Brewers superstar Willy Adames hints at where he will play next season

The Milwaukee Brewers were dealt a gut punch of epic proportions on Thursday night. Another one could be coming as soon as November.

With their 4-2 loss to the New York Mets, the Brewers were eliminated from the playoffs after holding a 2-0 lead with only two outs to go. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso launched a three-run homer off Brewers closer Devin Williams, stunning every fan at American Family Field.

That loss knocked the Brewers out in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in four years. They have not won a playoff series since the 2018 National League Division Series.

If all that wasn't enough, the Brewers' marvelous shortstop, Willy Adames, is set to hit free agency. Adames was the undisputed emotional leader of the Brewers in 2024, and a mentor figure to budding superstar Jackson Chourio.

No one knows for sure what the future holds for the superstar shortstop. But if Adames' words after the game Thursday night were any indication of his future, it's great news for fans of 29 other teams, but not so much for Brewers fans.

“I don’t know if I’m going to come back,” Adames said, per Robert Murray of FanSided. “Like I said, I hope. If not, it’s been a helluva time here. It’s been an amazing time.

Why is Adames uncertain about the possibility of his return? As is usually the case in Major League Baseball, it's all about the money. In fact, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio flat-out confessed that he expected to be outbid for Adames' services.

“I think the free-agent contract is going to be very valuable for him and quite high. We’ll do what we can to stretch, but others have bigger pocketbooks, and we’ll see what happens," Attanasio said, per Murray.

Adames' contract projections have fallen anywhere from $100 million on the low end to $200 million on the high end, and the star shortstop's performance toward the end of the season only nudged that number upward.

With 13 three-run home runs this season, Adames matched Ken Griffey Jr. for an all-time single-season record. His 32 total home runs were also a new career-high, one more than he hit for the Brewers in 2022.

If the Brewers were ever going to break the bank, doing so for their longtime shortstop and clubhouse leader would be the perfect time to do so. But it doesn't sound as though fans should be holding their breath on that one.

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