The Red Sox landed another big bat Wednesday night, outbidding other suitors to reach an agreement with Carl Crawford. After Jayson Werth signed his $126MM deal with the Nationals, it was thought that it might take an eight- or ten-year contract to secure Crawford's services; ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes (Twitter link) hears that Crawford was originally seeking $20MM annually over ten years. However, Boston got it done for seven years and $142MM. Here are some early reactions to the move:
- Dave Cameron of Fangraphs likes the deal for the Red Sox, noting that just because a contract is unique doesn't mean it's bad.
- ESPN.com's Keith Law (Insider required) is also fairly positive, opining that Crawford figures to hold his value through the length of the contract.
- At least one AL executive thinks Crawford's athleticism will be wasted in left field at Fenway, tweets SI.com's Jon Heyman.
- Alex Speier of WEEI.com passes along another executive's first impression on the deal: "Holy (expletive). Think about that lineup."
- It appears few people took news of Crawford's signing harder than Torii Hunter, who congratulated the outfielder, but is disappointed he won't get a chance to play with him. "That hurts my heart, man," Hunter told Scott Miller of CBS Sports. "But hey, what can you do?" (all Twitter links). Speaking to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, Hunter said, "I'm sitting here in a daze right now, like, what the heck just happened?"
- There's virtually no downside to the move for the Red Sox, writes Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.
- A former teammate of Crawford tells Dan Barbarisi of the Providence Journal that, even at $142MM, the Sox got a bargain.
