Report: Crawford Wants Out Of Tampa
By Frank Russo ~ November 14th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
It appears that Carl Crawford’s days in a Tampa Bay uniform could be numbered. We spoke with someone with knowledge of the situation on Friday who told us that Crawford is “livid” over management’s decision to pick up his 2010 club option for $10 million rather than renegotiate a contract extension, which was agreed upon by the two sides when Crawford first signed his contract. “He wants out of Tampa bad,” is what we were told. “He had a handshake agreement with management that they would renegotiate the contract instead of picking up the option and they went ahead and did it anyway. He’s pissed beyond belief.”
Rays management is going to be hard pressed now to satisfy their all star left fielder’s demands. In 2009 Crawford batted .305 with 15 homers, 68 RBI, an OPS+ of 113, and a career high of 60 stolen bases. There are many who believe that Crawford could easily get up to $20 million per year contract on the open market, and would be highly coveted by teams such as the Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Boston.
Crawford actually gave away two years of potential free agency when he signed his last deal. This on the belief that his contract would be renegotiated later on.
There are only three possible scenarios to the “Crawford Saga.” The first would be for Rays VP Andrew Friedman to mollify Crawford by signing him to a new, more lucrative contract as originally promised by the club. The second scenario would be to trade him, either this winter or by the trading deadline next season in an attempt to get some sort of equal value back, and lastly, keep him and let things play out in 2010, thus allowing the club to get back draft picks when he signs elsewhere.
It’s already shaping up to be a rather interesting hot stove season. The thought of Carl Crawford possibly becoming available should make it that much more. Stay tuned!
November 14th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Let’s get real here. Met fans love to dream. Prince Jeff is not going to get into a negotiations war to sign Carl Crawford, Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, John Lackey or the like. Expect 2nd tier free agents to pique his interest.
Jeff is not interested in anything else than filling fannies in the seats. And if you don’t believe that, than why in the world did the Mets bid against themselves to reacquire Ollie Perez last year? It was only to placate the fans.
Prince Jeff will have Omar sign OFers along the lines of Rick Ankiel or Xavier Nady (good bet to return to the Mets). 2nd tier pitchers will also pique Prince Jeff’s interests such as Dustin Duscherer, Noah Lowery, Jason Marquis , Randy Wolf and Joel Piniero (if they remain affordable). The Mets might take a chance on Ben Sheets if his salary demands are not ridiculous.
Folks, unfortunately, that’s as good as it gets. And if you don’t believe me, try to recall the last time the Met organization got immersed in the fray of negotiations for a player when other teams were involved……………….. It’s never happened.
Why did they sign Tim Redding last year? He’s the type of player that Prince Jeff looks to sign (i.e., someone who no other team expresses particular interest in signing).
November 14th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Pedrp,Beltran,Glavine,Wagner,trades for Santana,Delgao! They’ll sign (or trade) for one top tier player! They have to or the fans and press will be all over them. Let’s hope it’s the right one! I’m hoping for Holliday but think it’s more likely to be Lackey. How about a trade for Phillips/Harang or Arroyo? I think that’s a possibility.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I don’t get the Crawford love. Hes an excellent player, no doubt, but he’ll cost top prospect talent. Why trade for him when Holliday is on the market?
November 14th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Mike, you are getting some love on rotoworld.com now… Cited the source of NYBD
November 14th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
one small problem. nobody in the Rays front office was with the team when Crawford signed his deal in 2005. The team was sold in 2006.
Nice try, but I am throwing up the BS flag on this post. But hey, if you need to make stuff up to get a few pageviews, go right ahead.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
yeah, raysindex.com pretty much rips this post to shreds. I really doubt this is true.
http://www.raysindex.com/2009/11/report-that-crawford-upset-at-rays-is-full-of-holes.html
November 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Again
Like I have said before – we don’t have any motivation to make things up. The few extra page views will simply come back to haunt us. This was information provided by Frank from a Tampa source. Take from it what you will it doesn’t mean he will be traded we don’t have that power.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Thank You Rotofan for the heads up!
November 14th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
This is about as accurate as a Baba Booey pitch .
Complete total sourceless baloney . Of course the guy wants to get paid and check free agency , no he never made a handshake agreement . If the right deal for a pitcher comes for Tampa any player is expendable .
November 14th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Yea because the Mets never go out and acquire big names in the off season, Pedro, Beltran, Delgado, Santana, Krod….
November 14th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
The Mets picked up Ollie to placate the fans? Which fans, fans of the Mets or fans of seeing the Mets lose?
The Mets have nothing of value to trade for Crawford, although I would much rather see him in left than Holliday or Bay. I’d give up the better hitting for better range and much better speed, plus Holliday will be very expensive to sign.
-C
November 14th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Hahahaha this is the stupidest thing I’ve read in awhile
November 14th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Rotoworld.com is ripping this report.
November 14th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Nice job making stuff up, Mike. Par for the course, coming from you.
November 14th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
This report is untrue. Mike, I know you would never post something that you thought is untrue, that being said you have to have a couple of sources, not just one, especially a low level one. What you wrote does not make any sense, check facts before you post!
November 14th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Sources? Otherwise, this is just false rumors being spread around.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Frank… I read the article..where does it say he is “livid” about his contract. Where?
November 14th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
that’s the last time I read this site
November 14th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Once again, this is completely made up nonsense. Frank just makes things up and hopes that if 1 made-up thing out 100 sticks, he can claim victory.
Here is my challenge to you, Frank. Name just one thing you have had right. You don’t have any sources. None. You’re a fraud. You’re a fake and Mike should know better than to publish your nonsense.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/2009/11/report-of-carl-crawford-wanting-out-of-tampa-bay-is-false.html
This report is completely false.
November 15th, 2009 at 3:11 am
It’s amazing how all these false reports always come out of New York. :sarcasm dripping:
November 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am
This is why this site is not creditable. This is a joke. Another one of these blog sites, with “UNNAMED” source.
I have an unnamed source too, I’d tell you but I really can’t, because he’s unnamed.
As a Rays fan, I’m tired of sites like this making up stuff to make it look like they have a story.
Garbage.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Btw
For the record
Joe Smith didn’t debunk anything. He took quotes from earlier in the week, including from late in the season, and make his own assumption. You know what they say about assumptions – bottom line, we have information that Crawford doesn’t want to be in Tampa and we stand by that. I don’t care what Mr. Smith has to say because teams and players don’t give you the whole story. I would be more impressed if he gave an inside quote from the organization.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am
i really dont think anybody wants to waste any of their time gathering quotes to debunk what is an obviously fraudulent piece from a fourth-rate site. I’m sure they have better things to do.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:43 am
So then why the outcry? If it’s fourth rate
Sounds like a lot of energy on something that doesn’t matter.
Btw- do you think what the teams give you is the truth? If so you might want to be careful responding to those spam emails that promise money in exchange for your SS#