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Talk about overpaying
Talk about overpaying
SI_JonHeyman: crawford becomes the highest paid OF in baseball history. (9th biggest contract in baseball history). #redsox [via Twitter]
Crawford deal $52M more than next-highest paid player who never hit 20 homers in a season - Ichiro. #RedSox #MLB [via Twitter]
Joelsherman1: In Gonzalez/Crawford, #Redsox get 2 late-20s, lefty-swinging, 2-way stars. This is the answer to Sabathia/Teixeira 2 yrs later #Yankees [via Twitter]
SI_JonHeyman: #redsox obviously not adversely affected by john henry's liverpool soccer purchase. now up to about $302 mil (crawford & a-gon) [via Twitter]
For the Red Sox, is it overpaying? Sure...but at least it keeps him away from the Yankees. And believe me the Red Sox needed outfield help BADLY. To count on Ellsbury, Drew, and Cameron last year was a total fail because 2 out of the 3 we're basically hurt the entire year. Adding A-Gon and Crawford only makes the Red Sox a of a lot better...
On another note, it would be ing hilarious if the Yankees don't get Lee now. Missing out on the top 2 FA's would be great to see...
This also is going to expand Lee's contract to above $150 million. The Yankees offer currently stands at 6 yrs between $137-140 million. I sure hope the Rangers stick it to the Yankees and offer $150 million or so...
lee wants 7 years
That's outrageous money for a guy who doesn't hit home runs or drive in runs at an elite level. $20 million a year for a base stealer? I guess I'm not that surprised since that's what it was looking like anyway, but jeez that's a lot of money and a lot of years for Crawford.
The guy will thrive at Fenway, that's for sure...
Pretty f'ing insane. That said, it's not my money, and if he wins us another le, I don't give an F.
As an Angel fan, im disappointed...but ...20 mill per...lol sox.
Should i get a Beltre Jersey?
not sure I understand the hating on crawford. He's a 5 tool guy, something which is extremely rare these days. In this (Red Sox) lineup, he won't really need to hit home runs anyway (although he'll probably hover around 20 jacks a year/80 RBI, maybe more considering Fenway is a hitter's paradise) because there will be other guys surrounding him who can hit for power. His job will be to get on base and score runs, something which he excels at. I don't think it's overpaying at all. With A-Gonz and Crawford, the Sawx are now the clear favorite in the East, even if the Yanks sign Lee
Now the deal for Werth, OTOH, is definitely overpaying.
To be fair, he hit out of the two-hole for most of his career, so there wasn't much opportunity to drive in runs and that wasn't really his role. His role was to get on-base and use his speed to get into scoring position.
This past year he hit out of the three-hole and was relatively successful at driving in runs and hitting for more power (albeit not significantly more). He has also stayed healthy for most of his career, which is more than can be said for the rest of the BoSox outfield.
It's a ton of money from a historical perspective, but given the contracts that have been handed out to this point (Werth, Benoit, Berkman, Pena) I'd say it's about par for the course.
Looks like the Sox are right back in the thick of it, even though they had to s out a crazy amount of money to do it.
I'm not hating on Crawford. And I do believe he was the best position player available who's still got a good portion of his prime left ahead of him. I expected him to get a lot of money. It's still pretty incredible how much that is considering he's not a big homerun or RBI guy. Yeah, i know he hit at or near the top of the line-up so he's not in a run producing spot in the line-up. But the only player in the league he's comparable might be Ichiro but Crawford doesn't have Ichiro's arm and isn't anywhere near the hitter. Top of the line-up batter with roughly a .350 OBP. I mean, that's good. But we're talking about the highest paid outfielder in the game now.
And while a really great all around player, Crawford is not a true 5 tool player. A 5 tool player can hit for power, meaning at least 25+ HRs a year. A 5 tool player has a rifle of an arm. Crawford has a good arm, not a great arm. Although I will concede in the shorter LF in Fenway it won't matter as much at least for half the season at home games. Crawford has elite speed, can hit for average (although it's not like he's hitting .320+, he's a borderline .300 hitter), and he can field. Power bat and rifle arm are average compared to true 5 tool players.
I guess I'm just surprised the contract was this big. But I guess Werth's contract did impact this. Before the Werth signing, I was thinking Crawford was going to get roughly $100-115 over 6 years at most which is still a lot of money. But $22 million over 7 is just silly money. That puts him in the class of in their prime Ichiro and Jeter as crazy contract MLB players who don't hit 30+ HR and drive in 100+ RBI. Jose Reyes can look forward to free agency next winter.
your prediction failed me!
Can Crawford come out of the bullpen to save a game? Or, better yet limit the injuries the Red Sox had in the coming year? This was a move to combat the Yankees, but I would still give the advantage to the Pinstripes if they are able to land Cliff Lee because the starting rotation of the Yankees would be a two-headed monster with C.C. and Cliff while the Red Sox would still have to rely on Lackey, Beckett, Bucholz, and co. to silence the potent Yankee line-up. But then again, it could totally be moot and a team that is void of super offense (i.e. the Giants...) could win the World Series with vaunted pitching and just enough offense. Sucks that the local Angels team couldn't get Crawford, but that just means later down the road the money will be freed up for the next big thing.
At least a lot of cash comes off the books next year for the Sox. Ortiz, Drew, Papelbon, Scutaro and a few others.
What I really like about the Red Sox by adding Crawford, they do add that element of speed back in the line-up, like they had a couple years ago with Ellsbury. And if they keep Ellsbury (I think they should), whether Ellsbury stays at the top of the order or if he slides down to the #9 spot, they'll have two serious burners around each other causing havoc.
In reality, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford are only a slight upgrade at the plate over what Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre did last year, but they're both younger and Crawford adds that speed factor. And in reality, Beltre is such a wildcard because you have no idea if he'll be consistent enough to produce the same type of season as last year, whereas you really know what you're getting with Gonzalez and Crawford. Then you bring back guys who missed a lot of games in Ellsbury, Pedroia, and Youkilis, and that line-up looks pretty scary even if Papi declines considerably and even if there's an injury or two along the way over the course of the season.
Buster_ESPN:
Heard this: The Angels' offer to Carl Crawford was $108 m. over 6 years,or $18 m. a year. Which means the Red Sox offer was much higher. [via
Losing Victor Martinez I think will end up being bigger than losing Beltre. I think Beltre just got hot for a year and will probablly come back down to earth this season...
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