If the greatest shortstop in San Francisco Giants history has a chip on his shoulder this season after the way his front office kicked him out of his spot when it thought it had a shiny, younger shortstop in the building, then Brandon Crawford hides it well.
“I mean, Carlos [Correa] is a great player,” Crawford said. “I think he has a Gold Glove also. If he would have joined our team, it would have made our team better, no question.”
Maybe Crawford is just that nice a guy. Or maybe it’s that team-first reputation he’s earned playing for his hometown team that last dozen years.
Either way, he admittedly didn’t have much time to even wrap his mind around the idea of playing another position before the Giants nixed their $350 million deal with Correa over an old ankle injury that came up during the medical approval process.
April Fool’s, right?
Brandon Crawford, 36, was right back at short where he belonged by the time spring training started, and by April 1 he was reminding everyone watching at Yankee Stadium how much he still belonged — in the field, and with a three-hit day that included a double and home run to key a Giants win.
Maybe the joke is on his doubters?
“I think Craw’s internally motivated,” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler, who called it a “challenge” to even consider moving Crawford from short, not to mention actually calling the four-time Gold Glove shortstop and three-time All-Star with that message when Correa appeared to be a done deal.
“But he’s a pro,” Kapler said. “He’s so good at receiving information and using it as fuel. He’s among the best.”
Brandon Crawford as original star shortstop of this golden era
That might be the biggest thing that seemed to get lost in the hype of those historically good free agent classes of shortstops the last two years, if not lost on some of the smart guys up the ladder in the Giants organization:
Brandon Crawford’s the OG this star-studded generation of shortstops with nine-figure contracts.
Even if he abstained from free agency to extend with the Giants for six years, $75 million and then for $32 million for 2022 and 2023 — that last deal coming off a career year at 34 for a 107-win team that earned him a fourth-place finish in MVP voting.
“I’m happy with where I’m at, and I’ve been able to stay with one organization through my whole career, and I’m happy with the contracts I’ve been able to get here with the Giants,” he said. “So not a whole lot of thought into the amount of money or what I could have potentially gotten.
“But you see the money that was spent this offseason on some of those free agents, and I think rightfully so. Shortstop’s one of the most important positions on the field. Seeing those guys get paid like that is good. It’s good for the game.”
Those guys and their deals the last two winters alone:
- Corey Seager, Texas Rangers, $325 million (10 years)
- Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies, $300 million (11 years)
- Xander Bogaerts, San Diego Padres, $280 million (11 years)
- Carlos Correa, Minnesota Twins, $200 million (six years)
- Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs, $177 million (seven years)
- Marcus Semien, Rangers, $175 million (seven years)
- Javy Báez, Detroit Tigers, $140 million (six years)
- Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox, $140 million (six years)
And that doesn’t count Francisco Lindor, who avoided free agency when the New York Mets traded for him and then extended him for $341 million (10 years) ahead of his walk year. Or Fernando Tatis Jr., who got a 14-year, $340 million extension from the Padres before that same 2021 season.
Brandon Crawford?
“Over the last couple of years, when he’s been at his best physically, he’s been one of the best shortstops in the league,” Kapler said. “There’s nothing on the middle infield he can’t do.”
No active shortstop has more Gold Gloves. Only Bogaerts on that list of stars matches the two rings Crawford has (and one of Bogaerts came as a rookie third baseman).
And if the Giants are going make noise this year after redirecting all that Correa money (which started out as Aaron Judge money) across the roster for short-term, incremental improvements, it will start with the last man standing on the roster from that Giants three-titles-in-five-year dynasty.
The hometown star. The OG. The Giants shortstop. Full stop.
“Even with the 107 wins, I don’t think anybody expected us to do that, that year,” Crawford said. “And people don’t have super high expectations for us this year, either. Other than the people in this room.
“If we can all stay healthy and do what we’re all capable of, we have the guys in this room that could be able to surprise some people and get to the playoffs, and win a World Series.”
Assessing Brandon Crawford San Francisco Giants’ future
And if not this year, the Giants certainly have the money to spend on big-name help for 2024.
Whether Brandon Crawford will be there next year might be the bigger question for him and the Giants.
Only three players in the majors have been with their original teams longer than Crawford, who debuted May 27, 2011: St. Louis Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright (Sept. 11, 2005), Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto (Sept. 4, 2007) and Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg (June 8, 2010).
Only four others still playing with their original team broke in the same year as Crawford: Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon, the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout, Houston’s José Altuve and Kansas City’s Salvador Perez.
“It’s been a dream come true for me,” said Crawford, who grew up a Giants fan in nearby Pleasanton. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s never been very difficult for me to sign an early extension or something like that, just because this is where I want to be.”
He won’t speculate how long he might remain in a Giants uniform — or even whether he’ll be in any uniform after this year, for that matter — after watching All-Star championship-core catcher Buster Posey retire after 2021 and All-Star championship-core first baseman Brandon Belt depart for Toronto as a free agent this year.
“Nothing’s been decided one way or the other. We’ll probably take that question on later in the season or maybe even into the offseason,” he said. “You never know what could happen.
“The knee stuff last year was difficult to play through,” he added of an injury that sidelined him twice last year and flared briefly this spring. “That could play a factor. And then obviously how I play would play a factor, also. I plan on trying to be healthy as much as I can and playing well. If that happens I could definitely see myself playing past this year, and hopefully it is with the Giants.”
Is the knee good now?
“Good enough,” he said.
Good enough that if it stays that way, Turner, Bogaerts and even Lindor and Swanson might be waiting till next year for their next shot at a Gold Glove?
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my defense, playing shortstop,” said the guy with no alleged chip on his shoulder. “So I still take pride in that.”
No matter how much he might get overshadowed by all those nine-figure, big-money boys in the spotlight these days — or even overlooked.
“Not around here,” Kapler said. “We think of him as perhaps the best shortstop in San Francisco Giants history. It’s hard to say we don’t recognize his greatness.”
Gordon Wittenmyer covers Major League Baseball for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @GDubCub.