The San Francisco Giants and shortstop Brandon Crawford have reached a 2-year extension, the team announced Friday afternoon. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that the deal is worth $32 million, and he'll make an even $16 million in both 2022 and 2023.
To the surprise of many, the Giants are an MLB-best 74-41, which gives them a comfortable lead over both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the National League West.
Among the reasons that Gabe Kapler's squad has played so well is that multiple veterans have had resurgences in 2021. In addition to Buster Posey and Evan Longoria, Crawford has been excellent in his 11th season with the Giants. The 34-year-old, rather improbably, remains an elite fielder at shortstop, as he has seven defensive runs saved in 2021. Crawford is also slashing .296/.364/.540 with 19 home runs and 69 RBIs, which earned him his third career All-Star Game nod last month.
Farhan Zaidi and the Giants will have to decide how to proceed with Buster Posey this offseason as well. At the outset of the season, picking up Posey's $22 million club option for 2022 would have been unthinkable. But after opting out of the 2021 season, Posey has returned to playing like one of the game's best catchers, as he's hitting .336 with a .988 OPS in 75 games this season.
It will also be interesting to see whether this takes the Giants out of the running for one of the major shortstops that can become free agents this offseason, a list that includes Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Corey Seager. In March, Audacy Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman reported that the Giants were expected to be a major player in what could be a historic shortstop market this offseason, but that was before Crawford re-emerged as one of the game's best players at the position.
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