The Giants announced a slate of roster moves Thursday, most notably placing shortstop Brandon Crawford on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain and requesting unconditional release waivers on fellow shortstop Paul DeJong. San Francisco has also selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Tyler Fitzgerald, recalled right-hander Tristan Beck and infielder Marco Luciano from Triple-A Sacramento, and optioned right-hander Sean Hjelle to Sacramento. Crawford will be eligible for reinstatement on the final day of the season.
Crawford, 36, exited yesterday’s contest after experiencing discomfort and acknowledged his frustration with the injury following the game (link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). A free agent at season’s end, Crawford is perhaps playing out his final days as a Giant. That he’s eligible to return on the final game of the season could give him the opportunity to still get back in front of the home crowd for a potential sendoff. The Giants host their archrival Dodgers on Oct. 1. “It’s the most frustrating timing I’ve probably ever had with an injury,” Crawford told Slusser.
The 2023 season has been the least-productive of Crawford’s career. He’s posted a .197/.276/.319 batting line with a career-high 25% strikeout rate in 316 plate appearances. It’s a step down from last year’s output and a major departure from the 2021 season, when Crawford was a bona fide MVP candidate, placing fourth in the National League voting that year. Crawford’s .298/.373/.522 slash and world-class defense in ’21 prompted the Giants to sign him to a two-year, $32MM extension covering his age-35 and age-36 seasons, but he’s batted just .217/.295/.334 in 774 plate appearances over the life of that contract.
It’s not clear whether Crawford will continue his playing career beyond the current season. He’s spoken in the past about the possibility of spending his entire career with the Giants, which surely holds extra appeal given that he’s a Bay Area native who grew up following the team. However, Luciano has ranked among the organization’s top prospects for several years now and could be ready for a full-time audition.
It’s possible the Giants could bring in a stopgap in the event that the 22-year-old still needs more minor league seasoning, but that’d likely be an awkward role for both Crawford and the organization; it’s feasible he could shift to a bench role if and when Luciano proves ready, but it’d be hard for the Giants to carry Crawford in a part-time role if his production mirrors his 2023 output. Similarly, it’d be hard for them to move on somewhat unceremoniously midway through the ’24 campaign. The Giants faced a similar situation with Crawford’s longtime teammate Brandon Belt this past offseason and ultimately opted to let him walk. Belt signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays and has had a highly productive but also injury-marred season.
There was no such commitment or legacy to ponder in the decision to cut ties with the veteran DeJong. San Francisco signed the former Cardinals shortstop to a Major League deal one month ago after he was released by the Blue Jays, who’d acquired him at the deadline when Bo Bichette sustained an injury.
DeJong gave the Giants 114 innings of strong defense at shortstop but hit just .184/.180/.286 in 50 plate appearances. He had a relative bounceback year at the plate with the Cardinals prior to his trade, but since leaving St. Louis he’s batted a combined .129/.128/.183 with no walks and 34 strikeouts in 94 plate appearances between Toronto and San Francisco. He’ll be a free agent once he formally clears release waivers, although at this point of the schedule, he may simply wait until the offseason to find a new club.
Fitzgerald, 26, was the Giants’ fourth-round pick in 2019 and will be making his big league debut when he first takes the field. He’s had a nice season in the minors, batting .324/.410/.588 in a small sample of 78 Double-A plate appearances before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .287/.358/.499 in 466 trips to the plate. Fitzgerald has smacked a combined 22 home runs and swiped 32 bags in 35 tries this year. His 9.7% walk rate in Triple-A is an above-average mark, while his 23.8% strikeout rate was also slightly higher than average.
San Francisco has bounced Fitzgerald all over the diamond in 2023. He’s logged time at shortstop, second base, third base and in center field this season, in addition to occasional stints at designated hitter. While he’s never been considered one of the Giants’ top prospects, Fitzgerald has been an above-average hitter at virtually every minor league stop and clearly possesses above-average speed (career 70-for-79 in stolen bases). He’ll add a versatile defensive repertoire and right-handed bat to the club’s bench mix.
DeJong hasn’t walked since St. Louis, sheesh
Wow!
White Sox will be after him!
DeJong used up all his magic against the Phillies.
Sad fate for a Toronto legend!
Fire Kapler and Farhan Zaidi. Hire Ron Wotus as manager and Ned Colletti as GM/president of baseball operations. It’s that simple, Giants. Do it now! You’re welcome
They should cut out the middle man and hire you, Gumby. Dammit!
Agree 100% with you on firing Zaidi & Kapler. Zaidi’s done nothing to significantly improve the Giants (except minor league teams). Disastrous offseason, nothing at trade deadline & Tier 2-3, DFA, waiver, recovering from injuries, platoon, opener & dumpster dive players. FA signees have been total busts.
All Zaidi’s been concerned about is his contract extension.
If all he’s worried about his contract extension, making the MLB team stronger sure would help him continue to be employed. He’s had multiple big FAs turn down contract offers, so maybe ownership just needs to be worried about increasing their spending further.
When zaidi was hired he even stated that his main focus was to setup the future of the team (minor leagues) which he has done. I honestly get the feeling ownership wanted to keep the team competitive and that 107 win season didn’t help the argument that the team should have tore down and allowed a full rebuild to happen. What has happened this year is disappointing and I have kind of lost faith in Kapler because when the team skids like that you may not be able to make them win but one thing you can do is inspire them and that just hasn’t happened. These moves are actually a step in the right direction because really – the team needs to just focus on the youth and see what sinks or swims.
WTF Redwolves, Zaidi has not mentioned his contract extension AT ALL! A few people have asked him about it but he has never brought it up himself. Next years option on him was picked up by ownership but there’s been no news of his extension because either ownership wants to see how he does in 2024 or it might go the other way, perhaps Zaidi wants to check on other jobs before he signs. Get your facts straight before you type falsehoods
Dodgers agree. Hire Ned.
Until Zaidi either signs Ohtani this offseason or trades for a superstar like Trout, Judge, Harper, Betts, Freeman, Acuna Jr then Zaidi will always be a failure.
Zaidi hasn’t proven he can get any player that talent level. He’s only proven he can get Tier 2&3 players.
Red, Ohtani and MAYBE Trout are the only one of those players who will be available this winter. Betts is the only one that has ever been traded.
As I said before, maybe it’s ownership’s fault, perhaps not being willing to spend the money required to bring in a big fish.
Rw
How about if the team wins a bunch of games and/or championships? Still a failure?
Zaidi did go after judge who was just using the Giants and Dodgers to get a bigger contract with the nyy
Hopefully Zaidi offers Ohtani a contract that will bring him to the Giants.
Right, let’s build up the farm to trade away more than one/two prospects and still pay the superstar tons of money.. logic is a nice this to have..
Ned Colletti? The guy that gave Jason Schmidt that awful 3 year deal? Schmidt gave them all of 10 starts in those 3 years. The same guy that gave contracts to over-the-hill guys like Andruw Jones, Nomar Garciaparra, Juan Uribe, and unwisely extended Andre Either, who was basically a platoon hitter? No Thanks.
Nothing since 2010,2012, 2014 with Bochy. 107 wins in 2021 is Zaidi’s accomplishment. Still waiting for Zaidi to be fired.
So it’s World Series championship or bust?
Don’t hold your breath.
rw: I’ve heard it put that 2021 was The Perfect Storm for the Giants, with basically everything going right. That doesn’t happen two years in a row, so it’s easy to get disappointed if they don’t play at that level all the time. Look at this season. They’ve been in the race for a WC place until recently. The Phillies showed last year that you don’t have to be great to go far in the PO.
JM
As someone who follows the Dodgers closely, I think Ned gets a bit unfairly maligned
Now, I don’t think he was great, by any stretch. But, he was under the thumb of the McCourts and had some…uh…restraints on his team building.
Directly addressing your examples
1) No. Schmidt did not work out. A move not working out isn’t the same as it being a terrible move. Should people have known that Schmidt would be so unhealthy at the time? Probably not.
2) Giving contracts to “over-the-hill players” is not an inherently bad idea. Jones was an elite player and nobody expected him to crater like he did. Nomar had one productive season in LA. Not a great signing. Uribe had two inexplicably terrible years and the rebounded to have a couple solid seasons. Again, no one could have gotte foreseen how bad he was.
Ethier was one of my favorite players. And a productive one. Yes, he was terrible versus lefties, but he mashed righties – and that has value. Did the Dodgers overpay? Yes. Was it a disaster? No this was also almost certainly at least partially directed from above. New ownership has replaced the…problematic…McCourts and was signaling to fans that things were changing by bringing back a popular player.
All that said, as a Dodger fan, I would love for the Giants to bring in in Ned.
filihok,
You make some very good points. Admittedly I’m guilty of what I’ve accused others of, which is making too much from hindsight. That said. I think Ned’s biggest problem was that he got mesmerized by players having career years, without taking their entire careers into context.
Uribe had been in the majors for 10 years, and other than his 2004 season, which appeared to be an outlier, his 2 best years were in SF. Schmidt was entering his age 34 season, and his last in SF was somewhat of a rebound one after 3 years of declining numbers.
We agree on Ethier. I actually liked him as a player, but also agree it was an overpay, and where we diverge is that I think it was a rather large one.
I don’t think it’s strange that you like Ned, but again, we can disagree, in that if the Giants were to move on from Zaidi, I think they could do better. In fact I prefer they stick with Zaidi over hiring Ned as a replacement.
JM
First things first, I didn’t like Ned. I was happy to see him go.
However, I was still thinking of baseball in an old way back then. Having gotten older and wiser, I can look back now and understand his tenure better
Regarding the Ethier extension. It was für $85 million over 5 years. Per FanGraphs’ calculations, Ethier produced $53 million over that time.
fangraphs.com/players/andre-ethier/6265/stats?posi…
Even that’s, while bad, isn’t, in my view, a total disaster. But when accounting for the fact that Ethier only managed 64 PA’s over the last two seasons due to some freak injuries and weirdness in his recoveries that couldn’t have been predicted at that time, it’s hard to hold Ned accountable for them. Without those injuries, The deal likely breaks even or could, without too much imagination stretching, could have come out positive for the team.
I want Wotus but would also accept Hensley Meulens.
Man, what happened to DeJong exactly? 2nd place in ROTY voting his debut season in ’17… All Star in ’19, and just downhill ever since. He’s going to have to compete for a bench role in Spring Training somewhere or take an MiLB deal. I don’t see a whole lot of teams needing a stopgap SS this offseason.
He came out of nowhere to surprise the league. The league figured him out and he couldn’t adjust. Happens to a lot of young guys. DeJong is definitely not the first and definitely will not be the last.
He’s earned $26 million in his career. Maybe he just take a job as a community college coach somewhere.
He single handed beat the Phillies his first game with the Giants.
Juiced ball era player. Many such cases
Craw should retire. Giants announce the last game of the season is his last, bring back posey, etc and give him the sendoff he deserves.
I am going to be surprised if he doesn’t – if his defense was still what it was maybe he could get another deal despite the poor offense but that has fallen off a cliff this year so if he were to enter FA unless he wants to take a minor league deal on a non contending team he probably won’t get any offers.
No need to bring posey back,he lives there again and is part of the ownership group!
I’m bothered when fans try to retire players. It’s their dream, let them live it as long as they want. I certainly would.
maybe you haven’t watched him this year but he is in full decline, offensive and defensively. I highly doubt SF will bring him back so his best option is probably retirement, at least as a player. I would love to see him in some capacity as a coach or in the FO
Cheering for this guy must make for quite some controversy (humor intended, not animosity)…
Craw should have retired 2 years ago. The Giants have been holding onto the past FAR TOO long. When Posey retired, that was a signal and sign to quickly turn the page.
And until they ply the draft, develop and international market better, signing mid tier guys to 1 and 2 year deals just won’t cut it.
Two years ago, Crawford hit .298/.373/.522 and finished fourth in National League MVP voting in his age-34 season.
Steve you apparently haven’t read mlb fan a lot. He believes that the benefit of hindsight should allow him to go back in time and make such judgmental statements as he has here.
Obviously, in the real world which we live in BC nor likely any other player, would have even considered retiring after his 2021 campaign.
That said, his 22 and 23 stats were a huge drop off. No, I’m not condoning mlb fan’s hindsight mentality just saying he does have that unique ability.
You tell them Steve!
Yeah definitely retire after an MVP caliber season and give up $32 million. Sounds like a solid plan in hindsight.
And finishing .500 every year is such a great outcome, right?…And don’t even bother telling me how 3 yrs ago you won 100+ games, because it’s no longer 3 yrs ago.
Mlb fan,
Let it go, man. We all have a senior moment from time to time. Today was yours. Dust yourself off and take the rest of today off.
But tomorrow…
TOMORROW YOU GET BACK OUT THERE AND YOU WIN BACK THE INTERNET!!!!!
lol.
Burnnnnnn.
Damn it’s always funnier when a writer jumps in and burns a commenter. Reading Steve give it to mlb fan and then everyone rub it in afterwards, has me laughing pretty hard.
DeJong, on paper, seemed like a good option at the time to fill in while Crawford was on IL. Game against Phillies was bright spot. Since then it’s been all downhill. Definitely right move letting DeJong go.
Finally, hopefully, Luciano will get the chance to play full time the remaining 9 games & give him the chance to establish himself for next season.
Bringing up Fitzgerald now will expose him to major league pitching & prepare him for a future role with Giants.
At this point with 9 games left the Giants have nothing to lose players the prospects & everything to gain in evaluating their readiness.
Clearly planning on playing that last day of the year and calling it a career. Thanks for the memories, Crawford!
Better a year too soon than a year too late I always say.
In this particular situation, BC would have given up 32 mil had he followed your logic.
Just how does that fit your standard?
Or another way, “dang, if (insert particular player here), had not retired too soon, we might have won a championship.”
Your hindsight ability does always make you right though, so I’ll give it to you.
When you lose 3 out of 4 to Colorado and two straight to Az, maybe the handwriting is on the wall for 2023 to see what the Giants have in the minors. Chances are not good for a playoff spot now.
In case you missed it, this latest MLB debut is no 13 this year for the Giants. They have been seeing what they have in the minors pretty much non stop all year. Whether it was design or necessity is a different matter. Probably a bit of both.
Hi foppert, these guys on here are just spouting off, they don’t watch the games!
they are toast unless they can go on a huge run against SD and LAD
My guess is that SD pass them in the standings
Craw should retire on the last day of the season and immediately be offered a spot as ‘shortstop coach’ for 2024. He has three students in waiting in Luciano, Fitzgerald and Schmitt
am sure that is already in the works. he is a local guy and not like belt who won’t leave bay area for another city. This is why its a 10 day IL stint to make sure they can do a ceremonial event on last day of regular season.
Time for DeJong to chill and pack his Bong
Likely the PCL reliever of the year in LHP Miller and the Giants won’t call him up. Another Giants Zaidi huh?
He will be up soon
Youth movement finally- Crawford is done! there is no doubt about it.
DeJong – is done too.
That was the 6th time this year that Hjelle has been optioned. Doesn’t that expose him to waivers?
Zaidi will let Crawford walk like Dejong and replace him with a younger stop gap like Amed Rosario
I feel Crawford will be back next year as a bench piece and I’m alright with that. He shouldn’t be the starting SS anymore, move him to a utility position and let him go year to year, as long as he doesn’t stink it up, hopefully stays healthy if he’s playing less games
The trouble with keeping Crawford as a bench piece is that it uses up a roster spot. If he’s the best option, then okay. But if they want guys like Luciano, Matos, and any of Schmitt, Fitzgerald, Meckler, etc. on the roster, then spots might be too valuable to carry someone like Crawford, who has trouble staying healthy, but who’s also in clear decline.