Cardinals' castoff could be short-term solution for Padres with Ha-Seong Kim on IL

The San Diego Padres will be without shortstop Ha-Seong Kim for at least the next couple of weeks. The Friars placed their best defensive infielder on the 10-day IL with a shoulder injury. Kim jammed his shoulder awkwardly diving back into first base during the Padres' game over the weekend against the Colorado Rockies.

The Friar faithful were holding out hope that Kim wouldn't need an IL sint, but that's exactly what happened. While the Padres remain optimistic Kim won't be out of commission much past the 10-day minimum, these types of injuries can have lingering effects.

At the moment, the Padres have decided to turn to Tyler Wade at shortstop. The club also added Matthew Batten back to the active roster. But an old division rival is back on the open market, and it may behoove AJ Preller to see if Brandon Crawford would be interested in coming back to the NL West.

Cardinals' castoff Brandon Crawford could be short-term solution for Padres with Ha-Seong Kim on IL

Crawford was released from the St. Louis Cardinals in order to make room for Matt Carpenter and Luken Baker. The former San Francisco Giants shortstop signed with St. Louis this past offseason as insurance in the event that Masyn Winn wasn't ready for the big leagues.

As it turns out, the Cardinals' rookie has been more than up to the task, and it's forced St. Louis to use Crawford as little more than a bench bat. The veteran infielder has just 71 at-bats this season and hasn't found a regular spot in the Cardinals' lineup all season. Crawford is hitting just .169/.263/.282 on the season, but that's with sporadic playing time.

And though Crawford's bat may have been a disappointment this season, his glove is as good as it's ever been. At 37 years old, Crawford doesn't possess the same speed of range he did while winning three straight Gold Gloves with the Giants, but according to Baseball Savant, Crawford is still worth 3 outs above average (OAA) despite logging fewer than 200 innings in the field.

Given Kim's unknown status, it could be worth taking a flier on Crawford. Any team is free to sign the shortstop to a prorated contract. Having seen the success of Jurickson Profar and Donovan Solano this season, adding another undervalued veteran like Crawford seems like just the type of move Preller and Padres' front office should make.

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