Brandon Crawford’s six-year, $75M extension is a savvy move for the Giants
Brandon Crawford and the San Francisco Giants are a great match. So great that there’s a picture of a 5-year-old Crawford (with good hair, even then) at a Giants game next to a sign asking to keep the team in San Francisco. He’s a Bay Area kid who grew up dreaming that he’d play shortstop for the Giants.
And now, the two sides won’t be parting ways anytime soon.
The Giants and Crawford agreed to a six-year contract extension Tuesday that will keep the slick-fielding shortstop playing his home games at AT&T Park until 2021, when he’ll be 34 years old. That’s two arbitration seasons and four years of free agency locked up for the Giants.
[Elsewhere: There’s no logical reason for the Marlins to want to deal Jose Fernandez]
The team didn’t disclose the financials, but according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, the deal is worth $75 million, spread out thusly: $5.8 million in 2016, $8 million in 2017 and $15 million per year from 2018-2021, with a $1.2 million signing bonus.
As far as MLB contracts go, this one isn’t obscene. Not for a player who has been a solid contributor through two World Series runs and who blossomed into an All-Star, Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner in 2015.
The Giants are paying Crawford when his value is the highest — coming off a season in which he hit 21 homers, drove in 84 runs and posted a career high 4.7 Wins Above Replacement, according to Fangraphs. Still, it seems like good value for both player and team. Crawford gets rewarded for his ascent All-Stardom and the Giants get cost certainty moving forward.
[Elsewhere: What’s next? This is likely just the start for Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa]
What stands out here is how the savvy Giants are always thinking ahead. Crawford would make around $5.8 million and $8 million in arbitration the next two seasons anyway, so they’re keeping him at a fair rate and then cutting off any worries about Crawford leaving in free agency. Does $15 million per year seem a bit high for Crawford at the moment? Maybe. But in 2018, when he’s staring at the open market and baseball salaries are even higher, it shouldn’t be preposterous. There’s a chance they over pay him in the final years of the contract, but there’s just as good of a chance that Crawford’s worth every bit of what the Giants are paying him in the next four seasons. Plus, they’re on the hook for his age-35 and 36 seasons, which is where decline is more rapid.
In a bigger sense, the Giants always seem to extend their core players long before free agency is even a thought. They’ve got Madison Bumgarner on a team-friendly contract until 2019. Buster Posey is signed through 2021 and Hunter Pence is around until at least 2018. They owe Matt Cain $20 million for the next two seasons, and that one looks tough to swallow, considering his recent injury history.
But it usually works out for the Giants when they lock up their players early. In Crawford, they’re keeping around a fan favorite, cementing another of their building blocks and doing so in a prudent way that doesn’t hastily mortgage their future.
It’s how the Giants often business — and, hey it’s hard to argue with their success.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
