Red Sox reportedly sign Carl Crawford to 7 year $142 million deal

[ausbacker]

Only 6 more years and $120 million or so dollars to go. Seriously, one year in and I was curious what people thought about the Crawford move now. I'm pretty confident he'll get better, but boy oh boy was this a suck year for him. Especially when Ellsbury was MVP'esque. Think the Sox would like a muligan on the CC deal?

I don't think CC was fully prepared for what he was walking in too. John Lackey on the other hand...

 

[chicowalker]

Only 6 more years and $120 million or so dollars to go. Seriously, one year in and I was curious what people thought about the Crawford move now. I'm pretty confident he'll get better, but boy oh boy was this a suck year for him. Especially when Ellsbury was MVP'esque. Think the Sox would like a muligan on the CC deal?

Unless his hamstring problem was a lingering issue and continues to be, he should rebound.

I'll still take him over last year's LFs, and I'm not sure any alternatives at that time would have been better.

 

[Wolfpack]

Only 6 more years and $120 million or so dollars to go. Seriously, one year in and I was curious what people thought about the Crawford move now. I'm pretty confident he'll get better, but boy oh boy was this a suck year for him. Especially when Ellsbury was MVP'esque. Think the Sox would like a muligan on the CC deal?

I think the whole Ellsbury question mark was why they signed Crawford in the first place. 9 months ago, we didn't even know if Ellsbury would be healthy enough to play, to say nothing of the type of season he would have.

So now the Sox have an expensive utility player who can fill in at the top of the order 30-40 times a season. That's only about a half a mil per game. :rocker:

 

[borg]

Thoughts:

The Crawford signing was intended to be Ellsbury insurance. Ellsbury was returning after a mediocre/injury riddled 2010 where his toughness was questioned. Who knew how he was going to bounce back in 2011....but the fact was he was a #9 hitter prior to the collision. Ellsbury was also trade bait and the Sox now had a new speed guy on the roster if Ellsbury was traded. Another possible factor in the Crawford signing, speed and small ball have become more valuable now that PEDs are gone.

Crawford's contract....I have to believe the Sox know it costs more for them to buy a left handed hitter. Right field at Fenway is ominous and HRs die at the warning track. Look at Gonzalez, who turned into a singles hitter.

Crawford the player: That batting stance. I can see the holes in his swing just looking at his stance. That stance has to be reconfigured....which should cause some internal agitation between Carl and the new coaches.

Still trying to understand what they didn't like in Beltre. He was built to tattoo that wall. Maybe he's an ass? Now we have a broken Youk

 

[Run DMC]

Crawford=Crawful. Maybe the Rays dumped a guy with rapidly deteriorating legs? Next year will tell the story. I hope he does well.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

Crawford the player: That batting stance. I can see the holes in his swing just looking at his stance. That stance has to be reconfigured....which should cause some internal agitation between Carl and the new coaches.

Red Sox players being coached???

 

[captain insano]

bump:bricks::bricks:

 

[Keyser Söze]

This contract is going to be a nightmare in three years, maybe sooner. This should help quiet the pink hats...

This................

 

[captain insano]

This................

 

[Wolfpack]

Thoughts:

The Crawford signing was intended to be Ellsbury insurance. Ellsbury was returning after a mediocre/injury riddled 2010 where his toughness was questioned. Who knew how he was going to bounce back in 2011....but the fact was he was a #9 hitter prior to the collision. Ellsbury was also trade bait and the Sox now had a new speed guy on the roster if Ellsbury was traded. Another possible factor in the Crawford signing, speed and small ball have become more valuable now that PEDs are gone.

I think that's exactly why they signed Crawford. No one could have possibly, even remotely foreseen Ellsbury having the type of year he had. The guy played 2 full season and had a total of 17 HR's those years. Then he hits 32 in '11 while also hitting 20 points above his career average.

Personally I'm of half a mind to trade Ellsbury right now. We're stuck with Crawford, and I don't see Ellsbury repeating this year's performance. His value will never be higher than it is right now.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Why would you expect ellsbury to lead off over Crawford?

With Ellsbury's newfound power, honestly he should be batting 3rd for us right now. but he may have to stay at leadoff because we have no one better to bat there. the problem is that crawford sucks as a leadoff hitter because of his low obp. plus hes never been comfortable batting leadoff. the crawford deal looks like a complete albatross now. id much rather be paying big $$ to ellsbury and locking him up for the next 7 years.

Personally I'm of half a mind to trade Ellsbury right now. We're stuck with Crawford, and I don't see Ellsbury repeating this year's performance. His value will never be higher than it is right now.

I absolutely disagree with this line of thinking. You don't trade a player because he's suddenly become too good and in fact is much better than a player you paid too much money for. Crawford is now a 'sunken cost'. You don't base future decisions off of Crawford being a bad deal. Ellsbury is a future superstar, you dont trade him unless you get a superstar in return - I'm talking guys like King Felix and Hanley Ramirez, etc. No less than that would make me trade Ellsbury. How great did it work for the Sox to trade Babe Ruth because he suddenly became an awesome hitter and they were afraid to pay him?

Going for a more recent example, where would the Blue Jays be right now if they had traded Bautista last winter after his breakout season? Instead they extended him to a long term contract early and have now secured a top 5 WAR player at a very good value.

 

[chicowalker]

With Ellsbury's newfound power, honestly he should be batting 3rd for us right now. but he may have to stay at leadoff because we have no one better to bat there. the problem is that crawford sucks as a leadoff hitter because of his low obp. plus hes never been comfortable batting leadoff. the crawford deal looks like a complete albatross now. id much rather be paying big $$ to ellsbury and locking him up for the next 7 years.

I absolutely disagree with this line of thinking. You don't trade a player because he's suddenly become too good and in fact is much better than a player you paid too much money for. Crawford is now a 'sunken cost'. You don't base future decisions off of Crawford being a bad deal. Ellsbury is a future superstar, you dont trade him unless you get a superstar in return - I'm talking guys like King Felix and Hanley Ramirez, etc. No less than that would make me trade Ellsbury. How great did it work for the Sox to trade Babe Ruth because he suddenly became an awesome hitter and they were afraid to pay him?

Going for a more recent example, where would the Blue Jays be right now if they had traded Bautista last winter after his breakout season? Instead they extended him to a long term contract early and have now secured a top 5 WAR player at a very good value.

I think you may be expecting too much out of Ellsbury. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think 930 OPS /320 / 30 / 100 is a healthy annual expectation.

personally, I thought of him as Damon-like in his potential, and I'd still expext that to become the norm for him. (825-850 OPS, 300 / 20, for ex)

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong and you're right (assuming he re-signs )

As for batting leadoff, need to see the lineup come April, but I think Crawford and Ellsbury are remarkably similar in terms of their likely BA and OBP.

One issue with Ellsbury in the 3 spot is that you lose some of the benefit of his speed. But as I said, it depends on who else is on the club come spring.

 

[Boston Boxer]

i just dont understand how we can say the Crawford deal was a bad deal after year 1 of 7. Yes, he had a horrible year, be we cant label it a failure until the deal is over. He could hit .310, 20 hrs, 90 rbis and 40 sb for the nex six years.

 

[Wolfpack]

I absolutely disagree with this line of thinking. You don't trade a player because he's suddenly become too good and in fact is much better than a player you paid too much money for. Crawford is now a 'sunken cost'. You don't base future decisions off of Crawford being a bad deal.

The problem is Crawford is not a sunken cost because he's still here and won't be going anywhere for quite some time (let's face it, cutting him is simply not an option). So you still have to do something with him.

Ellsbury is a future superstar, you dont trade him unless you get a superstar in return - I'm talking guys like King Felix and Hanley Ramirez, etc. No less than that would make me trade Ellsbury.

I don't think he's a future superstar. I think it is far likely he return to his previous years' performances - not that he's a slouch or anything like that. He's a damn decent leadoff hitter. I just am not seeing a future hall of famer. But yes, getting a pitcher of that caliber is precisely what I had in mind.

How great did it work for the Sox to trade Babe Ruth because he suddenly became an awesome hitter and they were afraid to pay him?

Cool. You're comparing Jacoby Ellsbury to Babe Ruth. Yeah I gotta say that alone demonstrates the bankrupcy of your argument.

Going for a more recent example, where would the Blue Jays be right now if they had traded Bautista last winter after his breakout season? Instead they extended him to a long term contract early and have now secured a.

For every Bautista, there's a guy that probably should have been traded. The Red Sox were in a similar position with Mo Vaughn and they let him walk. That turned out to be a good idea. Too bad they didn't get anything for him when they had the chance.

I like the Patriots philosophy. They'd rather get rid of a guy a year or 2 too early than a year or two too late.

 

[Real World]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack
Personally I'm of half a mind to trade Ellsbury right now. We're stuck with Crawford, and I don't see Ellsbury repeating this year's performance. His value will never be higher than it is right now.

I've been thinking the same thing. Crawford is here to stay with that contract. No one is going to take him. I also don't know if Ellsbury will resign here. Not only is he a Boras client, but apparently he talked to no one but Jed Lowrie all year, isn't interested in a hometown discount pre free agency deal, and still has lingering bad blood with the organization over last year. Do you see Ellsbury signing with the Sox for anything less that what Crawford is getting? I don't. Furthermore, to your point, will Ellsbury ever be worth more than he is now? Probably not. He's got 2 full years of team control so he isn't a complete rental for an aquiring team. Ellsbury might be the trigger that gets Lackey out of town. Want Jacoby, well you gotta take Lackey. It's unlikely, but I think all options are on the table this offseason for the Redsox.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Hard to take? The fact I was right on this and on a few other things on this forum. You were wrong on everything, good job.

 

[captain insano]

Hard to take? The fact I was right on this and on a few other things on this forum. You were wrong on everything, good job.

lmao thats the funniest thing i have ever read. you trully are brainless. you have been wrong about everything regarding the redsox. nobody could have been more wrong than you. i on the other hand unfortunately have been spot on .ausbucker was man enough to admit as much. your to much of a little boy to admit when your wrong.all anybody has to do is go to the second page and look for the locked thread by me titled not as high on the sox as most to see for themselves just how wrong you were. keep making a complete jackass fool of yourself kiddo

 

[Wolfpack]

I've been thinking the same thing. Crawford is here to stay with that contract. No one is going to take him. I also don't know if Ellsbury will resign here. Not only is he a Boras client, but apparently he talked to no one but Jed Lowrie all year, isn't interested in a hometown discount pre free agency deal, and still has lingering bad blood with the organization over last year. Do you see Ellsbury signing with the Sox for anything less that what Crawford is getting? I don't. Furthermore, to your point, will Ellsbury ever be worth more than he is now? Probably not. He's got 2 full years of team control so he isn't a complete rental for an aquiring team. Ellsbury might be the trigger that gets Lackey out of town. Want Jacoby, well you gotta take Lackey. It's unlikely, but I think all options are on the table this offseason for the Redsox.

You make an awful lot of sense for a Yankees fan.