Cardinals agree with shortstop, a three-time All-Star Crawford

The Cardinals have reached an agreement with veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford to provide backup coverage for rookie phenom Masyn Winn, while Tommy Edman’s status for Opening Day remains uncertain due to surgery on his right wrist over the summer. This information was verified by a source to MLB.com on Monday.
Before the contract is finalized, Crawford, 37, has to pass a physical at the team’s Florida headquarters on Tuesday. The transaction has not yet been verified by the club.

Before, Crawford played with the Giants for his entire 13-year career. There, he won the Silver Slugger in 2015, was a three-time All-Star, and had four Gold Gloves. A career.250 hitter, Crawford played in only 93 games in 2023 due to injuries, and his on-base percentage was just.194.
As recently as 2021, the shortstop hit.298 with 24 home runs and 90 RBIs, making him an All-Star. That season, Crawford not only won his fourth Gold Glove, but he also came in fourth place in the NL MVP vote.
Tim Anderson (Marlins), Nick Ahmed (Giants), Amed Rosario (Rays), Enrique Hernandez (Dodgers), and Gio Urshela (Tigers) are the middle infielders who signed elsewhere recently.
Oliver Marmol, the manager of the Cardinals, said on Monday morning that Edman would probably still need a few weeks to become comfortable hitting live pitches. Edman, who is expected to start for the Cardinals in center field and is their preferred shortstop backup to Winn, had surgery in October to fix injury to his right wrist that had been bothering him for the previous two seasons.
Edman continued to hit from a tee and only swing at coaches’ soft toss throws on Monday. Due to wrist constraints, Edman, who switches, is more comfortable hitting from the left side of the plate than from the right, according to Marmol. The Cards are hoping that before Edman enters the batter’s box for live batting practice, he will get to the point where he is hitting off coaches and a pitching machine. Marmol said that Edman won’t be ready for games until he completes those stages.
The Cardinals’ situation is further complicated by the fact that former Gold Glover Brendan Donovan just had surgery to replace his right elbow’s ligaments. Despite the fact that physicians have cleared him completely, the Cards have made an effort to restrict his throws throughout training camp. Donovan was the first rookie in franchise history to earn a Gold Glove in 2022, playing six positions, including shortstop, but it seems like he won’t be able to return to that position due to his prior arm injury.
The topic of discussion at the moment is: Who else can do it? Is it temporary, or are you able to leave them there for many weeks at a time and still feel at ease? Marmol said at the end of last week that the Cardinals want more dependable depth at shortstop. And knowing exactly what it entails. Over the next several weeks, we have the chance to achieve that.
Winn, a 21-year-old who is currently MLB Pipeline’s top-ranked prospect in the Cards’ organization, made his Major League debut with the team in August of last year. Winn was relatively unproductive at the bat while displaying some outstanding defense. In 37 games, he only batted.172 with a.230 on base percentage.
Gaining fifteen pounds in the aim of building up strength to better handle Major League Baseball pitchers, Winn made a stunning debut in the Grapefruit League on Sunday. In the Cards’ 3-0 victory against the Astros, he went 3-for-3 with a double, two hard-hit singles, a stolen base, and the game’s defensive highlight. Winn hopes to utilize this spring to address any doubts about his ability to be the Cardinals’ regular starting shortstop. He missed two days of training last week due to back pain.
Winn said, “I’m really just going out there and playing baseball.” “My goal is to enjoy myself, catch some balls, make some plays, and provide the audience with entertainment they enjoy.”

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