San Francisco Giants teammates Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt showed dramatic improvement in 2020 and 2021, only to fall flat and perhaps cost the team a shot at the playoffs in 2022. After the SF Giants hired Gabe Kapler, and he brought in an entirely new coaching staff, many Giants hitters showed huge improvement in 2020. But it was a short season, and people wondered whether the SF Giants would be able to carry it into 2021. They did so and then some, with several Giants hitters having career years and the Giants winning a franchise record 107 games.
It was reasonable to expect some of that success—which had spanned many players across two seasons—to continue for the San Francisco Giants in 2022. But almost everyone, including Crawford and Belt, failed to live up to even pessimistic expectations. Crawford went from a 6+ fWAR season and finishing fourth in MVP voting in 2021 to posting just 2.0 fWAR with a below-average wRC+. He was, at best, an average player for the SF Giants. The Giants extended Crawford midway through the 2021 season, so he is under contract for $16 million in 2023. Will the Giants pursue one of the top free agent shortstops despite Crawford's presence on the roster?
As for Belt, he went from being legitimately one of the bets offensive players in baseball in 2020-21 to being below-average offensively in 2022. Belt went from posting about 3.5 fWAR in less than 100 games in 2021 to posting 0.0 in about 80 games in 2022. Injuries ravaged Belt's season, and he ended up undergoing season-ending surgery on his knee. The Giants had brought Belt back on an $18.4 million qualifying offer, but this offseason he is a true free agent. Will the San Francisco Giants bring Belt back for another year? Or are his days of being the Giants' first baseman officially over?
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The best daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Whether the Giants are winning championships or retooling for another title run, Locked On Giants host Ben Kaspick—a lifelong Giants fan and former contributor for RotoGraphs and Beyond the Box Score—breaks down every game, rumor, and transaction in a way that's data-driven and rational but also simple, passionate, and accessible to all.
Follow Ben Kaspick on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the San Francisco Giants and talking with fans.
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenKaspick
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