|
|
Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Friday, August 08, 2014
Carl Crawford is just another big whiny baby.
|
Bookmarks
You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.
Hot Topics
Newsblog: OTP 2018 Apr 16: Beto strikes out but is a hit at baseball fundraiser (1107 - 7:33am, Apr 21)Last:  Larvell BNewsblog: BBTF ANNUAL CENTRAL PARK SOFTBALL GAME 2018 (62 - 6:46am, Apr 21)Last: LassusNewsblog: OT - 2017-18 NBA thread (All-Star Weekend to End of Time edition) (2265 - 2:56am, Apr 21)Last:  f_cking sick and tired of being 57i66135Newsblog: Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-20-2018 (25 - 1:43am, Apr 21)Last: Hank G.Newsblog: Frankly, my dear, I don't give an OMNICHATTER, for April 20, 2018. (82 - 12:16am, Apr 21)Last: Brian C Hall of Merit: 2019 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion (104 - 10:09pm, Apr 20)Last:  Kiko SakataNewsblog: Bryan Price dismissed as Reds manager | MLB.com (93 - 10:00pm, Apr 20)Last: cardsfanboyNewsblog: OT: Winter Soccer Thread (1526 - 8:30pm, Apr 20)Last:  Count Vorror Rairol Mencoon (CoB)Newsblog: Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-19-2018 (23 - 6:56pm, Apr 20)Last: Morty CausaNewsblog: It’s not just ownership that’s keeping Jose Reyes a Met (30 - 6:45pm, Apr 20)Last: Howie MenckelNewsblog: Update: Cubs' Anthony Rizzo calls his shorter-season, pay-cut comments 'my opinion' (128 - 4:01pm, Apr 20)Last:  What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face?Newsblog: Braves sign Jose Bautista to a minor-league contract, will play third base (34 - 1:59pm, Apr 20)Last: RallySox Therapy: Are The Angels A Real Team? (17 - 1:35pm, Apr 20)Last: DarrenSox Therapy: Lining Up The Minors (8 - 12:24pm, Apr 20)Last: DarrenHall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1942 Ballot (1 - 11:54am, Apr 20)Last: DL from MN
|
|
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Jeff Francoeur's OPS Posted: August 08, 2014 at 08:00 AM (#4766915)He seemed like a pretty good guy. The reports on him were that he was working hard and when he did have success the guys in the dugout seemed genuinely happy for him. Even after the trade I don't remember reports of him being a problem in anyway, just as a guy who was really uncomfortable here and he has said that himself. It was a combination of a really bad fit and a guy who seems to have inexplicably lost it.
Whether it's the pressure, the fast food restaurants available, or what have you... the new sitch will likely regress towards the mean.
Again, we thank you. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.
That's like saying you visited New York for a week every summer on vacation, then were shocked to find out it's different to live there. Of course it's different.
Yeah, he’s rationalizing his struggles in Boston by blaming “Boston” in the abstract.
But does anyone dispute his basic point that if you sign a huge contract and don’t deliver, you’re going to have a rougher time in Boston than most other places, given the local media and ESPN’s obsession with the team?
2. I didn't like the signing, because Boston was getting him after his peak season, a pull hitter hitting to a very deep right field at Fenway. A Gold Glove LF in the smallest LF in baseball. A speed guy in a park which (at that time, anyway) did not emphasize speed. All that said, he was waaaaay worse than I thought. He was terrible, and if he was just a little less terrible, the Sox make the playoffs in that terrible season. And he has continued to be pretty terrible at Dodger Stadium. He can't blame Boston for his performance, unless he hates palying in Los Angeles, as well...
3. Thank you, Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nick Punto trade remains the most unlikely trade I have ever seen, and I will always remember exactly where I was when it was announced. Forever. Amazing.
4. Who cares what Carl Crawford thinks, by the way? They don't ask Adrian Gonzalez, who was probably within 50 feet of Crawford at the time of the phone call, what he thinks of Boston. It's because Bradford wants some firewood to throw on his lazy sports column. Was Fred Lynn not available for comment?
Several times during Carl’s tenure, I would drag out stats showing how “At this particular time” JD Drew was doing ‘this’ much better than Carl. And yet Drew got raked over the coals, while Carl was treated with kid gloves.
The media had the impression that Carl cared about how poorly he was doing, and were more sympathetic to him for his struggles than they were with JD, who they thought did not care. Basically, Carl would strike out swinging at ball four in the dirt, and be frustrated, so he sucked; JD would take a called strike three on the corner and walk away emotionless, so he was a monster.
Thanks, we were all waiting on the edge of our seats for your instruction on the proper proportions for how we feel as fans towards a player.
I couldn't figure this one out either. On top of the things you listed here, it was another left-handed bat in a starting line-up that is already very lefty-heavy (as well as in an outfield with Drew and Ellsbury). Also, he was joining a team with Ellsbury and Pedroia entrenched in the top two spots in the line-up; there didn't seem to be a logical way to put the line-up together where everyone would be happy (the other issue was that there were five lefties in the starting line up with Ellsbury/Ortiz/Crawford/Drew/Gonzalez, which limits your flexibility in adjusting the line-up if you are trying to prevent a series of left handed bats in a row).
Huh? What Sox fan trashed Crawford in this thread?
Speaking of which, I didn't realize Los Angeles El Hombre of Anaheim was a Red Sox fan. Huh.
Theo reminds me a bit of Frank Wren; he can develop minor league/drafted players that never hit the experts' top 100 love letter lists, but is dangerously bad around free agents.
But it's double dipping to ding him for supposedly getting a guy after his best season and "past his prime." That's contradictory.
Not defending this signing but I HATE this logic.
Much of my life as a Red Sox fan has been marked by Red Sox teams that destroyed opponents at home but then when they went on the road their lack of speed and defense killed them. A team plays as many road games as home games and being able to win those games is just as valuable. In theory Carl Crawford being an elite defender in New York, Toronto and Tampa (all big left fields) would have had a lot of value to the Sox. The problem was not that his skills didn't have value it's that he played terrible baseball.
Theo deserves criticism for this move without question. It was a big ticket signing and it was a spectacular failure. I think the fact that left field in Fenway is small is not meaningful to that happening though.
Understood; I should have been clearer; past his peak age 27 season.
Well, this is dumb. The Red Sox, as I have pointed out many, many times before, did not lose on the road because they had Manny Ramirez, Jim Rice, Yaz, or Ted Williams in LF. The idea is purest fantasy. Why you've convinced yourself of this fantasy is beyond me, but there it is.
Yeah, but the black guys are just whiny babies.
Agreed, but I wouldn't overlook that good defense has advantages even in Fenway's LF. Get to the ball a little quicker, some hits become outs, some doubles become singles, some runners don't score from second on a single. The more a LFer can cover from the line to the gap, the more valuable he is, and the more likely the CFer can play a step or two closer to right to defend the triangle. Sure you generally play your worst outfielder in LF, especially at Fenway, but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't have been value if Crawford had played good defense at Fenway. As noted above, the problem was that he didn't.
This makes me wonder how modern fans would treat Joe DiMaggio. Dimaggio, like Drew, was the opposite of the Paul O'Neill/Kevin Youkilis type that the modern fan seems to love.
It may not be going crazy, but I believe that constitutes a felony.*
* At least for lefthanded, leftfielders based in California.
Same with anyone else, including Drew. In Drew's case, he often wasn't "playing well" insofar as he was hurt, and there were some other minor factors that dragged him down (he usually wasn't his team's best player; he wasn't necessarily a Triple Crown stat guy, so his value was masked; and he switched teams a lot, making it difficult for him to make a connection with any one fanbase.) But if he had a great extended run with one team and that team won a couple World Series, then sure, he'd be loved.
As for Crawford, seems obvious that A) even if it's accepted that he would have more defensive value in AL East road stadiums (which I don't even know to be true, other than Yankee), that is still outweighed by having less defensive value in 81 games; B) as it turned out, that wasn't the reason the signing didn't work out; but C) it could in retrospect have provided the wrong reason to make the right decision, as it were.
That sort of makes my point. Just as those guys weren't the problem on the road, having Carl Crawford be the Carl Crawford he usually was would have helped the Red Sox at Fenway. The Sox in many years were a slow, ponderous team and that had an effect in road games. The guys you mention weren't the only players on those teams and it was the totality of teams that cost the Sox in those days.
The problem was getting guys "made for Fenway" that were in fact not that good (Cater, Armas, etc...). The problem with Crawford wasn't that his skills didn't translate to Fenway, the problem with Crawford was that he sucked. If he had put up a 115 OPS+ with 50-60 steals and elite defense the move would have been great. The problem was he suddenly stopped hitting. He didn't need to replicate 2010 to be a good signing, he just needed to do what he had been doing the five years before that.
Unless I am mistaken, Jetes shows more enthusiasm than DiMaggio ever did. I can't imagine Joe D doing the Forties equivalent of a fist pump.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main