The Carlos Correa saga is still developing, with the Mets reportedly expressing similar concerns with his medical record as the Giants did. As of Tuesday, Correa reportedly prefers to play for New York but is uninterested in restructuring the 12-year, $315 million deal they agreed to shortly after San Francisco backed out.
The complicated nature of the Correa situation didn’t prevent Giants fans — and some pundits — from collectively freaking out when the team let Correa out of their agreed upon 13-year, $350 million deal that was so close to getting finalized that an introductory press conference had already been scheduled.
Some fans were so disillusioned by the stunning twist that they vowed to cancel their season tickets. Some radio personalities ripped president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and team ownership both for letting Correa slip away and for their subsequent lack of accountability.
But Mike Krukow, longtime Giants broadcaster and former Giants pitcher, said on KNBR Tuesday morning that the outrage was inappropriate.
“Calm down,” Krukow when F.P. Santangelo and Matt Kolsky asked for his message to Giants fans.
“Calm down, and do it now. Some of the things that were said to our organization during this time — I understand passion. I do. It’s what makes an organization great. And this thing got so out of hand so quickly, the last show I did last Thursday, I knew going in that there was no way that I could win this deal. There’s no way. If I said one positive thing in defense of the organization, I was going to get blistered. And I did. I got called things, had emails sent to me, and it was brutal. I didn’t like it. And I didn’t like it because there was nobody listening.”
Krukow said the main frustration Giants fans had was the organization’s silence. Zaidi released a short statement, but otherwise the team hasn’t addressed the situation publicly. Krukow explained that for legal reasons, the Giants had no other choice.
“And (the fans’) comment was: wait a second, there was nobody talking with the Giants organization! They couldn’t,” Krukow said. “They couldn’t because of the legal ramifications of what surrounded the controversy. If they said anything, they ran the risk of being sued by Correa, by Boras, by the players association, by God knows how many others. So you just had to sit there and wear it. And Farhan Zaidi took ungodly heat, just vicious stuff. The stuff that was said to me, it pissed me off but I kind of wrote it off as it’s passion, you have to take the good and the bad. But a lot of the stuff was unfair. And a lot of the stuff said by the talking heads on the radio, it was a joke. It was name-calling, it was vicious, it was uncalled for.”
With the Mets expressing the same concern about Correa’s leg injury that occurred in 2014, the Giants look much more rational in their approach than they did without prior explanation.
But in the moment, when the Mets signed the two-time All-Star shortstop less than 12 hours after his previously scheduled introductory press conference at Oracle Park, it made sense that fans would be clamoring for answers.
“I’m just saying calm down,” Krukow said. “Because it’s hard to forget some of that stuff. People are people. If stuff gets said to you that’s so vindictive that’s so mean-spirited, I mean why? That’s what social media is? Let the trolls have their way? Just calm down.”
What the Giants have done this offseason has impressed Krukow. San Francisco added outfielders Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto, plus starting pitchers Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling. Although the club lost ace Carlos Rodón to the Yankees, their defense should be improved and the rotation remains deep on paper.
Offered an opportunity for closing thoughts, Krukow reiterated his message to Giants fans.
“Calm down,” Krukow said. “It’s serious business. Give this organization a chance to do what they do, and you’ve got great people at the top. (People) questioned their ability to do so and asked for them to be fired? Come on. Calm down. Serious.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
