Kruk and Kuip sticking around

Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, the wildly popular Giants broadcasting tandem, each signed a multiyear contract extension, the team announced Friday.

Krukow and Kuiper, Giants teammates in the 1980s, are starting their 24th season as partners in the booth. They will work together on NBC Sports Bay Area broadcasts, with Kuiper also spending time on KNBR radio broadcasts.

“I am thrilled that two of the most treasured Giants of all time will remain in the Giants broadcast booth for the foreseeable future,” club president Larry Baer said in a statement. “Kruk and Kuip do more than just broadcast our games. They are the connection between the Giants and many of our fans who follow us on our broadcasts.

“They turn every game into a family get-together and they create a narrative that goes way beyond what happens on the field.”

Krukow, who continues to battle a degenerative muscle disease called inclusion-body myositis, is expected to call about 120 games. Kuiper will work nearly all of the team’s 162 regular-season games.

Kuiper said his contract expired at the end of last year; he agreed to the extension more than a month ago, but the Giants wanted to announce the news at Friday’s season-opening Play Ball luncheon.

Asked about the extensions in his pregame session with reporters Friday night, manager Bruce Bochy said of Krukow and Kuiper, “They’ve got some great agents, I’ll say that. … No, everybody loves Kruk and Kuip. They do such a great job.

“They have a great way about them, a great sense of humor, and they’re good baseball men. They know the game.” Rollins released: The Giants released shortstop/second baseman Jimmy Rollins so he can “pursue other opportunities,” according to the club.

Rollins, 38, apparently is contemplating whether to continue his career. He hit .119 in 42 at-bats for the Giants this spring, in his unsuccessful attempt to make the team as a backup middle infielder.

Rollins, born in Oakland and raised in Alameda, is a fourtime Gold Glove winner, threetime All-Star and onetime National League MVP (in 2007). He also earned one World Series ring, with the Phillies in ’08.