Red Sox Interested In Carl Crawford: Are They Willing To Commit?

the Red Sox going eight years for Crawford. I could see them stepping up to a large 5 year deal — in the $100 million range — with some incentives and options to extend the contract. Crawford will likely get at least an offer with more years attached from somewhere. If the Red Sox want him on their terms lengthwise, they are going to have to pay up and be creative. I just hope, that if he is their plan A this offseason, that they are aggressive. Don’t come up “just short” on a deal for your prime target again — especially with the Yankees looking elsewhere.

fyi – Paul and I discuss Crawford at length in this week’s podcast — and hey, we’re slightly entertaining.

There were some results that questioned his ability to play for four years because of problems with his knees, which led to the Sox pulling the four year offer and only giving a two-year deal.

So long as there are no health issues, I don’t see the Sox having a problem with a four-year deal with Werth.

If they were willing to go up to $180 mil. + for Texeira (who was always going to the Yankees), then Crawford should be worth $150-$160+. I rate Crawford a notch below Texieria, so 7-8 years at $20mil./yr. seems to fit the market for Crawford.

We can assume Crawford would hit #3 for the Sox, upgrading and replacing V-Mart there. For all those happy about saving the money with V-mart to spend somewhere else, here is the opportunity. I don’t believe Crawford has had much if any injury issues, his production is not declining and may actually be peaking, so I don’t see many issues with paying him when he is 36-37. That is not old for an elite athelete in this age. This will not be Crawford’s last contract.
If the Yankees want him, they will get him. Forget about this crap about the Yankees occupied with Lee. While I believe Lee is their top priority and they will sign him, the can easily juggle two deals at the same time. They MUST sign Lee. Crawford would be a luxury as they already have a good OF. Will they pay near Texeira money to an OF that will hit 6th in the lineup? Maybe, but not likely.

I’ve been holding my tongue for the past few weeks about this, as the new bloggers deserve time to adjust to writing for a larger audience (and I admit I don’t know if this issue has been brought up in previous threads), but OTM articles of late have been badly in need of a copy editor. I’ve seen spelling errors, grammar issues, and worse. There seems to be a particular profusion of sentences where the writer clearly started with one thought and ended with another, like this:

“Crawford had a career-year based on advanced statistics as Crawford, posting a 6.9 WAR—the highest of his career.”

Mistakes like that shouldn’t regularly make the front page. Either do a more thorough job of editing your own articles before you post them, or find someone else to do it.

That being said, good analysis overall. :) I tend to be skittish about giving players long contracts, since you’re basically assured of at least one injury-hampered season where you get nowhere near full value, but it’s a roll of the dice either way. And there’s a schadenfraude-happy part of me that would love to see the Yankees miss out on both Lee and Crawford this offseason.

He is much younger and would have more upside and it would not break the bank or the farm -

I would rather see Upton and Beltre than Crawford.

Let’s think about what Crawford can actually do. He will be pretty much the best fielding LF since Duffy, so I think there’s a decent chance he could revolutionize the way the wall is played. There were stories about how Tris Speaker had such range that he could play closer to 2B than CF. Maybe we can try the same thing with Carl.

After all, he knows the wall already.

Eight years is too many for Carl Crawford. Speed is a huge asset to Crawford and there’s no way he’ll be as fast in eight years. It’s not like he’s a batter with a great eye — something that doesn’t really change over time.

I like Crawford, but I would go no more than five years for him.

… and that the price and years are going to be pushed through the roof by bidding teams to the point that neither is palatable. I like both players, I’d just rather have Kalish + the Sox’ first rounder than either Werth at 6/$17MM or Crawford at 8/$20MM

So could it be Theo & Co are going back and forth with Crawford and Werth? It’s been reported Werth wants a 6 year deal whereas Crawford wants an 8 year deal. So perhaps they want to see who will be cheaper overall in the end and go that way?

My theory (and it’s been said elsewhere, 98.5 SportsHub for example) is that Red Sox Management needs to make amends for completely whiffing on the Mark Teixera signing. Heck, we could go as far as saying it goes all the way back to losing Johnny Damon to the Yankees. TV ratings have slipped and the general consensus is that ownership needs/wants to make a big-name signing. As it’s been said: “chicks dig the long ball;” this would be similar to that. Ownership has been a bit mixed in regards to all this, but they all know what’s at stake here.

So expect either Crawford or Werth to be a member of the Red Sox in 2011.

I just hope beyond hope it’s not super long deal. Honestly, if you had to pick a poison, I’d prefer picking a shorter deal that’s more expensive year to year than being stuck in a super long deal.

that it is based on the english language

and we speak american here

so no one knows the rules

This is the sort of bloody nonsense up that with which I will not put.

does this effectively affect your opinion?

Devotees of grammatical studies have not been distinguished for any very remarkable felicities of expression. ~Bronson Alcott