Giants sign Brandon Crawford to two-year, $32 million extension

The Giants have signed shortstop Brandon Crawford to a two-year, $32 million extension, as the team announced prior to Friday night’s game against the Rockies:

Crawford, 34, is in the midst of a stunning career year for the Giants, who own the best record in Major League Baseball. Crawford leads all Giants position players with a 4.5 bWAR, already his highest since 2016. He’s obviously been helped by the new hitting coaches manager Gabe Kapler brought to San Francisco last year and the club’s decision to bring in the fences at Oracle Park, as he’s set career highs in OPS+ for two straight seasons, posting a 114 in 2020 and a 141 so far this year. Crawford has a .296/.364/.540 slash line, and with 19 homers, he’s just two away from matching his career high of 21, set back in 2015.

Crawford, a native of Mountain View, California, has had Giants ties since his youth, appearing in an iconic photo at the age of 5 in which he stood next to a sign begging the team to stay in San Francisco rather than moving to Tampa, which appeared likely at the time. He was drafted by his childhood team in 2008 and has spent 11 major league seasons in San Francisco, helping the team to World Series victories in 2012 and ‘14 while making three All-Star Games, winning three Gold Gloves, and earning a Silver Slugger Award.

Crawford’s extension makes it much more likely that he’ll finish his career with the team that drafted him, and it gives him a chance to serve as a bridge to 19-year-old shortstop Marco Luciano, who is currently in High-A and ranked as the No. 10 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

While it’s always possible that the Giants could get creative and move a player like Trevor Story to center field, this move almost certainly takes them out of the market for the big-money free agent shortstops who will be on the market this summer, including Story, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, and Javier Báez.