Forever Giant Heads to St. Louis

When the Cardinals signed Brandon Crawford to a one-year, $2 million deal earlier this week, the very first thing that popped into my thoughts was a two-word hashtag. I figured it wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than the Giants’ social media accounts would ship out the identical factor they all the time post in response to the departure of a franchise icon: #ForeverGiant.

After all, #ForeverGiant is a public relations gimmick, a means for the group to melt the blow for followers who’re unhappy to see considered one of their favourite gamers retire or, worse, carrying one other group’s uniform. But within the case of Crawford, who grew up a Giants fan within the Bay Space and who turned the franchise’s all-time chief in video games performed at shortstop, these two phrases truly rang true. They weren’t a ploy; they had been a promise.

That’s why Crawford’s leaving San Francisco is gloomy for a lot of Giants followers and bizarre for the remainder of us. However shifting on from one thing and getting over it will not be the identical factor. It was time for the Giants to maneuver on from Crawford, to let him go some place else, even when it wasn’t a straightforward determination.

(One way or the other, Crawford won’t be the ultimate core member from the 2014 Giants World Sequence group to play for them. Earlier this month, the group signed Pablo Sandoval to a minor league cope with an invite to spring coaching.)

As Grant Brisbee noted in his column in regards to the signing, Giants followers are positive to be significantly annoyed that Crawford signed with “the Midwest Dodgers.” That stated, St. Louis is the proper spot for him at this stage of his profession.

The Cardinals entered the winter coming off their worst season in three a long time, needing to improve their beginning pitching and fill the management void that doomed the clubhouse final yr following the retirements of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols. St. Louis signed a trio of established right-handers — AL Cy Younger runner up Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson — to enhance the rotation, and added veteran infielder Matt Carpenter, who spent his first 11 years with the Cardinals, to deal with management duties. Crawford will fill an analogous position.

A 3-time All-Star and two-time World Sequence champion, Crawford, now 37, is not an on a regular basis participant, however the Cardinals don’t want him to be. As a substitute, he would be the backup shortstop and mentor their rookie starter and prime prospect Masyn Winn, who ranks no. 25 on our Top 100 Prospects list.

“So it was one thing that we had been fascinated by simply to guarantee that we had some depth there,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said of the Crawford signing. “But in addition bringing in somebody together with his résumé and what he’s been in a position to accomplish, we expect he’ll be an important useful resource for Masyn as he continues to develop. Let’s be very clear, although: That is Masyn’s job.”

Backup shortstop turned a extra urgent want for St. Louis because the offseason wore on and it turned obvious that Tommy Edman, who had arthroscopic surgical procedure on his proper wrist in October, won’t be able to play by Opening Day. Projected to be the beginning middle fielder upon his return, Edman was additionally going to be the group’s backup shortstop earlier than the Crawford signing.

Accidents and age have caught as much as Crawford. After touchdown on the injured record simply twice in his first 11 seasons, he missed 31 days of the 2022 season with knee irritation, and final yr, 4 separate accidents price him a mixed 49 days, according to Baseball Prospectus. In 93 video games final season, he slashed .194/.273/.314 with a 63 wRC+ and 0.4 WAR.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t so way back that Crawford was on the prime of his recreation. In 2021, he slashed .298/.373/.522 with 24 residence runs, a 140 wRC+, 6.3 WAR, and completed fourth within the NL MVP voting. The Cardinals hope a few of that’s nonetheless left in him, although from their backup shortstop they’d certainly be content material together with his manufacturing in 2022, when he batted .231/.308/.344 with an 88 wRC+ and a couple of.2 WAR in 118 video games. That’s about what our Depth Charts mission from him, although in far much less enjoying time: a .238/.310/.379 slash with an 89 wRC+ and 0.5 WAR in 189 PA.

It’s value mentioning that, had they introduced him again, Crawford would have dealt with related duties with the Giants, who’re planning to begin prospect Marco Luciano at shortstop this season. The distinction is that Winn is a greater prospect than Luciano, who regardless of his tantalizing uncooked energy is much from a positive factor. Right here’s what Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin stated about Luciano once they evaluated him in their post from final week on the related prospects who didn’t make this yr’s Prime 100:

Luciano is in “Everson Pereira Purgatory” so far as we’re involved. The muscular 22-year-old has plus-plus energy, however he’s solely actually harmful within the very center of the zone. He ran a 64% contact fee final yr. If he might play brief, that is likely to be okay given how a lot energy he has, however Luciano’s protection isn’t constant sufficient to think about him a probable shortstop. He has the arm, however his vary and arms will not be as dependable. And there actually aren’t many huge leaguers, even at shortstop, who make contact at a fee this low. Trevor Story (additionally not the most effective shortstop defender, numerous strikeouts) has been a 74% contact hitter. We’ve moved off Lu fairly considerably.

Contemplating this, it’s honest to ask why the Giants didn’t re-sign Crawford. One motive is that they already had a enjoying time crunch of their infield with out him, as Kyle Kishimoto explained earlier right now, and they’re reportedly nonetheless involved in signing Matt Chapman, which might solely make issues extra crowded. The Giants even have three different youthful shortstops within the group who might again up Luciano: Casey Schmitt, Otto Lopez and Tyler Fitzgerald. However greater than that, the choice to let Crawford stroll displays the place the group sits relative to the remainder of its division. The Cardinals are a playoff contender within the tight, albeit weak, NL Central, the place the margin for error is tight. It’s true that having a greater backup shortstop in all probability gained’t make a lot of a distinction, nevertheless it’s by no means a foul thought for a contending membership so as to add depth, particularly if it thinks that participant might have a constructive affect on the clubhouse. In the meantime, we project the Giants to complete fourth in a division with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, the reigning NL pennant winner. In letting Crawford depart, the Giants can present a lane for one of many Schmitt-Lopez-Fitzgerald trio to make the Opening Day roster and develop on the huge league stage. In the long term, that’s in all probability higher for the group.

Clearly, that doesn’t make it any simpler to say goodbye to a #ForeverGiant who’s as beloved as Crawford. Possibly that’s why the Giants deviated from their regular farewell and wished him good luck without using the hashtag.

Hopefully they imply that, as a result of if luck has something to do with it, they may be capable of see Crawford play significant September video games another time: On the ultimate weekend of the common season, the Cardinals come to city and the Bay Space boy comes residence.