The San Francisco Giants locked up Brandon Crawford for the long term Tuesday, announcing they signed the 28-year-old shortstop to a six-year deal. According to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the contract is worth $75 million and includes a full no-trade clause.
Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area added Crawford will make $15 million total the next two years, then $15 million for each of the following four seasons.
"Brandon is an exceptionally talented baseball player who has earned this through his hard work, dedication and competitive spirit," said Giants general manager Bobby Evans in a statement on MLB.com. "He took great strides both offensively and defensively last season, winning his first-ever Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award. This is a great day for Brandon and his family, for the Giants and for our fans."
Crawford is coming off a career year in 2015. He hit .256 with 21 home runs, 84 runs batted in and a .462 slugging percentage. According to FanGraphs, his 4.7 WAR was the third-highest on the team and first in MLB at his position.
As a result of his strong campaign, Crawford cleaned up in the award categories, winning a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, in addition to earning his first trip to the All-Star Game.
Ever since arriving in the majors in 2011, he has incrementally improved with each season, particularly offensively. MLB.com's Mike Petriello noted how Crawford's wRC+ total has climbed every year:
Crawford is also a wizard with the glove. Going back to 2012, only Andrelton Simmons has saved more runs as a result of his defense at shortstop, per ESPN Stats & Info.
The timing of the deal is somewhat surprising if only for the fact Crawford was still under team control for two more years. The Giants weren't in danger of losing him anytime soon but still decided to buy out his final two years of arbitration.
San Francisco has already re-signed other stars instrumental to its recent success such as Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Hunter Pence.
Crawford undoubtedly earned a raise, and $12.5 million per year isn't an exorbitant amount to pay one of the best shortstops in the game.
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