[Sox Sweep Again]

NESN...

7/142

[Renton]

Two years longer than I'd hoped for AND too much money, but the lineup is looking pretty sick right about now. Meanwhile the Yankees are re-signing a shitty shortstop and are trying to make an even worse deal for Cliff Lee.

This post has been edited by Renton: 09 December 2010 - 12:30 AM

[Sox Sweep Again]

Renton, on 09 December 2010 - 12:28 AM, said:

Two years longer than I'd hoped for AND too much money, but the lineup is looking pretty sick right about now. Meanwhile the Yankees are re-signing a shitty shortstop and are trying to make an even worse deal for Cliff Lee.

It's a little more than Werth got and the same seven years.

It's a market deal.

Fine with me!

[Renton]

I know, but that never makes it ok. There was once a "market deal" that Carlos Silva got in '08, something like 4 years for $50 mil for the most mediocre of all mediocre of pitchers. I hate the Nationals.

[acr]

I don't like this.

If you're going to dedicate that much cash to a left fielder, he better be a franchise cornerstone guy like a Braun, Hamilton, or Holliday. Not ****ing Carl Crawford. He's pretty much average at the dish and is a one trick pony, when he gets knee injuries and loses his speed, we're going to regret this. He has none of the power Werth does and is another leftie who'll get shut down by Sabathia, etc.

At least this means we can trade Ellsbury. They better not go into the season with both of them in the lineup and doing hit and runs like some sort of Mike Scioscia shit team.

This post has been edited by acr: 09 December 2010 - 12:38 AM

[Sox Sweep Again]

Renton, on 09 December 2010 - 12:35 AM, said:

I know, but that never makes it ok. There was once a "market deal" that Carlos Silva got in '08, something like 4 years for $50 mil for the most mediocre of all mediocre of pitchers. I hate the Nationals.

Uh-huh.

But there are far more "market deals" that end up making sense.

I'm all for this, at this early point.

[Renton]

Sox Sweep Again, on 09 December 2010 - 12:39 AM, said:

Uh-huh.

But there are far more "market deals" that end up making sense.

I'm all for this, at this early point.

I don't think that's anywhere near true.

[Sox Sweep Again]

Renton, on 09 December 2010 - 12:46 AM, said:

I don't think that's anywhere near true.

Most market deals fail?

[Kid T]

acr, on 09 December 2010 - 12:37 AM, said:

I don't like this.

If you're going to dedicate that much cash to a left fielder, he better be a franchise cornerstone guy like a Braun, Hamilton, or Holliday. Not ****ing Carl Crawford. He's pretty much average at the dish and is a one trick pony, when he gets knee injuries and loses his speed, we're going to regret this. He has none of the power Werth does and is another leftie who'll get shut down by Sabathia, etc.

One trick pony? Are you confusing Carl Crawford with Scott Podsednik? His OBP has increased to a acceptable .350-ish level over the last two seasons. His power certainly isn't as good as Werth's, but certainly average (15-20 HR's a year)...and he's a superior fielder to Werth.




While he may have received an offer similar in length to Werth, he's also 2-3 years younger so he will be 36 when this deal ends, and not 38 (like Werth).

[Sox Sweep Again]

Kid T, on 09 December 2010 - 01:23 AM, said:

One trick pony? Are you confusing Carl Crawford with Scott Podsednik? His OBP has increased to a acceptable .350-ish level over the last two seasons. His power certainly isn't as good as Werth's, but certainly average (15-20 HR's a year)...and he's a superior fielder to Werth.




While he may have received an offer similar in length to Werth, he's also 2-3 years younger so he will be 36 when this deal ends, and not 38 (like Werth).

Exactly.

Sometimes you need to make a market deal.

[The Ghost of Ned Martin]

The Red Sox just signed a 29 year old, 4 time all star who happens to be the best LF in the league. Last weekend some fans were screeching about how cheap the Red Sox were when the Gonzalez deal seemed to be in jeopardy. Now some fans are upset because they paid too much for Crawford.

And you wonder why people hate Red Sox fans.

[BigSlick]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 09 December 2010 - 06:34 AM, said:

The Red Sox just signed a 29 year old, 4 time all star who happens to be the best LF in the league. Last weekend some fans were screeching about how cheap the Red Sox were when the Gonzalez deal seemed to be in jeopardy. Now some fans are upset because they paid too much for Crawford.

And you wonder why people hate Red Sox fans.

You should have called them all pussies, then you'd be 100% right, as previously established.

In the last few days the Sox traded for the best player on the trade market and signed the best available FA and people are still bitching.

[Bozzs]

No bitching here..sox just got two anchors for the next 7 years at the begining of their primes...amazing.
Supposedly the Angels made a 7 year 106 million offer...and then the sox stepped in.
wow !

This post has been edited by Bozzs: 09 December 2010 - 07:23 AM

[Edmund Dantes]

I'm just happy he won't be stealing 3 or 4 bases a game against us every time we play the Rays.

No real complaints on this one. I could nitpick around the total years and overall money, but they don't stand out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of what's going on in the market so it would just be nitpicking.

Good deal.

[Hail Cesar]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 09 December 2010 - 06:34 AM, said:

The Red Sox just signed a 29 year old, 4 time all star who happens to be the best LF in the league. Last weekend some fans were screeching about how cheap the Red Sox were when the Gonzalez deal seemed to be in jeopardy. Now some fans are upset because they paid too much for Crawford.

And you wonder why people hate Red Sox fans.

Argh. Too much money for one guy. Now I'll have to pay $8.00 for a Fenway Frank. WTF!

But in all seriousness... Crawford's got a career OPS over .700 at Fenway Park and over .800 at Yankee Stadium. Hopefully that transalates this season. Regardless... gotta think he's gonna be stealing a few bags here. Running Red Sox? Looks like it.

Apparently the Red Sox also made a 7 year offer to Lee as well. Kinda figured that they were one of the mystery teams. Granted it's probably only to drive up the price for the Yankees, but, what if Lee agrees to the deal? Things could get really crazy.

Next moves for the Red Sox would seem to be fortifying the bullpen on a cheaper scale. That would seem to mean no Scott Downs.

[JMDurron]

At this point, Theo Epstein is to the MLB Offseason what Bill Belichick is to the NFL Draft. Holy hell, there's no point in even trying to guess what he is ever going to do at this point.

For the record, I really don't like this deal. Carl Crawford is actually less valuable to the Boston Red Sox than he is to any other team in the league. He is a premium player, but that is because he is very good at several skills, as opposed to being awesome in a single skill, a la Adrian Gonzalez. Crawford's immense defensive value as a top-flight LF is mitigated by Fenway Park's dimensions, so we basically lose a large chunk of his value for 81 games a year. His baserunning value is less mitigated, but still impacted by Fenway's dimensions, in that even in this changing offensive environment, it is still more risky for a team to risk outs in exchange for steals at Fenway Park than it is in a ballpark such as, say, Safeco field, because a double or HR that would score the speedy runner from 1B anyway is more likely than it would be in the other ballpark. That leaves us with his offensive output, which is good, but not exactly awesome. The team just went all-in on Crawford basically pulling a Jayson Werth with regards to his production going forward, and if Crawford doesn't become the kind of top tier hitter (he's already a top flight player, I mean JUST as a hitter here), then this deal is a massive overpay, and is a potential disaster. I am talking about a Julio Lugo meets Carl Pavano type disaster.

Also, the team now features lefty-only hitters in 5 of the 9 lineup spots. Crawford, Drew, and Ortiz all have strong splits that make them vulnerable to LHP. Ellsbury and Gonzalez should be fine, at least, but when your main competition is throwing 3 lefty starters at you (Lee, Sabathia, Pettitte), I just hate having 1/3 of the lineup making easy outs in lineup spots that are determined based on their overall production (good), as opposed to their platoon splits (nasty), since that tends to be how Francona sets his lineups. For those expecting an Ellsbury trade at this point, I think you are mistaken. Deals like Crawford signing and the not-announced-yet Gonzalez extension make cost-controlled players like Ellsbury and Lowrie more vital to the team's near-term financial outlook, as opposed to making any of them trade bait. 1

The number of years is fine, given Crawford's age. I accept that this is the going rate for Crawford thanks to the rank stupidity of the Washington Natinals. I just think that it is a terrible idea for the Red Sox to be the team to pay that going rate for Carl Crawford, given the team's current roster and the ballpark that they play in. This has really tempered by post-Gonzalez high about the 2011 Red Sox. I may be overreacting, but...I have a bad feeling about this.

[Red Sox Fan2]

Why do people act as if winning on the road isn't as important as winning at home?

[BigSlick]

Red Sox Fan2, on 09 December 2010 - 09:41 AM, said:

Why do people act as if winning on the road isn't as important as winning at home?

To take it a step further, winning on the road is more important than winning at home. Usually it's the teams with the best road records that go to the playoffs.

[Mike LansWho]

Red Sox Fan2, on 09 December 2010 - 09:41 AM, said:

Why do people act as if winning on the road isn't as important as winning at home?

This is a +1 post. Ironically, I think it was JMD who last off-season was praising the Red Sox for finally realizing that 81 of their games are in fact played away from Fenway and constructing the lineup accordingly. I'll need somebody like MrNewEngland or BigSlick to mine some threads and dig that up.

I like this signing. I think Crawford is one of those guys that the stat 'OPS' does no justice for. Sure, you'd like to see a slightly higher OBP from a top of the order, base-stealing type of guy, but there is one thing he can do regardless... score runs. One thing I am sure about is that he'll be able to score a ton of runs over the life of his contract.

I'll admit that it does concern me a bit that the lineup is now so LHH-heavy, but if it's going to be that way then it might as well be with guys like Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.

I'll also admit that they did probably overpay, but they had to. They were going to be in need of a new outfielder after this season and that free agent crop wasn't looking so great. I said this a few weeks ago and it proved to be true... the Red Sox will do their OF shopping this winter. They got the best guy available probably between this offseason and next.

[MrNewEngland]

I'm getting more comfortable with this. Like Crawford, think the contract could get ugly. I hope it's not a burden on the Sox in the future & keeps them from landing someone who's worth that kind of money.

That being said I am going to enjoy watching him in a Sox uniform. Hated him in TB, hopefully those will be the reasons I love him in Boston.

Side note: I was at the game last summer in TB when he stole 6 bags against us. He was unstoppable. I won't miss him running all over Boston's infield at will.

Side note 2: Where's jackson? He may be crushed. Also didn't he have some bet going around here?