Sox sign Crawford 7 years 142 mill

[MBz]

I don't see these moves really making our offense that much better in comparison to last year.  We'll have three(kind of 4) new starters in the line up.  The first 3, we have Crawford, Gonzalez and Salty.  Crawford and Gonzalez will probably do more than Beltre and Martinez, but I'm not sure how much more they will do.  Obviously Crawford brings a different style then either of those two, he'll steal 50 bags and be a terror on the basepath.  Salty will basically give the production that McDonald, Kalish, Nava gave in the outfield.  The fourth new starter is Ellsbury.  He missed all of last season, if he is healthy then I think the offense can improve.  Now in terms of trading for relievers, usually relievers trade value is very low.  Guys like McDonald and Patterson are now expandable and I would look to try to move them for relievers.  A combination of Cameron and Kalish can be your back up outfielders.  Also it looks as if Russell Martin is leaning towards coming to Boston, that could make the catching situation a little more interesting. 

[Fan from VT]

I'm guessing they went so hard after hitting for a few reasons:

-For better or worse, more long-term money already tied up in Pitching (4 starters locked in for a few more years if you count Bucholtz's arbitration) while Drew, Ortiz, Beltre, and Cameron all either come off the books after 2011 or are off now.

-They probably expect that even though they were 2nd in offense last year, and they'll be getting Pedroia/Youk/Cameron back for hopefully mostly the full year, a lot of offense last year was due to the ridiculously productive Beltre, a year they probably think is an outlier. Combine that with what I think they think will be continued decline of Drew, questions of ellsbury, and decline of Ortiz, and I can see why they wanted to upgrade the offense with non-Beltre players. Plus...

-I'm sure they expect some improvement from Bard, some return to form of Beckett/Lackey, and hopefully some return to form of Papelbon. This would internally improver their pitching rather than adding more long term money to old pitchers via free agency, say if they had gone for Lee over Crawford.

[LB3533]

I like AdGon over Beltre...I think that is an upgrade.

Crawford and Ellsbury are the same player IMO, the salary difference is not worth the value.

[bucknersrevenge]

In terms of where to bat Crawford, he may have been a middle of the line-up guy on TB but on this team he is not.  His best spot would probably be #2 but I don't think he is better than Pedroia there.  His next best is #1 and for that spot he would "compete" with Ellsbury.  You definitely want Crawford getting the extra ABs over Ellsbury so I say let him lead off.  If he doesn't like it, Francona will just have figure out how to manage that (that is what managers get paid to do).  For what Crawford is getting paid, he needs to suck it up and play were it is best for the team, not best for him.

If it turns out that through the season, Ellsbury has a better OBP or is otherwise producing better, he can move up from 9 or whatever and Crawford drops down.  After the 1st inning, Crawford can pretend that Ellsbury is leading off and he is batting 2nd.  Really, what is the difference.  Just grab a bat and go hit when the manager tells you to go hit.

Crawford
Pedroia
Gonzalez
Youk
Ortiz
Catcher (I am guessing Martin when all is done)
Drew
Scutaro/Lowrie
Ellsbury

Well Tito said he sees him as a middle of the order bat at least according to reports be that as it may. Crawford is a bit of a free swinger. He strikes out much more than he walks. And players can be very finicky about positions they play and where they bat in the lineup. Always have been. Ortiz at one point said he preferred to hit 3rd and not 4th. Youk has said he preferred to hit 5th or 6th at one point over hitting 3rd and he wouldn't want to play the OF. Ellsbury obviously prefers CF to LF. And there are people like that on every team. For all we know Crawford could've already said he doesn't want to leadoff before he signed. Either way giving Ellsbury the chance to leadoff again and have 3 tablesetters in place for Gonzales, Youk and Papi makes the most the sense. Remember how good those old Cleveland teams were with Lofton, Vizquel and Alomar were at setting things up for Manny and Jim Thome? I think we set ourselves up for a similar situation.

[LB3533]

Yea, I just looked over Crawford's body of work.

His career OBP is abysmal .337, his K to BB ratio is over 2 to 1, his career slugging is .444....to me a lot left to be desired.

Clearly, not worth 20 million per year....

I mean Nomar's Red Sox career OBP was .370 and Nomar is like the free-est swinging hitter ever...outside of Vlad Gueurro.

[Jon]

I think the real value is that this team would've won 95+ games last year if they were healthy.  Factor in that Gonzalez and Crawford are a net gain over Beltre and Martinez, and this team might be pushing 100 wins in the toughest division in baseball. 

[LB3533]

I don't think this team will win 100 games if their pitching staff chokes.

[action781]

Yea, I just looked over Crawford's body of work.

His career OBP is abysmal .337, his K to BB ratio is over 2 to 1, his career slugging is .444....to me a lot left to be desired.

Clearly, not worth 20 million per year....

I mean Nomar's Red Sox career OBP was .370 and Nomar is like the free-est swinging hitter ever...outside of Vlad Gueurro.

Crawford's OBP over the past 5 seasons have been .348, .355, .319 (injured), .364, and .356.  Those healthy seasons didn't come with absysmal OBPs at all.  His slugging was over .450 in all 4 of those healthy seasons also.  When you consider all the extra bases he gets from stealing, add the net stolen bases into his total bases and that .495 SLG last season becomes more like .557. 

[Rondo2287]

I don't think this team will win 100 games if their pitching staff chokes.

[LB3533]

My concern is for the Red Sox pitching staff.

There are holes in the Starting Rotation, Bullpen and believe it or not, our Closer situation too.

I just don't find it prudent to be overspending for a top of the order guy, especially when we already just brought in Adrian Gonzalez.

I don't trust Lackey, Beckett or DiceK to return to form.

[Donoghus]

My concern is for the Red Sox pitching staff.

There are holes in the Starting Rotation, Bullpen and believe it or not, our Closer situation too.

I just don't find it prudent to be overspending for a top of the order guy, especially when we already just brought in Adrian Gonzalez.

I don't trust Lackey, Beckett or DiceK to return to form.

They have too much money already tied up in starting pitching already.  They really couldn't afford to break the bank on another starting pitcher when there was a (IMO) a real need to address the offense. 

[bucknersrevenge]

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=mcdonald_joe&id=5909217

Today after the presser Tito says ideally Ellsbury will leadoff if he's good to go. I would expect Pedey to follow and as he expects Crawford to bat 2nd or 3rd, all things being equal he bats 3rd in front of Gonzales and Youk which in my opinion is the way it should be. Obviously all bets are off if Ellsbury isn't healthy.

[dpaps]

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=mcdonald_joe&id=5909217

Today after the presser Tito says ideally Ellsbury will leadoff if he's good to go. I would expect Pedey to follow and as he expects Crawford to bat 2nd or 3rd, all things being equal he bats 3rd in front of Gonzales and Youk which in my opinion is the way it should be. Obviously all bets are off if Ellsbury isn't healthy.

I agree that this lineup is best when Els can lead off. I really like Crawford 2 and Pedy 3 though. If Jacoby gets out, you then still have crawford, pedy, gonzalez the next three to hit. If elsbury gets on, you have him wreaking havoc on the bases with crawford who can bunt or hit and run or just swing away in the two hole. I really like the idea of Elsbury and Crawford causing so much trouble for the opposing pitcher hitting 1,2.

And then comes the heart of our lineup Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Ortiz 3-6 (R,L,R,L). 
Regardless of the exact order, this lineup is going to be awesome.

And the Red Sox flag football team just got much stronger...we can finally take down the pesky Helton lead Rockies.