After Giants debut, Matt Chapman says ‘just the first step of a long tenure’ in San Francisco

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When the Giants announced their agreement with Matt Chapman, they classified it as a one-year deal. A series of player and team options will determine whether he stays in San Francisco over the ensuing three seasons, or if he returns to the free-agent market.

According to Chapman, whose spring debut was cut short by rain Thursday, that’s all semantics.

“I think this is just the first step of a long tenure with the Giants,” the 30-year-old third baseman said, standing at his locker Friday morning.

Expected back in the lineup Saturday, Chapman’s primary task for the remainder of camp is ensuring he’s properly prepared to take that first step when it arrives at the end of this month, the beginning of the regular season March 27 in San Diego. That date is closer to today than the day position players reported for camp.

Despite the time crunch from holding out halfway into spring training, neither Chapman nor manager Bob Melvin — who knows him well from six seasons together in Oakland — have any concern about his readiness for Opening Day.

“He was going pretty hard at it,” Melvin said of Chapman’s training regimen before finalizing his deal with San Francisco.

Based out of the Phoenix area, the transition to Scottsdale was an easy transition for Chapman. He had been spending full days hitting, taking ground balls and getting into shape at various local facilities, eventually moving to Arizona State’s athletic complex.

“I feel ready to rock,” Chapman said.

One element that can’t be replicated are live game reps, which Chapman got — briefly — for the first time Thursday evening.

Besides a diving stab that came up just short and a strikeout looking, Chapman’s first game of the spring was just about getting acclimated. That includes the uniform, which both he and Melvin saw plenty of from across the Bay and now adorn.

“It’s different looking down at the orange and black, but I love it,” Chapman said. “It feels like not many people return to the A’s. It’s usually a one-stop shop. So to be back in the Bay, it feels right.”

So right, between the manager, the locale and the positional fit, that the marriage had been widely speculated since the beginning of the offseason.

Farhan Zaidi, the president of baseball operations, confirmed the two sides had been in contact since the outset of free agency.

But it took until the third week of spring training before a deal got done, becoming official on Sunday.

If both sides exercise all their options — it’s Chapman’s decision after 2024 and 2025, then a mutual one after 2026 — Chapman would earn $73 million over the next four seasons. That number is considerably lower than the six-year, $125 million offer the Blue Jays reportedly made earlier in the offseason. Chapman also reportedly turned down a 10-year, $150 million extension offer from the A’s after the 2019 season.

“I think between just not having the best year in some people’s eyes – and I played a lot of the season with a banged-up hand — sometimes you’ve just got to prove yourself again,” Chapman said, referring to the sprained middle finger now fully healed.

In 2023, Chapman hit only 17 home runs, his fewest over a full season since he was a rookie in 2017. His OPS+ was only slightly above league average, at 108, the second-lowest mark of his career. In spite of that, and a testament to his defensive value, he was still worth 4.4 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.

But while it was one of his least-productive seasons at the plate, the underlying data wasn’t so different from his offensive peak in Oakland, when he batted .255/.336/.503 and averaged 32 home runs over 162 games from 2017-2020. He hit the ball, on average, harder than 98% of the league. He chased at fewer pitches outside the strike than all but 6% of batters. When he made contact, it was on the barrel 17.1% of the time, again in the 98th percentile leaguewide.

“I felt like some of it was a little unlucky, some of it was I was hitting balls hard but maybe not hitting balls at the right trajectory,” Chapman said. “So I’ve just tried to clean up a few things like that and I feel like I’m primed to have a great year.”

A bounce back season would be a boon for both sides.

The Giants would have a four-time Gold Glover manning the hot corner and a bonafide bat in the middle of their lineup everyday. Chapman would get the chance to re-establish his value on the free-agent market.

“I had to have (the opt outs) if I wasn’t going to get the long-term deal,” Chapman said. “If you’re betting on yourself, you need to give yourself flexibility.”

But exercising that opt out after one season wouldn’t quite meet the definition of a long tenure, now would it?

“The ideal outcome,” Chapman said, “is being a Giant for life.”

That is, at fair market value.

“Exactly,” Chapman grinned. “Exactly.”