tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post8387721115639366173..comments2023-09-16T07:45:45.305-04:00Comments on Gronktastic: Why I'm Not Thrilled about the Crawford Signing.Aaron_Strouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964204478772858370noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-400783034147260372010-12-13T13:58:28.761-05:002010-12-13T13:58:28.761-05:00Late to this thread of the CC party. I'll just...Late to this thread of the CC party. I'll just add that I think Crawford is a terrible base runner. Blazing fast and can steal bases, but watching him a lot over the years, including a series live at TB, I noticed that he just never seemed to have a sense of the game, its situation, and where he was. <br /><br />He gets by on athletic skill, but I don't see a high baseball IQ here, especially in baserunning. Expect him to screw up on the basepaths, especially on 1st -to-third situations, a lotDoug Haslamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18158443201361799614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-80597772842236630452010-12-11T22:55:04.349-05:002010-12-11T22:55:04.349-05:00Tim - as I said on Twitter, great post. And thank ...Tim - as I said on Twitter, great post. And thank you for dusting off some of the cobwebs over here. I must admit, it has been fun talking shop on the BigP Facebook page however.<br /><br />As you probably know, I am a fan of the Crawford signing. With that said, I also agree with many of the assertions you made in your post. Here's the wild card for me, however. Crawford played for five full seasons before Evan Longoria arrived on the scene. During those years, the Rays finished last or second to last in the AL East. Then came 2008 when the Rays finally turned things around and Crawford (after being one of the more durable guys in the league) gets injured and misses 53 games.<br /><br />What am I getting at? Well, we've only really see Crawford fully healthy with a good (not great) lineup behind him offensively. In those two years - 2009 and 2010 - he put up some of the best numbers of his career. In fact, this year, Crawford had a career high in slugging percentage and OPS and his batting average was his second highest ever. More importantly, he enjoyed his two highest .OBP these last two years -- .364 in '09 and .356 in '10. While he'll never be Kevin Youkilis when it comes to plate discipline, he's no schmuck when he has protection in the lineup. We've all agreed, there will be even more protection now that he'll be batting for arguably the best hitting team in baseball.<br /><br />And let's not forget how much better he'll make Pedroia (or whomever hits behind him) because his speed drives opposing pitchers crazy.<br /><br />So bottom line, is Crawford worth the money the Sox paid for him? Probably not. But neither is Jason Werth. Neither will Cliff Lee at the money and years he gets signed for. Nor will Zach Greinke. That doesn't mean they aren't some of the best players in baseball, just that baseball is experiencing some irrational exuberance unlike anything we've seen in a while. The real key, as you point out, is that they took Crawford away from division rivals TB and NY and regular nemesis, Los Angeles.Aaron_Strouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09964204478772858370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-64529048832127569612010-12-11T11:52:48.235-05:002010-12-11T11:52:48.235-05:00Thanks for the comment, Adam. I forgot to address ...Thanks for the comment, Adam. I forgot to address the signing in terms of our division rivals. Shoring up ourselves (because Crawford is clearly better than, say, Ellsbury) while also weakening the Rays and denying the Yankees the chance to improve is definitely a meta-win for us.<br /><br />Re left field: it's the easiest outfield position, and one of the two easiest defensive positions (with 1B) on the diamond. Center fielders must cover more ground and throw a little better; right fielders (esp. at Fenway) have to cover more ground and throw a *lot* better.<br /><br />Basically, I'm following Bill James's old idea about the defensive spectrum. There's a reason we see so many heart-of-the-order sluggers who play LF and 1B, and so few who play C or SS.<br /><br />Put it another way: of all the greatest defensive outfielders ever, only one that I can think of (Barry Bonds) regularly played LF throughout his career. All the others (from Sam Crawford to Ichiro Suzuki) played CF, RF, or some mix of both.Tim Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03081770448216226755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-56731046202990550422010-12-11T11:37:43.064-05:002010-12-11T11:37:43.064-05:00Great points Tim. Perhaps the best one is about A-...Great points Tim. Perhaps the best one is about A-Gon being the steak. Is it just me, or is Crawford-palooza 10X more than the A-Gon signing? <br /><br />I don't know how we'd get stats for this, but Crawford has always been a Red Sox killer. Clutch situations, etc. This is about adding to the Sox just as much about taking away from the Rays and preventing him going to the Yankees. <br /><br />A question - why "good left fielders will never be worth as much defensively as similarly good defenders in center or right"? Not sure I follow that.adamcohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03637344107273278348noreply@blogger.com