Brandon Crawford to IL, Luis Matos recalled

The San Francisco Giants announced this morning that SS/RHP Brandon Crawford has been placed on the 10-day IL with left forearm tightness. I mentioned yesterday that Casey Schmitt’s callup was in direct response to this lingering issue and here it is speeding up the end of Crawford’s season and likely career.

Susan Slusser tweeted yesterday that this forearm issue has existed since before the All-Star Break and as this Alex Pavlovic tweet reminds, it’s been a season-long thing for him. When it’s all said and done, 2023 will be the worst season of his life and probably his last season of professional baseball.

These veteran IL moves as the season winds down are almost always too painful to think about in the moment exactly because they signal THE END IS NEAR. Endings, finality, “death” — tough human experiences to contemplate. Nobody wants it all to stop, and the gradual fade away gives leeway to imagine that there’s still a chance it’ll all work out in the end. Time = hope, in other words, but when that final grain of sand falls through the skinny neck of the hourglass, what then?

Here’s hoping that this IL stint gets Brandon Crawford nice and rested for a final attack in a Giants uniform. There are still games in Colorado where the team will need his defense — recall last season when he flashed his wizardry after an IL stint — and he’ll have a chance to boost his offensive numbers (his 15 career HR at Coors are his most in any stadium outside Oracle); and then there are still seven games left against the Dodgers.

We’ll have the next 5-6 weeks to really dig into everything he’s meant to the team through its competitive cycle and off the field, but for now, here’s another step along the path to saying goodbye to a legitimate Giants hero.

As for Matos: he was bad on defense and at the plate when the Giants sent him down and a 1-for-12 in three games with Triple-A Sacramento should in no way make you reinvest in the prospect this season. He needs more seasoning, the Giants just need a body.