Willy Adames in pinstripes? Well, that nearly happened- this off-season. And no, not in a ‘some guy on Twitter said’ kind of way. It was a close call: rather a Zoom call with New York Yankees’ Aaron Boone, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post.

All this, of course, happened before the San Francisco Giants swooped in and took away Adames with a seven-year, $182 million deal in December. But it wasn’t like the Yankees didn’t woo Adames because his first impressions about the team were great. “I knew it was a possibility for me to play here. We had a conversation, and it was amazing.”

So what was this conversation all about?  The conversation Adames had with the front office and the manager, was more him and fewer stats. And this impressed him the most. Not only was Adames impressed with the Yankees, but it was vice-versa too. Boone too was super impressed, saying, “We’re a big fan of that player and getting to talk to him. He’s definitely a guy we were very interested in and liked.” And a plausible deal made sense; Adames, after all, grew up idolizing Derek Jeter. So what went wrong?

Well, this is where things get irritating. “Michael Kay reports that the Yankees backed off Adames because they were still trying to land Juan Soto.” And this message has poured outrage on social media. And one can’t even blame the Yankee fans, can they? While Adames signed early in the offseason, the Yankees were left heartbroken.

Plus, the New York Yankees ended up in a mess with Oswaldo Cabrera, Pablo Reyes, Oswald Pereza, and DJ LeMahieu for third. If they had signed Adames, the Yankees could have simply slid Jazz Chisholm Jr. to third and built a solid left side of the infield. But they waited, and it has cost them big time. And now, fans are lashing out.

Fans lash out at the New York Yankees for not going after Willy Adames

One fan said didn’t hold back: “Now we left with no third basemen again thanks Hal”. Indeed, the New York Yankees hot corner is far from hot now—it is cold. It has turned into a game of roulette, and none of the players who are in the corner can do the job justice. Kerry Miller from Bleacher’s Report flat-out called third base the most glaring weakness of the team. So far Nolan Arenado’s incoming has been linked to the Yankees, but even that doesn’t seem like a possibility. Now, a deal with former Cardinal Paul DeJong seems a possibility.

A fan flat-out blamed Soto for the mess: “I’m not mad at it, if anything I blame Soto with his contract making it a spectacle“. And you can see the heartbreak with Juan Soto leaving is still there. It is understandable because, for the longest time, fans believed and felt that Soto was going nowhere. He and Aaron Judge were compared to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig—so no way was he leaving. And who after all wants to let go of pinstripes? Well, Soto did. And the fact that his contract had less than a $5 million difference between what the Yankees and Mets offered—fans were first surprised, then hurt, and then mad.

However, not everyone is buying the fact that Willy Adames was the golden ticket for the Yankees. Sure, he did show plenty of promise during the SF Giants’ spring training. He had a slugging percentage of .549! But the story is completely different in the regular season. Through the early stretches with the Giants, Adames has yet to prove his worth. One user pointed out exactly that: “Adames would have been an awful contract… Got lucky“. So far his stat line is sad—.196/.270/.250. So maybe the Yankees didn’t miss out on much.

A hopeful user couldn’t help but dabble on how a Yankees signing could keep Juan Soto in the Yankees: “Signing adames would probably convince soto to stay. Just for having another dominican on the team.” And frankly, that is far-fetched—even though they do share Dominican roots. The fact is Soto had mentioned how he joined the Mets because he thought it was a winning team. And if you look at how the season is progressing, you can say Soto had foresight. In a time when the Yankees’ starting pitching and third baseman and injury-stricken problems are there, the Mets are killing it. Pete Alonso is there helping Soto out too!

One fan even calling out Adames statements of wanting to be a Yankee: “Adames wanted to sign before Christmas. Soto signed with the Mets 2 days after Adames signed with the Giants. If he really wanted to be a Yankee as much as he said he did, he would have waited an extra week or 2 into the new year.” And well, even Boone mentioned how fast Adames crossed town, saying, “We were going through the Soto stuff and weren’t able to commit to him, one way or the other. He went off the board pretty quick there.” Indeed, Adames signed with the Giants just four days later. So maybe he simply wasn’t sure for the Yankees. Although he did say the real reason was the timeline that didn’t work.

Well, for now, the New York Yankees do need to address their third-base concerns. Sure, not getting Adames hurt, but he isn’t at his best in Giants too. It might just be time to move on. Who do you think can come in new? Let us know!