Brandon Crawford Joins Giants For A Two-Year, $32 Million Extension

The Giants declared that they and shortstop Brandon Crawford had reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension. Crawford is expected to get matching $16 million in salary between 2022 and 2023 as part of the $32 million contract. At the end of the season, the three-time All-Star was supposed to become a free agent. Wasserman is Crawford’s attorney.

The deal will tack on another two seasons for Crawford, who turns 35 years old in January, in orange and black. The Giants selected the Bay Area native in the fourth round of the 2008 draft after a standout career at UCLA. He made his big league debut three years later and has been an organizational fixture ever since. Crawford has been San Francisco’s starting shortstop for the past decade, contributing to the franchise’s 2012 and 2014 World Series titles.

While Crawford broke in as a light-hitting defensive specialist, he put together three consecutive solid seasons with the bat from 2014-16, earning the NL’s Silver Slugger award for shortstops in the second of those years. Beginning in 2017, he started to fall off at the plate and eventually bottomed out with a .228/.304/.350 line in 2019. Crawford looked destined to end his career as a bottom-of-the-order type, but he’s posted a remarkable turnaround over the past two seasons.

The left-handed hitter bounced back to put up a quality .256/.326/.465 line in 2020. It might’ve been easy to waive that away as a small sample in the shortened season, but he’s been an absolute force at the plate this year. Crawford enters play Friday carrying a .296/.364/.540 mark with nineteen home runs over 371 plate appearances.

That’s far and away the best offensive showing of his career, and it’s among the best production of any player in baseball. Crawford’s 139 wRC+ suggests he’s been 39 percentage points more productive than the league average hitter after accounting for Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly nature. That’s the #27 mark among the 282 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. At shortstop, only Fernando Tatís Jr. has been better at the plate.

Crawford’s not making much more contact or drawing many more walks than he has over the prior few seasons. He’s simply hitting the ball harder more consistently. Crawford’s 44.7% hard contact rate is his best mark since 2015, up nearly ten percentage points over his run of poor offense from 2017-19. His barrel rate (essentially how often Crawford hits the ball hard at a launch angle conducive to power) is up to 14.4% — easily his highest clip since Statcast became public in 2015 and a 90th percentile mark leaguewide. He’s hitting more fly balls generally, and it’s no coincidence he’ll certainly surpass his previous career best in homers (21).

More importantly, Crawford’s defensive performance has not deteriorated. Despite his advanced age, he has consistently been one of the game’s most confident defenders. The three-time Gold Glove winner has been 10 outs over average this season, according to Statcast, which puts him behind only infielders Nick Ahmed, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Nicky Lopez, and Andrelton Simmons. Crawford is still regarded as one of the best defenders in the game, both to his reputation and sophisticated stats.

Crawford’s production on both sides of the ball is a huge reason the Giants have surprisingly posted the league’s best record. Between his stellar production, longstanding importance to the organization, and previous ties to the Bay Area, it’s little surprise both sides were motivated to get a deal done.

Even after signing Crawford, the Giants have an abundance of future payroll space. Evan Longoria ($19.667MM), Tommy La Stella ($5.25MM) and Jake McGee ($2.5MM) are the only other players with guaranteed contracts on the books next season. For a franchise that has previously pushed payroll up near $200MM, there’s plenty of breathing room for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the front office.

However, the large number of prospective free agents in San Francisco is reflected in that wealth of financial flexibility. Similar to Crawford, first baseman Brandon Belt and catcher Buster Posey are key members of the team who are having outstanding seasons. Posey has a $22 million club option ($3 million buyout) in 2022 as part of his contract, while Belt will be eligible for free agency at the end of the year. Along with rotating partners Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, and Johnny Cueto, so is staff star Kevin Gausman.It appears that Cueto’s $22 million club option will be bought out. Kris Bryant, a deadline addition, will be among the top players available.

There’s obviously quite a bit on the offseason to-do list for Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris. They’ve started their winter work early by ensuring that Crawford returns at shortstop. There’s a good chance this extension solidifies Crawford as a one-franchise player. Last month, he told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle he could consider retirement a couple years from now.

“As a competitor, I don’t ever want there to be a year like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the end for him,’” Crawford told Shea. “I want to still be a good player the last year of my career. That’s why I’d say, ‘Yeah, at least a couple of more years would be nice.’ I don’t want to be 39 or 40 and feel I can’t move around anymore at short. I still want to be a good shortstop when I decide to hang it up.”

Crawford has a complete no-trade clause in his previous agreement, which was inked in November 2015. This agreement doesn’t, but that’s probably because it didn’t need that clause. In June, Crawford celebrated ten years of major league service. As a 10-and-5 player—one who has played in Major League Baseball for ten years, the last five of which have been with the same team—he secured complete no-trade rights with it.

One of the top-performing upcoming free agents from the market for next winter is gone as a result of the signing. The all-star shortstop class, which will include Marcus Semien, Javier Báez, Trevor Story, Corey Seager, and Carlos Correa, has drawn a lot of attention. This year, Crawford has outperformed them all in terms of productivity. Crawford may have been a target for immediate contenders in need of a shortstop, but his age would always prevent him from signing any kind of mega-deal. He will stay with the only company he has ever known, avoiding the open market.