Analyzing the Mike Fontenot/Evan Crawford Trade

The Giants have continued to make tons of minor deals to try to upgrade their team. Given that they have now fallen to five games out in the NL West, it doesn’t seem to have worked.

One of the moves they made after the trade deadline was a waiver deal in which they acquired infielder Mike Fontenot from the Chicago Cubs for minor league outfielder Evan Crawford.

Fontenot, 30, has hit .286/.332/.406 this year, so he’s a nice little player, particularly since he has good defensive versatility. Plus defenders at second who can slug .400 aren’t as common as you’d think.

He’s an upgrade over Freddy Sanchez (.258/.320/.323 with similar defense) at second base for the Giants. A platoon arrangement would work well, as Fontenot doesn’t hit lefties well and Sanchez has hit .309/.373/.441 off of them this year.

Fontenot also has two arbitration years left, so he should continue to be an asset for the Giants for a few years at reasonable prices.

As for Crawford, he’s a 22-year-old who hit .252/.316/.363 in Low-A. The Cubs pushed him to High-A after the trade.

Crawford does run well (24 steals) and his defense is good, but he doesn’t have much of a bat, and it’s not like he’s some sort of slumping former top prospect–he was just a ninth-rounder last year. He has just four homers this year but still strikes out like a power hitter, whiffing well over a quarter of the time.

I normally come out on the side of the team acquiring prospects, but I don’t see Crawford projecting as more than a Freddy Guzman type in the majors, if that. 2 1/2 years of a decent major leaguer for a guy with Freddy Guzman upside? Not worth it to me. The Cubs should’ve just held onto Fontenot if this was the best offer they had for him.