Not sure people appreciate how valuable Crowder is. His contract has 3 more years and only $22m on it. He's legitimately a good starter, arguably our 3rd best player last season. On the open market he'd make $20m/yr, easy. But it's hard to imagine getting fair trade value for him, as we have zero leverage.
Better to give up AB for nothing than to give up Crowder for 25 cents on the dollar.