ANAHEIM -- J.P. Crawford knows how the business side of baseball works, maybe more than anyone in the Mariners’ clubhouse.
After all, he’s Seattle’s longest-tenured player and has seen some of his closest friends leave the organization based on the club’s competitive direction in those moments.
Which is why Crawford is not bitter about the Mariners’ signing his heir apparent -- No. 1 prospect Colt Emerson -- to an eight-year, $95 million extension earlier this week, months before his own contract will expire.
If anything, Crawford was vexed about the perception that he’d be resentful about it.
“I know there's a lot of [expletive] going on with that right now, but I'm a good human being,” Crawford told MLB.com before Friday’s game against the Angels. “I congratulated him, wishing him nothing but the best. And he's going to come up here and help us win ballgames. And that's what we want at the end of the day, is to go win the World Series -- and he will for sure help us do that. So I can't wait to get him up here.”
Crawford, who missed Seattle’s first seven games of the season due to right shoulder inflammation, was activated from the 10-day injured list during the club’s off-day Thursday. He was in Friday’s lineup at Angel Stadium, batting seventh and playing shortstop.
Crawford played in one rehab assignment game at Triple-A Tacoma, going 0-for-4 with one strikeout and one walk while playing all nine innings in the field.
Next to him in that contest on Tuesday, at third base, was Emerson.
Photos surfaced on social media of the veteran smiling at and fist-bumping the 20-year-old, the latest encapsulation of Crawford bringing a young infielder under his wing. He did so with Cole Young last Spring Training, inviting him for ride-alongs to Cactus League games. And even more moving, he officiated Ryan Bliss’ wedding last offseason.
This situation with Emerson, however, directly impacts his future with the organization.
He knows it, respects it and doesn’t shy from it. Any notion suggesting otherwise -- especially speculation at it causing a clubhouse rift -- is not true, Crawford says.
“That's just not who I am,” Crawford said. “I'm really happy for the kid, and he's going to help us win a lot of ballgames this year. So I'm excited for him. I'm excited for him to get up here. And whatever happens after that, happens. But I have one goal, and that's to win a World Series with this team. That's the only thing that's on my mind right now.”
Fostering an October-forward mindset, Crawford says, necessitates veteran buy-in to younger players. It’s how he was brought up by Kyle Seager and Dee Strange-Gordon -- former team leaders who’ve been gone a half-decade but whom he still speaks to regularly.
“Whoever comes up here, we’re going to make them feel at home, make them feel comfortable so they can help us right away win some ballgames,” Crawford said. “Because the sooner they feel comfortable here, the better they do.
“That’s been our goal -- for me, Julio [Rodriguez] and Cal [Raleigh] and whoever the leaders are here -- when a young guy gets brought up, we’ve got to make them feel comfortable right away. Because that can take time. And when you’re not comfortable at a place, you’re not going to play baseball your way.”
When Crawford was acquired by the Mariners in the 2018-19 offseason, he was viewed as a high-upside but low-risk addition. The club had just embarked on its rebuild, and even though he was a former top-five prospect by MLB Pipeline, Crawford wasn’t necessarily the player that the Mariners intended to build around.
Yet, he’s outlasted every teammate from back then. And as an instrumental piece to arguably the best era in franchise history, there’s a decent chance that Crawford is one day in the club’s hall of fame.
But there’s also the reality that Crawford probably won’t be here beyond this season, and if that’s the case, he believes he still has plenty left.
“Nothing has changed for me,” Crawford said. “This is the biggest year of my career, so I'm going to be locked in every day to try to help the team win, but to help myself at the end of the day, too. It's my free-agent year. I have the chance to make some money if I play well, and we'll see what happens after that.”