SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners are moving on from veteran shortstop J.P. Crawford and will not bring him back for the 2027 season, ending a run that made him the longest-tenured shortstop in club history.
Crawford, 31, reached free agency for the first time last week after finishing a five-year, $51 million contract he signed on Opening Day in 2022. He joined Seattle in 2019 and played 974 games for the club. The team has not made a formal announcement.
Crawford had said he wanted to stay in Seattle for the rest of his career. In the final game of the regular season on Sept. 27, he was lifted in the fifth inning so a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park could give him a standing ovation.
He was part of the core that ended a 21-year playoff drought in 2022, and in August the club named him among the top 50 players in its history during its 50th anniversary celebration.
Seattle now has to settle who plays shortstop. Top prospect Colt Emerson, 21, signed a $95 million extension in the spring but had a rough rookie year while playing through a left wrist injury, and he had surgery on it in August. Cole Young plays second base, and Brendan Donovan is expected to see some time at third.
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