Willy Adames Elbow Sprain Likely Ends Giants Shortstop's Season
Adames got a PRP injection and needs 3-4 weeks of rest with 28 games left — a return before Sept. 27 is a long shot.
Sprained UCL, 3-4 weeks rest, likely done for a lost season.
- Sprained UCL in non-throwing left elbow
- PRP injection Thursday, 3-4 weeks rest advised
- 28 games left; season ends Sept. 27 vs Dodgers
- .230/.289/.424, 21 HR, .713 OPS in 121 games
- Owed $31.1M annually starting 2027 through 2031
Note: this is a baseball story and falls outside our NFL and NBA coverage, so treat the fantasy read below as roster housekeeping rather than a graded projection — we have no verified StatSplit line for Adames to lean on. San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames is expected to miss three to four weeks after a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his non-throwing left elbow, an injury that could quietly close the book on his season. He hurt it sliding into home during Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Red Sox.
Adames, 30, took a platelet-rich plasma injection Thursday, and the recommendation afterward was simple: rest the arm for three to four weeks. With the Giants' final game set for Sept. 27 at home against the Dodgers and 28 games left on the schedule, the math is unforgiving.
Manager Tony Vitello didn't sugarcoat it. He said that if you actually honor that timeline and look at the calendar, the best case is Adames pressing back for the final week — and he wasn't convinced that's realistic or even worth debating right now until they see how the rest goes.
A Season Going Nowhere
The Giants aren't chasing October. After a deadline where the front office shed veterans and salary, president of baseball ops Buster Posey framed the rest of the year as an evaluation window — longer runways for younger players, a chance for the staff to learn what they have heading into next season. Adames' absence just accelerates that.
Filling shortstop is awkward because San Francisco doesn't have another true option there. The job falls to some mix of Christian Koss, Osleivis Basabe and Shay Whitcomb, with Koss the likely first look given he's already logged 13 games at short (Whitcomb has two, Basabe one). A DH cameo for Adames was floated and quickly dismissed — Vitello noted other guys need those at-bats, with Bryce Eldridge already in that mix.
The financial backdrop stings: Adames is in year two of a seven-year, $182 million deal, owed $13.1 million this year before the number jumps to $31.1 million annually from 2027 through 2031. This season won't help the optics — he's hitting .230/.289/.424 with 21 homers and a .713 OPS across 121 games.
Fantasy-wise, there's nothing to manage. Drop or bench Adames in any format that's still active; a three-to-four-week rest on a lost team almost certainly means he's done. If you play deep NL-only leagues, Koss is the speculative shortstop pickup worth a flier while the Giants hand out that playing time. Everyone else can move on.
