Peter Gammons made one of his regular appearances on WEEI's The Big Show today to discuss the playoffs and look ahead to Boston's winter moves. Albert Vontz of WEEI.com has a partial transcript, and here are some highlights…
- The Red Sox are "going to go real hard after Carl Crawford." Gammons thinks one advantage Boston has is that they're looking at Crawford as middle-of-the-order bat rather than as a leadoff man, and Crawford "doesn’t want to be the guy trying to steal 70 bases."
- The Angels are another team rumored to be pursuing Crawford this winter, and they'll have the money to do so. Gammons hears that Angels owner Arte Moreno "is on the cusp" of a new local television deal worth approximately $4BB. Gammon says Moreno and the Halos are moving fast to "swallow up even more of the Dodgers market" what with the Dodgers embroiled in the McCourt ownership dispute.
- In the wake of the Red Sox ownership group's purchase of Liverpool FC of the English Premier League, Gammons thinks Red Sox fans will blame the soccer club if the Sox can't acquire and/or afford any major free agents this winter. Gammons was told, however, that Liverpool is "a $1BB business that they bought for about $400MM" and surmises that majority owner John Henry sees the purchase as "a great business deal…[that] might help the Red Sox in a ten-year period."
gammons praising the red sox management? color me shocked!
Also, your complaint is not true at all. Priceless. Where does he praise anyone? He quotes John Henry. Not Gammons’ own words. Get over it.
Wow… all I need to do now is see the name Gammons on this site and the first comment is always how biased he is. Did you bother reading the article or even just Mark’s post above you on this site? I’ve read both a couple of times now. Neither have Gammons making any kind of praise of the Red Sox ownership. His statement on the Sox and Crawford is his opinion that the Sox are going to actively pursue Crawford and might actually have an advantage. His statement on the Sox and the Liverpool deal is his opinion that if the Sox don’t spend during the offseason the owners will be blamed as being cash strapped and suggests the buy could actually be a profit seeking entity (which is usually the reason why business deals happen).So, before you just randomly attack someone based on their earlier writings, you could try this radical new thing… it’s called reading.
Yeah tell him Barney! Peter Gammons is also the most optomistic sports writer which I really like, if anybody cares…
My name is actually a title of a Gogol Bordello song.
Start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it’s just a matter of time…
-Gogol Bordello
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it’s just a matter of time.
My name is Spandemo Nium…Nice to meet you.
I’m curious, what color is shocked? Must’ve found it in a box of crayons.
They might as well just have a two on two wrestling match…Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun against David Ortiz and Jon Lester.
Benayoun plays for Chelski.
He moved again?
Yup. Pool sold him to Chelski for like 10 mil after they signed Cole on a free transfer. So basically Pool got Joe Cole + 10 mil for Benayoun.
Start Gammons bashing…..NOW!!! Oh wait, this guy ^^^ beat everyone to it.
Wait…the Angels have a $4Billion dollar local TV deal? Someone please explain.
TV has ads, ads make money, money buys things.
-A. Einstien
Is it $400 million a year for 10 years or $50 million a year for eighty?
usually spread out over 20 years or so. and it’s probably not the same amount anually.
Come on Kevin, lets be real here, Gammons is about as big of a Red Sox homer as you can find
He works for the Red Sox…..doesn’t that make sense?
Some of these other people that post here seem to need reminding on a daily basis, like every time MLB TradeRumors has an article with him, the same people rant and rave about him and need reminding about it, someone reminds him that Gammons wrote for the BOSTON GLOBE for 20 years and they complain and whine 2 days later.
As sure as the sun rises tomorrow.. it will happen again..
That’s not the point. You are criticizing him for this appearance. And what you said about it wasn’t true. Complain when it is deserved and read and comment otherwise.
so an article in which Gammons gushes over the Red Sox shouldnt be judged as anything but biased? He can always find someone who has a positive slant on the red sox for his articles to quote, always.
Gush? He states the Red Sox are going after Crawford and in his opinion he sees they have an advantage. He also states that if the Red Sox don’t spent, they’ll be attacked and in fact a business decision was based on the idea that it was a business decision… So had any other writer written something with opinions like this you’d say the same? Yeah, I doubt it.
Gammons works for NESN and was interviewed on WEEI which carries Red Sox games of course he is going to talk about the Red Sox..geez
How dare he???? These comments are cracking me up.
Come on JjB, lets be real here, you’re just trying to start a flame war.
so an article in which Gammons gushes over the Red Sox shouldnt be judged as anything but biased? He can always find someone who has a positive slant on the red sox for his articles to quote, always.
Enlighten me on the bias in this article. Please. Maybe it was the part about the Angels deal…?
Here’s an example of “gushing”: I think the Red Sox are the only team Crawford wants to sign with, I think Crawford will love the fans and ultimately be treated like a Greek God in Boston. And as for the Liverpool thing, within a few days Boston will have the enough resources to buy every single free agent in baseball. We’re going to have a dynasty starting tomorrow.
homer is a term only used by total homers
unless of course you are talking about a baseball hit out of the park
We shouldn’t even have to defend Gammons. He works for the Red Sox. He gets paid to represent (in a way) the Red Sox. The fact is, we should expect (and want) him to be a “homer.” If he went around bashing the Red Sox, he wouldn’t be doing his job now would he? I think people just assume that he is still a full-time ESPN employee. I think it’s about time the Red Sox haters educated themselves and stopped attempting to start flame wars.
Forgetting about Gammons for a min… I don’t see Crawford as RS but it’s great for negotiations if they are offering top dollar (6/108). Unless the nyy want to top the RS for some reason I think they stay out. Tex may be a player (he’s a native and they have a great tax situation) with LAA. Maybe even the LAD even with their $$$ problems as he’d be perfect for them after losing Manny.
The Yankees have 0 need for an OF. That would be beyond luxury for them. Not playing Gardner would be insane at this point.
I think the Sox ownership has to spend top money to prove to the fans that they aren’t leaving the Sox with a bunch of question marks going into the season right after a season that was a huge disappointment. What better guy to spend $ on then Carl Crawford?
Cliff Lee.
i dont see the red sox doing much more than checking into the lee sweepstakes to raise the price for the yankees. he makes little sense for the sox to go after. they already have a filled rotation, and none of them can be moved.
He asked what guy to better spend $ on. I would rather spend money on Lee than Crawford personally.
In the Sox case, Crawford would be the best guy to sped money on. Lee would be nice, but he isn’t a necessity.
Lee would win them more games by himself.
But I forgot how great Lackey, Dice K, and (modern day) Beckett were.
Their pitching staff is fine, Lackey is definitely going to bounce back. His last couple starts were very good so you could tell he’s become more comfortable pitching in Boston and pitching to Vic or Tek or Salty. Dice K is an enigma, even during the offseason. Meaning we don’t even know if he’ll be part of the staff next year. This is the first season that Dice-K has been on the staff and the Sox aren’t in the playoffs, so he can’t be hurting the Sox to much. Beckett was injured and was also looked promising coming down the strech, a full year of a healthy Beckett will help the staff.
Plus, you totally forgot to mention Lester & Buchholz who are just filthy. So they’re wins should each be in the upper teens or even 20’s.
Therefore the pitching is fine, the Sox don’t need to unload all their money on a pitcher that would be nice to have, but isn’t necessary when you have so many holes at third, OF, first, bullpen, and catcher. There are just to many things Theo needs to fix before getting another Ace.
Even with the health problems, I’ll admit I’m worried about what Josh Beckett shows up next year. He may very well be a new, more mediocre pitcher. He didn’t improve at all near the end of this year. However, I agree that Lackey should bounce back; he’ll never play to his contract, that was just not well thought-out by Epstein, but he’ll be a functional cog in the rotation. I thought Dice K made some big strides this year; I am optimistic for him 2011. However I’ve been optimistic for him every year, so maybe you don’t want to listen to me. 🙂 All in all, I definitely agree that starting pitching is an area Boston just can’t think about right now, with all the other holes in the team right now.
Sure, Lee is better than those guys by far, but the point is business-wise it makes no sense. You’d have to then try to move one of those three, which with their struggles will be -very- difficult, especially if you’re trying to make any sort of return. Signing Lee would just give the Sox more headaches, and may possibly help, but could also shift everything negatively, maybe ruin clubhouse morale if one of the guys he bumps off has to do a Mike Lowell for a couple months or something. Signing Crawford would fit well into their plans, as it just bumps Cameron to the fourth-outfielder slot he -should- be in, gives Kalish more time to season in the minors, and makes Nava or McDonald possible trade sweeteners. It is clear the Red Sox are deficient in the outfield, while, in terms of contracts at least, the rotation is already overstuffed.
The successfailure of the two clubs should be mutually exclusive. The two clubs finances should also be mutually exclusive.
It won’t work if that’s not the case.
By that I mean that it wasn’t smart for Henry to say that Liverpool’s revenues could help the Red Sox in the next 10 years, just as much as it wouldn’t be smart to say that Liverpool’s revenues won’t help the Sox.
He should have said that there are independent resources for each club.
He risks alienating Pool fans by saying that they can strengthen the Sox finances. They won’t want revenues diverted from their club to another club, especially in a sport that they don’t supportunderstand.
Good point.
$4BB. Time to yoink Crawford and Beltre away from Boston.
Crawford will be an Angel. BOOK IT.
I wouldn’t go all in on Crawford being an Angel. The Angels would probably want to use him as their lead off hitter, when Crawford himself wants to be in the middle of the order and that’s just what the Sox need.
I don’t think the Angels plan on using Crawford in the leadoff spot. They’ll probably use Abreu for that or even Bourjos. Moreno and the Angels know that Crawford doesn’t want to bat first in the lineup and they like him enough to comply with him.
If the Angels sign Crawford he will bat 3rd in the lineup. Bourjos will bat leadoff. Im hoping the top of the lineup will look like 1-Bourjos 2-Abreu 3-Crawford 4-Morales 5-Hunter. I also expect the Angels to go after a 3B and Closer as well. Another option would be to move Kasmir to the bullpen and trade Rivera and Napoli for SP Zach Grienke. Imagine Haren, Weaver, Grienke, Santana, and Piniero as the starters!
he will bat 3rd
Yup, yup. I totally forgot about Bourjos.
Don’t know why people keep forgetting about the Tigers. Crawford would be a huge addition, they have gobs of money, and a gaping hole in their outfield. A player like Crawford is ideal for roaming that spacious LF.
I would love Crawford on the Angels. Next year an outfield defense of Bourjos, Crawford, and Hunter has the potential of 3 GG’s. And it gets better in 2012 if Trout can make it to the bigs. You would have 3 ++ defenders who could all be CF’ers roaming the outfield. Nothing would fall for a hit.
Personally, I think Werth is a better fit in Boston. If you want a true #3 hitter Werth is your guy. Boston is pumping up Crawford’s value to make him more expensive to the Angels or Tigers while suppressing the value of Werth. Smart tactical move on their part.
I like both guys. I agree that Boston looks to be pumping Crawford in order to have a better chance at Werth, but I think that Crawford truly still is their plan A. They are just preparing their escape plan, to make it as airtight as possible, but I expect them to stay in it for Crawford as long as they can. Crawford is just a better player, and younger, so he’s clearly the better option. Werth is also a player Boston loves though, and by doing this early hype for Crawford they are making sure to leave the Werth market nice and quiet so they can swoop in if Crawford’s asking price gets exorbitant.
Gammons is a good analyst but his heart is in Boston, Crawford will follow the money and Arte is slightly miffed about this last year so i’m leaning Angels but as with any signing until the deal is inked rule out nothing…
Exactly. Did anyone expect the Red Sox to go after Lackey over the winter? I sure as hell didn’t.
Wait, Crawford DOESN’T want to be the guy stealing bases? But that’s his primary appeal. He certainly doesn’t have enough power to be a middle of the order bat on most teams, especially not Boston or LA.
I agree with this. If he is taking the position that his speed is better utilized as a 30SB guy then I’m struggling to see his value. Defense is great but his power and OBP are just OK at best. Speed is what makes Crawford so valuable.
I think it’s a marketing matter. Marketing yourself for a six or seven year contract when your primary asset is one of the first things to go on a player isn’t your best bet.
If the Angels truly have a $4 BB tv deal in the works, they could afford to sign Cliff Lee along with Crawford and Beltre.
who died and made the angels George Steinbrenner….
Whoever gave them a $4 billion tv contract.
touche
“who died and made the angels George Steinbrenner.”
George Steinbrenner
That was the joke.
I wouldn’t go increasing the team’s payroll until you actually know the terms, structure and circumstances of the deal.
If it’s $4 billion over 4 billion years it’s hardly impressive. It’s also not impressive if it’s $4 billion over, say, 20 years (more realistic, obviously,) but replaces an expiring deal for $3.5 billion. Especially when one factors in potential inflation over that period of time.
The current Angel b’cast deal is a 10 year deal with Fox Sports, signed in 2006, for $500 million.
So while a $4 billion over 4 billion year extension seems unlikely, I guess anything’s possible from the management team that gave Fernando Rodney $11 million over 2 years.
The deal is real but that kinda commitment is to much…. I like Lee but the numbers don’t equal the long term nor do you want to get into a bidding war, he’ll be a yankee…
Sox are in trouble, Crawford will not replace Beltre and Martinez’s power in the line-up. They need more right handed power not speed and defense.
Power was the least of the Red Sox problems this year. If I remember correctly they finished in the top 5 in baseball in homeruns. There problems were speed and defense. They had practically no speed with Ellsbury gone and the defense that was supposed to be one of the better in baseball was not so good.
Football is littered with owners and ex-owners who thought they could make money out of it. The only way to vastly increase a team’s value is by negotiating TV deals separately, and that won’t happen since you need 14 out of 20 teams to agree to changing the current rules.
Eh, it’s easy to make money. Here’s what you do:1. Don’t operate at a loss. That’s a no-brainer, but actually the hardest part because it’s related to the success of the product which is itself related to the expenditures. Just spend wisely.2. Name yourself president, chairman or some other fancy title for the franchise. Give yourself a nice salary and/or dividends, say $1MM/year, in recognition of the fact that you are one of only a handful of people in the world who holds the title of chairman of a franchise.The beauty of that is that your pay is now a team expense. In other words, if your accounting data at the end of the year says the team made $0 profit, you still have an extra $1MM in your pockets and ownership of the team.3. Hang around a while and then sell the team. Just inflation will likely raise the value of your team, and of course any success you bring or improvements you made will likely do so as well.You essentially pay yourself $1MM/year for the opportunity cost of not being able to use the money you used to buy the team for something else, while engaging in a nearly no-loss situation.That’s not to say ACTUALLY no-loss, of course. You can’t be stupid, neither about the franchise you bought nor anything else you do that’s related to it or to you in such a way that it can affect either the franchise or your need to sell at a specific point. But it’s a pretty decent bet.Good gig if you can get it.
Gammons gets it right about 50% of the time, usually, when he is talking about a player move to occur within a week or two of his prediction. Anything occuring beyond that time frame is pure speculation on his part.
IMHO, weather, rather than money will play an important role in where Crawford signs. Hence, California has to be favored unless Theo offers Carl a deal that is ” much too big to refuse”. That, it seems, would be a mistake, considering the young OF talent the Red Sox have in their system.
As for Lowrie, should Beltre also follow Crawford (back) to California climes, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him emerge from ST, 2011, as Boston’s regular 3rd baseman. He wouldn’t be an A-Rod in the making but he could play the position competently, one would think, considering his middle infield skills. Arm strength might be a question mark, but, with practice and conditioning, he could bloom at 3B. This would create a clear path for Inglaises, who might be moved up to the 25-man roster by mid season, next year. That would give Theo the option of having Scutaro and, perhaps Lopez, as his infield utility players in 2012, and for a stretch run in 2011.
Also, it would make sense for Theo to go after an experienced, alternate closer to call upon when Papelbon is unable to pitch and a long man for middle inning relief. Wouldn’t it be nice, if he could maneuver Masterson off Cleveland’s roster and back to Boston to perform that role?
people who use the word “homer” to describe other people are such homers
Boston will make some major moves this winter. Beltre and Crawford will probably sign with the Angels. The Sox should sign Werth-Lf, Aramis Rimirez-3b, or trade for Adrian Gongalez. They might even be able to trade for Beltran giving the Mets Ellsbury. Soriano,Frazor,Wood,Benoit,or Crain seem like good relief options.
L
Beltran? ugggggh no thanks. And why give up Ellsbury? Beltran is owed 18.5M in 2011 and Ellsbury is going to his first year of arb. Noway that trade happens.
Werth is the fallback plan for Crawford, but they’ll pay for him since Boras is his agent and he’ll reportedly want Matt Holliday money. No thanks. Crawford is the guy they need to go after hard. JMO.
Soriano will probably want a closers gig. Downs and Frasor have proven to pitch decent against the AL East. Frasor has been crap against the Yankees over his career though. Benoit had a great season in Tampa. I doubt Theo will pay for middle relief help.
Nice perspective on ESPN by Gordan Edes. To sign Scott Downs, a type A FA, Sox would have to give up a 1st, unless they sign another FA like Crawford, Werth or V-Mart. If Sox don’t, Sox certainly won’t give up picks for a RP. Theo will try to fix on the cheap or within with Doubrant, Bowden, ect..
Beltran is overpaid and on the decline due to injuries. Trust me, theo isn’t trading Ellsbury and if so, it would be in a package for David Wright!
david wright would be a perfect target for boston if beltre walks. i doubt any new GM for NYM would start of their tenure in NY by trading away a fan favorite like Wright, just wishful thinking. i have heard a dice-k contract for a beltran contract though, most likely speculation but interesting nonetheless
he would be the perfect fit a lot of places
Some interesting points: slider, redsoxdynasty.Some thigns i think is, the Red Sox were plagued with injuries last year. The core of the group, along with the fine starting pitching staff; The Red Sox wont have to do much this off season. i like the signing aramis ramirez idea. And in my opinion I dont feel signing Carl Crawford to big contract would be worth having his defense in that small left field at Fenway; along with the average power he brings to a 3 spot in the lineup. There are many scenarios that can be played out and it’ll be interestng to see how theo plays it.
The Sox have lost alot of power by losing Beltre and Martinez. I agree Beltran is a gamble. The Sox problems were from injuries, and lack of pitching, sub par years from Beckett,Lackey,DiceK,and some relievers.
They haven’t lost Beltre and V-Mart just yet. But those two will be a big decision for Theo and friends.
I think they have better options to replace Beltre, either filling from within (Youkilis slides over, Lowrie) or outside (A-Ram). Having someone like Youkilis is huge since he can play both 1B and 3B. Letting Beltre walk is smart for a few reasons:
1) Boras is his agent and is gonna want something ridiculous money.
2) Beltre performs well in career years….check his history…then not so well…
3) Signing Beltre longterm kills any chance of getting Adrian Gonzalez or Prince Fielder, unless they plan to let Papi walk and play Gonzo/Fielder at DH.
That said, retaining V-Mart is a better option because:
1) He’s a catcher
2) He’s shown some improvement in defense this year
3) He wants to stay in Boston while Beltre may prefer West Coast w/ family
4) Later down the road he can play 1B or DH.
I agree w/ the Sox problems w/ injuries and inconsistent pitching from those 3 and the bullpen mess.
Saltalmacchia has the potential and ability to make Red Sox fans forget Martinez in a hurry. V-mart showed a great deal of power in September (when many pitchers get arm weary) when he was hot, but he was so so in that department throughout most of the season. And, of course there has to be a concern about his limited defensive skills, especially with runners on board. I dpon’t know what his statistics were but with regards to leaving men on base…he seems to do that a great deal of the time, also. I should note that Francona’s starting catcher in the 2008 All-Star game is available too. I speak of Dionier Navarro, who walked on the Tampa Rays when not placed on the Rays’ ALC roster a few weeks back. He would make a strong backup candidate…
I don’t think the Sox can afford to let Beltre AND V-Mart walk. Even if we pick up Werth or Crawford, that’s just losing too much offense. My guess is that one of Beltre of V-Mart will return, Papi will return, Sox will sign CC or Werth, probably Downs and any further moves will depend on whether they need a 1B, a catcher or a 3B.
I think cc is the better option for boston but i have a feeling he will be with the angels.werth i believe will be a red sox more likely.certainly vmart would be a better option than beltre you can always sign a lower tier 3b or use lowrie.they need a reliever or 2 they should look into trading papelbon as i dont see as an elite guy anymore.they have a good team a guy like werth downs and rauch would be nice bring back vmart ortiz look into the 3b market even 1b market with youk capable of both lots of desicions to be made they will be active in the market for offense and bullpen
I don’t think Theo has a choice on Beltre and Martinez. There both gone. Werth is a good choice in the of. He will be a better hitter in fenway with the green monster, example Jason Bay. I don’t see the Sox starting the season with Lowrie at 3rd. With V-Mart gone they need a big thumper at 3rd or 1st with Youk, and there best catcher obtion will be Buck.
My idea was to sign crawford for left field and after Drew’s contract is up Kalish can take over at right field. Let beltre and vmart walk and try to trade for prince fielder. Move youkilis over to third for one year and then after papi’s contract is up Prince can play DH. I think with the added power of Fielder we can afford to get a defensive veteran catcher.