The Giants caused a stir overnight when they announced that they had extended the third baseman’s contract Matt ChapmanThe contract guarantees Chapman $151 million over six years, running from 2025 to 2030, with an annual salary of $25 million and a signing bonus of $1 million paid in 2025. According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Chapman’s contract contains a clause that excludes the player from being transferred.

Chapman, 31, signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Giants with opt-out options after each offseason when his market didn’t pan out as expected last winter. In the months since, it’s become clear that the first of those opt-out options would be taken, as the infielder has largely dispelled his doubters with his best season in half a decade. In his first season in the Giants uniform, he’s posted a strong slash line of .247/.343/.445 in 136 games, which translates to a wRC+ of 118. In addition to a strong season at the plate, he’s also put together his most impressive defensive season in years, posting +7 OAA and +13 DRS, his best performance in both metrics since 2021.

With Chapman poised to return to free agency to seek a bigger contract elsewhere, the Giants have now ensured he will remain with the club for the foreseeable future. The third baseman’s deal is expected to keep him through the end of his 37th season in San Francisco and is almost exactly the six-year, $150 million projection we at MLBTR made for Chapman’s contract before the 2023-24 offseason. The contract is representative of the upside potential that players with opt-out contracts have if their first foray into free agency doesn’t go according to plan. Chapman is now expected to end his time with the Giants having pocketed $169 million over seven years. Of course, that required the 31-year-old to not only put together a good season, but also his best overall season since 2019.

By staying in San Francisco long-term, Chapman is ensuring he will spend the majority of his playing career in the Bay Area. The longtime Athletic was selected 25th overall in the 2014 draft by Oakland and made his debut with the club in 2017. He ultimately spent the first five seasons of his career in the A’s uniform, winning three Gold Glove Awards, finishing in the top 10 of AL MVP voting twice and making his first and only All-Star game during that time. However, when the A’s began a complete rebuild after the 2021 season, he was sent to Toronto just before the start of the 2022 season and spent two years in Toronto. Now that Chapman has a long-term deal with the Bay Area’s other MLB team, one of the stars of the Athletics’ last playoff team in Oakland will outlive the team itself in the community as the club is about to relocate after the 2024 season.

More to follow …