The San Francisco Giants placed veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford on the 10-day IL Thursday with a right hamstring strain. With only 10 games left to play, the injury is a big blow to a Giants team fighting for their lives. They currently trail the Chicago Cubs by three games for the final NL Wild Card spot. They would also have to leapfrog the Reds and Marlins, who both lie between the Giants and Cubs in the wild-card standings.
Brandon Crawford has been placed on the injured list after exiting last night’s game with right hamstring tightness.
Crawford has spent all 13 years of his career with the Giants and is set to be a free agent at the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/0YrtODHrsi
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 21, 2023
In a somewhat surprising move considering the Crawford news, the Giants also cut one of their other shortstops. The team released Paul DeJong after he played only 18 games with them. This leaves the Giants infield in dire straits as the season winds down.
Giants Place Brandon Crawford on IL
Crawford left Wednesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks with tightness in his right hamstring. Now that he’s on the IL, he will miss most or all of the remainder of the regular season. Since the Giants’ postseason hopes hang by a thread, and Crawford is set to enter free agency, it could mean the end of a highly successful Giants career.
Crawford, a two-time World Series champion, was a key member of the Giants dynasty in the early 2010s. The four-time Gold Glove winner and three-time All-Star has started more games at shortstop than any player in franchise history. Unfortunately, his performance has dropped off in the last year of his contract. In 92 games, Crawford is hitting only .197 with seven homers, 38 RBI, and a .595 OPS. If he doesn’t return this year, it would be the first of his 13 seasons finishing below the Mendoza line.
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Saying Goodbye to DeJong
The Giants released Paul DeJong after a second consecutive brief tenure with a major league team. After the Blue Jays acquired DeJong from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, they let him go after 13 games. The Giants only kept him around for five more games than Toronto did. In his short stint by the Bay, DeJong hit .184 with a homer, five RBI, and a .466 OPS. With DeJong gone and Crawford sidelined, the Giants will plug in first-year player Marco Luciano at shortstop.
