The 2010s Giants were largely a tale of two halves. In the first half of the decade, they were propelled by a well-rounded lineup, a deep pitching rotation and several postseason heroics to reach (and win) three World Series. In the back half, San Francisco largely dwindled in mediocrity, winning 87 games in 2016 but unable to clear the .500 threshold since then.
One guy who's experienced the highs and the lows and has been there nearly the whole way through is shortstop Brandon Crawford, who debuted in 2011 and found his way as the starter relatively early on. He's picked up two All-Star nods. He's won two rings. He's a Gold Glover and a Silver Slugger. And he's also potentially at the end of his road as a familiar face in the middle of the Giants' infield. The 2021 season marks the last go-around in his six-year deal with the Giants, and the 34-year-old could become a free agent ahead of the 2022 offseason.
Thus, the Giants are in a good position to rebuild at that position, and with several stars set to potentially become available on the market, Audacy Sports MLB insider Jon Heyman sees San Francisco as the top contender to pick up one of these names. Think Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Javier Baez... any one of them could become available, and the Giants could pounce.
"The Giants are my number one team to really look at a big shortstop. They're gonna be ready to spend," Heyman said on the latest episode of "Big Time Baseball," hosted by Heyman and Tony Gwynn Jr. "They're gonna have a lot of money coming off the books. They've got Posey, potentially, Crawford and several others, tens of millions of dollars. So I think the Giants are a team that's gonna look at these shortstops."
But because of the depth of this class and the various teams who have those needs to fill, Heyman listed some other teams whose names have been flying around the rumor mill.
"The Rangers are a team that's rumored to be interested in these shortstops, particularly Story or Seager," Heyman said. "I think they're probably gonna look at the offensive shortstops — their offense was not too good last year.
"Yankees are rumored. It's possible. They certainly could get in there on one of those shortstops, and I don't think it's going to be Lindor. If it's going to be one of them, it'll probably be Story or Seager. Again, they like Correa, too, so we'll see.
"And some dark horse teams that can start to spend include the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners. It's time for the Seattle Mariners to start to try to win, but Detroit's been a team that's been interested in winning and they have some really good young pitching. They may not be far from winning like they did (when) they went through the free agent market a couple decades ago... signing Pudge and Magglio (Ordonez) and [setting] themselves up for a nice few seasons there. I could see them being in the mix for these guys."
With the season starting on Thursday, Heyman noted that the only superstar shortstop in serious negotiation is Francisco Lindor, who apparently has not yet accepted the Mets' offer of 10 years and $325 million.
If there's a big shakeup at the position based on these players and their respective teams not coming to terms, expect the above organizations to make their plays.
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