The San Francisco Giants and long-time shortstop Brandon Crawford aren’t taking any offseason changes. The pair today announced an extension for the would-have-been free agent. He’s signing a two-year deal that’ll pay him $16 million each season.
Brandon Crawford will stay in the Bay pic.twitter.com/9u0oYC1EOC
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 13, 2021
Brandon Crawford will make $16 million in each of the next two seasons. He’s having a career year, and this should set it up so the shortstop who grew up rooting for the Giants can retire as a Giant.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) August 13, 2021
A buncha stray reactions …
⇒ Because next year will be Crawford’s age 35 season, and because of his long-time connection to the Giants (including as a kid growing up), this was always going to be a weird one to try to divine much broader meaning from. Everyone expected these two to re-up eventually, and the price tag reflects that.
⇒ In other words, even at his age, coming off such a great season (and a very solid bounce-back in 2020), with his glove, I’m thinking Crawford could’ve secured a larger total guarantee in free agency. I bet the other free agents hitting the market will be quick to note that.
⇒ As for the AAV, though, I think that seems pretty reasonable on an extension like this. There’s downside risk of a total fall-off here, but $16 million is still a pretty good annual get (and a raise over the $15.2 million he’s getting this year). Don’t forget that Crawford was kinda looking toast in the decline from 2017-19 (.245/.311/.383, 84 wRC+ over 1724 PAs with defensive metrics trending down).
⇒ A two-year deal before the CBA expires also feels like a good risk/reward balance for both Crawford and the Giants. If the finances of the game are about to change in a very fundamental way, Crawford protects against the risk of a freeze-out, and the Giants protect against the risk that price tags explode.
⇒ If you’re someone like Javy Báez, are you happy that Crawford got a $16 million AAV (which you can then use to say you should be well ahead of that because of your age and upside?), or are you unhappy about the very small total guarantee? I tend to think you instead just say this is a one-off, hyper-specific, Crawford-Giants deal and there’s no real impact to the “market.”
⇒ One impact, though, just to note it: had Crawford and the Giants NOT re-upped, then you would’ve potentially had another big market, big spender looking at the available shortstops. Not saying the Cubs are gonna be out there spending huge on Carlos Correa or Corey Seager or Marcus Semien or Trevor Story or Javy Báez, but I’m just noting the pool of contenders possibly shifting.
⇒ Lastly? Good for the Giants and Crawford. It’s nice when teams and players can stick together, especially where it makes a ton of roster, financial, and competitive window sense.