Here are two ways to value Harrison Bader, the 31-year-old outfielder with a high motor who agreed to terms on a two-year, $20.5 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Monday.
Bader was worth 3.9 bWAR last season, which began with the Minnesota Twins and concluded with a flourish in Philadelphia. A chunk of that value was created by a career-best offensive season that included a 124 OPS+, 17 home runs and a reverse split that favored right-handed pitching. Another chunk, which is less prone to fluctuation, was the defensive value he created while ranking in the 92nd percentile in Outs Above Average.
This is where WAR shows its limitations. Because the more complete way to value Bader is to provide a little more context: The Giants aren’t signing him to take over for a replacement-level defender. They’ll count on him to shore up an outfield that might have been the worst defensive unit in the major leagues last season while ranking last in OAA and 28th in Defensive Runs Saved.
Sure, Bader’s value as a hitter is almost certain to be suppressed in San Francisco. He’s been injury-prone and he’s not a perfect fit in a platoon. His 27 percent strikeout rate will be an issue at times. As long as he can stay on the field, though, his glove should be worth its weight in gold in the Giants’ waterfront ballpark — and it should change the outfield dynamic for a team that finally acted to support its stated goals to win with pitching and defense.
The Giants will continue to count on defensive improvement from Heliot Ramos, who was an unfocused mess all last year in left field — a goal that figures to be more attainable now that a premium center fielder will be flanking Ramos to his left. The Giants are also counting on generating more defensive value from Jung Hoo Lee, which will be more realistic with a shift to right field, where his above-average arm has a better chance to make an impact.
The Bader signing also makes the Giants a little less reliant on their other young outfielders, including lefty-hitting Drew Gilbert, who is a defensive dynamo in his own right but must prove he can keep his head above water at the plate. The player most likely pushed off the roster with Monday’s signing would appear to be Luis Matos, who will be out of options this spring and cannot be sent to Triple-A Sacramento before passing through waivers. Jerar Encarnacion also could be lost on a waiver claim if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, although he brings other aspects to the club including an ability to play first base and supply power.
Jung Hoo Lee’s arm strength was in the 91st percentile in 2025, according to Baseball Savant. (Eakin Howard / Imagn Images)
Mostly, though, the Giants needed to create defensive stability in the outfield. And Bader, who won a Gold Glove in 2021, has been worth 77 OAA (67 as a center fielder and 10 as a corner outfielder) over parts of nine seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Twins and Phillies. Since Bader debuted in 2017, only four-time Gold Glove winner Kevin Kiermaier has generated a higher OAA among center fielders.
In Bader’s third try at free agency, he got the multiyear contract that he’d long sought. Yet the Giants, who haven’t pursued any of the top free agents this winter, arguably got a bargain for a 4-WAR player who was projected by The Athletic’s Tim Britton to receive a two-year, $32 million guarantee. Bader’s contract includes incentives that can allow him to earn an additional $500,000.
Even if Bader’s bat resides in the bottom third of the Giants lineup, his contract, which was first reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, looks pretty darn good — especially when you remember that just three years ago, the Giants gave outfielder Mitch Haniger a three-year, $43.5 million contract when the right-handed hitter was coming off an injury-marred, 1.2-bWAR season.
Bader fits the Giants in another respect. His hair-on-fire style of play figures to mesh well with new manager and former University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, whose otherwise vague offseason talking points have been all about bringing energy to the ballpark.
Bader became an instant fan favorite following a midseason trade to the Phillies. He robbed home runs with leaping catches in Milwaukee and Texas. His personal motto, “What a gift,” which he’ll use in positive moments as well as when he’s stuck in traffic, caught on with his new teammates. Before long, they were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan during batting practice. On fan appreciation day at Citizens Bank Park, Bader bought pizzas for a row of fans in center field.
The Giants and Bader’s representatives had been in touch most of the winter, but talks picked up in recent days as the team pivoted from a frustrating trade market. They came up short while taking an aggressive shot at Washington Nationals infielder CJ Abrams, but remain engaged with the Cardinals on Brendan Donovan, whose left-handed contact skills could balance out the lineup as an everyday second baseman who yields occasional starts to Casey Schmitt against left-handed pitching.