In a whole lot of ways this signing doesn’t seem to make a heck of a lot of sense. With that said the Boston Red Sox are in a unique position. First of all they play in a ball park with limited seating so they can charge a premium for almost every seat, the second is they are in a division with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, and thirdly they need to make some moves to get past the Los Angeles Angels a team they have struggled against.
With all of that being said seven years and 142 million dollars for a guy who has never hit 20 home runs in any one season, has some speed, and is great in the field seems a little much. This is likely more fall out from the ridiculous Jayson Werth deal signed by the Washington Nationals. The Red Sox are banking on the fact that Crawford can hit a lot more home runs given the shortness of their left field wall, and that his speed will help them in the short term. The simple fact here is once he losses a step he will be way over paid. Let us not forget he is already 29 years old.
The other reason this move makes little sense is the BoSox are already dug in on a new deal for recently acquired Adrian Gonzales and that contract will likely eat up another 100 million or more. Adding two left handed bats makes the BoSox lineup left handed dominant. They have a club option on DH David Ortiz and I would expect he will not be resigned and the team will look to add a right handed batter in that spot.
Related Links:
- Boston Red Sox news and notes
- The Business of Major League Baseball
- Joshua Lobdell.com