Contract extension talks between Carl Crawford's agent Brian Peters and the Rays have been tabled until after the season, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Said Peters:
"We had an opportunity to exchange ideas with the club about a contract extension for Carl and it was clear to all of us that an immediate agreement was not going to materialize. Thus, we all agreed to table discussions until the end of the year. We'd like to minimize distractions for Carl and the club and keep the focus on baseball, so we don’t plan to comment upon Carl's contract status again until after the season."
Crawford reiterated that he'd love to stay. However, Topkin estimates a five-year deal in the $75MM range, and doesn't think the Rays can afford it. They'd probably have to commit around a quarter of their payroll to retain Crawford. On the open market, I can see Crawford getting a sixth guaranteed year. He won't turn 29 until August. My guess is that the Rays will not trade Crawford midseason, but will take two draft picks when he signs elsewhere.
I think what he really meant was, we couldn’t agree to terms with him now, therefore he’s going to the Yankees.
or Boston
Crawford is just a speedy LF and replaceable. Rays would be stupid to commit that much money to him. Someone will be willing to pay for him at the deadline.
Probably an out of division team, though I’m sure that team will be weary of the chances of retaining him, so they may not offer as much, though still enough to justify a trade.
It’s a foregone conclusion that the Yanks will throw lots of money at him but I hope Carl really does look around at all 30 teams before deciding anything.
Agreed. i Could see the A’s, Angels, Tigers, and Braves throw money at him.
I wonder if we can throw the Cubs into that? They often have OF woes.
I would love to throw the Cubs in to the mix. The thing is, Does Crawford want to play right field?
Or…”does he actually have the chops for it?”
I’d put my money on it.
We also have infield woes, pitching and catching woes, along with the manager and G.M. being extremely woeful.
All this woe-ing can be simplified to The Cubs being woeful.
The Cubs are out of money for a few seasons.
The Jays kinda badly need a LFer too, and will have a ton of funds after this season. Wonder if they’d make an offer. It’d solve their leadoff problem too.
I think on paper, that would make perfect sense. But think about Crawford’s age and history. He’s never won a world series. I think he’s going to put that first.
I doubt the Jays would give up a high draft pick too.
the tigers should trade away austin jackson to free up $400k, then use that money to sign crawford to a 6-year/ $100 million contract. to save costs they could trade away miguel cabrera, maybe to boston for kevin youkilis and manny delcarmen. with delcarmen on board, valverde would become expendable. they could flip him for prospects, maybe a high-minors centerfielder, since jackson will be gone. additionally, with the money they will save from the valverde trade, they can afford to sign a veteran stopper, like kerry wood or kevin gregg, or something else along those lines.
all of this makes sense.
coming from the Johnny Damon comment you made last week, this does make perfect sense! Only from you though.
Love the sarcasm.
Seriously? Cabrera and his $100 million contract for Youkilis and Declarmen? Maybe if the Tigers ate all his contract and added some prospects maybe. Valverde might be able to get one low-level prospect, if that, and that is if half his contract is eaten.
google the following terms:
satire
parody
sarcasm
I apologize.
He was joking. Last week he made a joke about the Tigers off-season and now he’s just following up on it.
thanks, buddy.
yep.
Well, I don’t remember things from last week.
It’s okay. But honestly, Crawford should easily find the money he wants.
i was hoping that my “proposals” sounded ridiculous enough that they would be an obvious joke. unfortunately, most of what i post in earnest is equally as ridiculous. sorry, brah.
Want a cigarette, brah?
SPAN – The A’s?????? Really…. When is the last time the A’s have signed any free agent to a multi-year offer…. No way in the world they would spend millions over 5 or 6 years for Crawford…. You are completely off on that projection.
Well Billy Beane did spend 10MM on Ben Sheets. Maybe I am out of line on that one but I think the A’s would be a perfect fit on paper.
Sheets signed for 1 year. Big difference. Besides everyone including Sheets knows that he will be traded come the July trade deadline, IF he can show and stay healthy (keep in mind he didnt play at all last year). Crawford will receive multi multi-year contract offers… There is no way that he leaves the $$$ and length of contract on the table to play for the A’s (who are horrible). If he was going to sign a 1 year deal, it would probably be to stay with the Rays.
What would you take:
1 year @ 10-15 millon or 5-6 years at 50 to 90??? Easy Answer for anyone who knows anything about economics.
Ooh, ooh! Pick me! I’m an Econ major!
Uh…err..the 1 year 10 million one!
The problem is they are already stocked with young outfielders. Sweeney and Taylor are going to be fixtures out there, and Rajai Davis is pretty good, too.
It doesn’t really seem wise for them to throw money at Crawford when the team has other needs (mainly, infielders that can hit.)
Rajai Davis falls into the sage wisdom of “you can’t steal first.”
Rajai hit pretty well for the A’s last year, actually. Even if his average dips a bit, he’s still pretty good.
It’s just that the A’s really don’t have a reason to spend big money on Crawford when the amount of upgrade it offers is marginal, at best, to what they have already. Spend money in other areas.
SPAN – Sheets is different…. Ben signed for 1 year, because he has to prove to everyone that he is healthy after not playing at all last year….. Plus Sheets will be traded come the July trade deadline…. There is no way in the world that Carl Crawford signs a one year deal at all. when he will have multiple offer on the table at 5 or 6 years….
What would you take:
1 year deal at 10 million… or 5 years at 75 to 85 million…. NO BRAINER
A Yankee OF anchored by Crawford and Granderson for the next 3 or 4 years could be fun. However, I don’t see Crawford getting a mega deal. He isn’t exactly a masher and his speed may not be as prolific at age 32. He’ll be 29 as a FA and being that he isn’t a real high average or lots of power or high OBP guy I can’t see him being as much of an offensive weapon if all he musters is a 20-25 SB season. I see him getting a little more than what Figgins got this year because he’s younger and has more pop. Maybe 4/$52 mil? Pretty much the same deal the Yanks gave to Damon a few years back.
I think at 32 he could very well steal 30+ bases. Jeter stole 30 bags last season and he doesnt nearly have the speed that Crawford has.
Yeah, but Jeter is just a very smart base-runner. I don’t think he ever ran on any catcher with an above-average arm. If he did, that would explain where the 5 CS came from last year.
Interesting. I always thought the term was “shelved”, but you took the saying to a whole new level by actually referencing it as a different piece of furniture.
“Crawford negotiations lamped for today. Will resume in offseason”
I always prefered “armoired” or “hat racked”.
Any chance the Giants flirt with Carl Crawford?
LF Crawford
2B Sanchez
C Posey
3B/1B Sandoval
1B/3B(?) (?) (Neal? Too early?)
RF Schierholtz
CF Rowand
SS Brandon Crawford (2011 unless Ehir
DeRosa super-utility role? (C-OF, IF)
DeRosa would play third if Pablo Sandoval played 1B.
I disagree about the lack of a midseason trade. The trade will happen then, to the Yankees, because the Rays will prove by then that the 2008 season was a fluke.
That is the reason the Yanks didn’t really care about signing Damon
They already proved it wasn’t a fluke by winning 84 games last year in the AL east. And why the hell would the rays trade a core player to a division rival.
Money.
At mid season, Crawford’s current deal would pay him 2mil. I think they can find a non-division rival team with a deeper farm system to take Crawford for 2mil
I wouldn’t call it a fluke, so much as a) The Yanks being sub-par that year, and b) all of their talent finally coming together.
They just had a drop off because their pitching had a down year, which isn’t all that surprising.
This 5 yr $75 mil talking is so ridiculous stop analyst please! been thinking about the right deal for a Carl Crawford and i think 4 yr deal worth $51 mil. with a 2015 opt. is a great play for both sides. In my eyes this is right.
It depends if the Yankees are sticking to around a $200 mil payroll. Re-signing Jeter and Rivera and arbitration to the great Joba ( could be the highest in baseball history) would put the Yanks over $180 mil. Of course they could go back to the 2009 level and its all moot…
The owner of the rays was quoted in an interview a few weeks ago that this years Rays team was going to be there best club ever. If they are in the hunt for the division or the wild card I can see the rays keeping Crawford all season. It will not be easy beating the Yankees however and if the Rays are out of it come the trade deadline he will get moved if the deal is better then Two draft picks.
Crawford would be a perfect fit to replace Manny for the dodgers. The La times reported that the battling McCourts made $125 million dollars the last few years in profits and did not pay one cent of income tax so the money is there.
ya know what would be great…………….having crawford in left over ibanez nothing against ibanez its just that crawford owns him