Brandon Crawford talks playoffs, MLB trade deadline during short River Cats stint
Brandon Crawford — the two-time World Series Champion, three-time All-Star and 2021 MVP candidate — took a seat in the third base dugout two hours before Tuesday’s first pitch between the Sacramento River Cats and Tacoma Rainiers. The temperature was a balmy 103 degrees.
“Yeah,” Crawford said, “it’s a little bit different than San Francisco.”
Indeed, the extreme heat at Sutter Health Park was one of many differences from what Crawford is used to as the star shortstop for the Giants, who play at oft-chilly Oracle Park in downtown San Francisco. The 35-year-old standout was with Triple-A Sacramento to finish off rehabbing from a left knee injury before rejoining the major league club later this week.
“The past week’s been pretty good,” Crawford said of his rehab. “I’ve had three or four days where I wasn’t feeling anything in the knee. I’m hoping to continue that out here.”
Crawford initially hurt the knee during a home-plate collision June 21 in Atlanta. He returned a soon after and went back on the injured list after nine games when the knee wouldn’t get better. He last appeared in a game July 15.
“I have to make sure that the knee’s feeling good before I come off the IL,” he said. “Last time I came off the IL I felt good for a game, but then the next week after that, I wasn’t feeling very good. So I feel like the only way to test of it in a game-like situations is to play a game. That’s kind of what we decided would be best.”
Some 73 miles west down Interstate 80, the Giants were slated to continue a pivotal series against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, who were 18.5 games up on San Francisco in the National League West standings. The Giants are 11-17 since the start of July and entered Tuesday 4.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies for the last of the three wild card spots.
Tuesday marked Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, which saw the Giants make a handful of moves including dealing away two of Crawford’s teammates. The team sent outfielder Darin Ruf to the New York Mets for a package including J.D. Davis, a 29-year-old slugger who went to nearby Elk Grove High School. New York sent left-handed pitcher Thomas Szapucki and two prospects to San Francisco in the deal.
The Giants also traded catcher Curt Casali to the Seattle Mariners. Casali, oddly enough, was in Sacramento playing for the River Cats while working back from an oblique injury. The Rainiers, of course, are the Mariners Triple-A affiliate, so Casali joined his new team in the visiting clubhouse.
Crawford noted how odd it was being away from the major league team on deadline day.
“Yeah, a guy like Darin Ruf who was really well-liked in the clubhouse and obviously not being there to say bye to him — I sent him a text, I’m sure he’s getting bombarded with calls and texts — that’s tough,” Crawford said. “Fortunately Curt (Casali) was just here and I was able to see him and tell him good luck and bye and stuff like that.
“But deadline day, it’s always tough. Seeing guys like that who I was good friends with leave the organization is hard, but a couple of those guys are friends that I’ll have for a long time.”
Being on the fringes of playoff contention while going through a tough stretch put the Giants in a difficult situation at the deadline. There were questions about if the team would be a buyer or sellers during trade season, but the team came out of deadline day with left-handed hurler Carlos Rodon and outfielder Joc Pederson, two All-Stars, still on the roster.
Even though Crawford wasn’t having a season up his standard (he hit .215 in 72 games with San Francisco after finishing fourth in MVP voting in 2021, when the team won 107 games), he remains optimistic the team could still make a run over the final stages of the season.
“We’re not far out of the playoff race right now,” Crawford said. “Hopefully I can come back healthy and Evan Longoria can come back healthy and we can be at full strength for a little while to close this out. I think with the guys that we have and that we kept we can still make a push for the playoffs the next couple months.”
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 6:54 PM.
