to wait to extend their franchise third baseman.