Carl Crawford $142 Million Dollar Man

Way too early to determine a damn thing about anything not injury related in baseball.

And Pavlov>his dog. The stalking is getting old

 

It was Crawford's great fortune to become a free agent when he did, the best outfielder in a weak crop. A guy who has never hit 20 HRs, walked more than 51 times or had a slugging percentage above .500 isn't just going to up and become the best outfielder in the league simply because he's paid to be that. Take away the steals (which the Red Sox will do) and he is above average.

 

He's played in at least 143 games in seven of his eight seasons. J.D. Drew wishes he could say that. I think Crawford will be fine in the long run ... of course he's pressing a bit.

 

Does Crawford dream he was in Anaheim instead of Fenway?

 

I don't think anyone is disputing Crawford is a better player than J.D. Drew.

The Sox overpaid for Drew (they paid him half of what they'll pay Crawford), but he's been fairly productive for them and has had only one of his four seasons in Beantown shortened by injury. Is he a $15 million/year player? Not by a long shot. But you don't hear any Boston fans screaming about what a disaster his contract is.

Is Crawford a $20 million/year player? Not now and he certainly won't be by the end of his contract. But I doubt you'll see anyone calling him "one of the worst signings ever by the Red Sox."

I think that's the real point here. No one was comparing the two as players. I think we were comparing how their production will live up to their respective contracts.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/content/maddon-no-dropoff-crawford-fuld#comments
Maddon: "No dropoff" from Crawford to Fuld
Rays Maddon on Sam Fuld's LF defense compared to Carl Crawford, who won a Gold Glove last year: "There's no dropoff. There's no dropoff. To say that right now, I would just be appeasing everybody. That's not true. Sam's playing that level of defense right now. He throws the ball better. And right now, all the different things he's doing defensively, I can't tell you that Carl's better. I can not."

 

The Sox have had a lot worse signings than this, Renteria for starters.

Crawford is pressing way too much, though. Maybe yesterday will help him get untracked a tad.

 

Why would he want to get untracked?

Sorry, pet peeve ... somehow the phrase "get on track" has been upended to "get untracked" which makes absolutely no sense.

 

I'd have no problem paying J.D. Drew $15 million for his 2008 or 2009 seasons, missed games and all.

 

Two words.....Matt Clement

 

Clement was a bad deal, but he actually started off OK until he got hurt.

 

Sorry, I hadn't consumed enough caffeine before the post.