After extending Adrian Gonzalez this week, the Red Sox have guaranteed nearly $300MM to their two big offseason acquisitions, Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. However, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, some baseball people feel that Jayson Werth would have made more sense for the Sox than Crawford. One AL GM says he's "not sure that many of us are unhappy they chose Crawford over Werth," adding that Werth seemed to be a better fit for Boston's lefty-heavy lineup. Here are the rest of the highlights from Cafardo's Sunday Notes:
- The Red Sox may not have even been in on Crawford or Werth this winter if they had re-signed Jason Bay a year earlier. A National League GM calls Bay leaving Boston "one of the worst decisions both by a team and by the player," suggesting that both sides miss each other.
- According to Cafardo, Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers was willing to deal Justin Upton to the Red Sox in the offseason, but only if he got the Adrian Gonzalez package or Clay Buchholz in return.
- Several teams have spoken to Omar Minaya about potential job openings. Minaya, who dubs himself a "free agent," says he's still sorting through everything and searching for the best fit, but he could make a decision soon.
- Cafardo points out that spending time on the disabled list could cost Takashi Saito a good chunk of money this season. Currently on the shelf with a hamstring injury, Saito can earn up to five $100K bonuses based on time spent on the active roster.
“GM Kevin Towers was willing to deal him to the Red Sox in the offseason, but only if he got the Gonzalez package”
no source whatsoever. speculation passed off as information. awful writer
I agree, he gets a pass from most because somehow the globe has worse 🙁
if all it took was the adrian gonzalez package to get upton out of Arizona, Justin would be in a blue jays uniform already. There’s no way thats all Towers was asking for
Re: Bay. That NL GM… Sandy Alderson.
Keep Bay? Why? The Red Sox didn’t have enough guys on the DL last year?
crawford >>> bay, but i might have preferred holliday to crawford
Just because Crawford is off to a slow start everyone is down on Carl. You would rather have Matt Holliday then Carl Crawford??? That’s insanely stupid.
Why is that so stupid? If I’m correct holliday is younger. He tends to hit for a better average. Has much more power and plays good enough defense. Holliday didn’t spend his entire career on turf( bad for crawfords future) and holidays game is not 90% based on his speed.
Holliday and Bay are 31, Crawfrord is 29
right. holliday was born 16 months earlier than crawford, but also signed his 7 year deal 12 months earlier than crawford signed his
you’d have a hard time finding someone who’s defended the crawford signing more consistently than i have. this has nothing to do with his slow start
holliday is a much, much better hitter than crawford. crawford has a major defensive edge, but we are talking about left field at fenway park – where even jason bay could post a positive UZR
the question would be about longevity. that’s a question i don’t know how to answer, but crawford seems to have the edge in that department
You would rather have Matt Holliday then Carl Crawford??? That’s insanely stupid.
This comment makes me wonder if you even know who Matt Holliday is..
Holliday, 7 seasons. 33.3 WAR= 4.75 WAR/Season.
Crawford, 8 seasons. 33.9 WAR=4.24 WAR/Season
This should show you how good Holliday is at the plate because Crawford is a SUPREME defender. But Holliday MORE than makes up for it on the offensive side.
Different teams would rather have Crawford depending on their specific needs, ie more speed or need for a leadoff batter…so it would be hard to say one is outright better than the other, but I would love for you to actually provide any sort of backup for suggesting someone would be ‘insanely stupid’ for wanting Matt Holliday over Carl Crawford.
I thought the comment to which you’ve responded was “insanely stupid” upon reading it through. Glad you brought up the facts to support my/our inclinations. I’m not familiar enough about Holliday to know this, but what is his arm like? With a good arm, he could have been able to play right or left field at Fenway Park. His right handed power bat would have been a big help in the current lineup, and his bat would have been especially helpful considering that JD Drew is headed out the door. Adding to this, if Ryan Kalish is the answer to JD Drew’s retirement, he’s another left handed batter in the outfield. It would also be surprising to see him put up a big OPS in his first couple seasons, and balancing this out with a guy like Holliday would have made more sense (compared to Crawford).
Furthermore, if the Red Sox had signed Holliday, they probably would have passed on Lackey. People were comparing Lakey’s deal to AJ Burnett’s since its inception, and the comparison has continued to be valid.
I might have this wrong, but putting a speedy guy in front of the green monster doesn’t seem like efficient use of his talents. If the Red Sox had a park with a massive left field, he would have probably been more useful. It’s just another reason why Crawford in Left Field for the Red Sox made little sense at that type of money regardless of his early season slump.
i want crawford to be moved to center. badly
We do not agree with very much on this board, but on this subject I think we do. Crawford needs to be in Center for sure. Ells still does not seem to get reads on the ball this year very well and LF is where he needs to be.
Agreed! Looking back Holliday was a better fit for Boston!
could be. you have to factor in how badly washington screwed things up, though. the red sox were definitely not willing to offer holliday (or anyone else) 7 years in after 2009. the cardinals were widely considered to have overpaid at the time
crawford was the top free agent this year, but before washington signed werth no one thought even he would get the huge deal he did. the red sox ended up paying more for crawford than i imagine they expected to
so if you frame the choice today as holliday in 2010 or crawford in 2011, it’s easier to think holliday was the better choice. but there were lots of other factors, and i think their choice was entirely defensible. crawford is excellent
I believe it’s more directed at the money. Bay put up very good numbers for Boston and would have cost about half of Crawford and probably put up similar numbers( bay= more homers Crawford= more stolen) and bay does nit rely on speed like Crawford does. It’s too early to tell if the sox made the right move or not but I believe that comment it 100% based on money
Clay for upton yes. But the prospects from the gonzo trade for uptown no! I don’t get why towers is willing to move a 23 ish yearning stud right fielder who had a down year but it still under a good contract for a while
he isn’t/wasn’t. never listen to nick cafardo
A Boston writer would have preferred Werth or Bay to Carl Crawford and tailors his article around finding GMs who agree with one part of that assessment or another. Hmmm…
It’s hard not to point out the one obvious similarity between two players as dissimilar as Bay and Werth, and the fact that Crawford doesn’t share that striking similarity. Not that the Boston writers haven’t been accused of that sort of thing before…
Cafardo is one of the worst in the business right now. He gets a theory in his head, then asks around until someone backs up that theory. “One AL GM” or “a prominent NL scout” are ALWAYS fixtures in his article. He then doesn’t even mention that there might be a counter-argument, instead simply reporting it as fact.
you cant compare crawford and holliday hitting stats…they are both different batters and crawford was on some pretty horrible rays teams…crawford is a much better all around player and i GUARANTEE he will not drop a line drive hahahaha
he blew a read on a catchable fly ball yesterday. not much different