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Red Sox agree to terms with Carl Crawford 12.08.10 at 11:50 pm ET
By Alex Speier

According to a major league source, the Red Sox have reached an agreement with outfielder Carl Crawford, as first reported by the Boston Globe. Multiple reports peg the value of the agreement at seven years and $142 million, suggesting that only a physical and some final contract language stand in the way of the biggest deal ever inked by the current Red Sox ownership group.

The $20.3 million average annual value surpasses the $18 million a year that Jayson Werth will receive in his fresh seven-year, $126 million deal from the Nationals. The 29-year-old Crawford was widely considered the top position player in free agency and had reportedly drawn interest from the Angels and Yankees, among others. That said, the Sox had some pause about whether to go to as many as seven years for Crawford, and for a team the team was more enamored of the idea of signing Werth for a shorter term.

But once Werth went for seven years — more than the Sox would have considered — the team made its play for Crawford, resulting in the team’s second blockbuster of the last week. That followed the Sox’ acquisition of slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in a trade with the Padres on Sunday.

The Sox explored other market alternatives. The team had been interested in Werth before he signed his deal with the Nationals. The club also kicked the tires on the possibility of trading for Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran, but those talks never became serious, according to multiple sources. Meanwhile, the team had shown interest in outfielder Magglio Ordonez as a right-handed slugger who might fit on a shorter-term deal.

But the prize of the outfield market all along was Crawford, a player whose impact the Sox have often remarked upon.

“I think he’s a game changer,” Sox manager Terry Francona said on the Dale & Holley Show last month. “He’s that guy that can change a game defensively, offensively. When he gets on base, he gives you a headache. He has a little bit of that Johnny Damon in him where, he’s swinging and I’m not sure he knows where the ball is going, but he fouls off six or seven and then he’ll rifle one into right field or bounce one and beat it out. He has a way of changing the game. It frustrates the heck out of you. Sometimes you can do everything right, and if he gets on base you can’t throw him out.”

For much of the offseason, there was an industry-wide expectation that Crawford might prefer to go to a less intense baseball climate. The Angels and Rangers had both expressed interest in the outfielder, and some believed that he might prefer to play in those cities.

But Rays manager Joe Maddon, who witnessed Crawford’s emergence into an All-Star over the last five seasons, insisted that Crawford will face no problem heading to the Red Sox.

“First of all, they’re going to love him. He’s going to be embraced. There’s going to be a love-fest. He’s going to make all types of play, and do all kind of stuff where the Boston fans will fall in love with him immediately, so I don’t think there will be any type of negative pressure coming his way to perform,” Maddon said on Tuesday.

“He’ll stay to himself, although Carl has come out of his shell a little bit the last couple of years. Going to the playoffs, World Series, being an All-Star MVP, all that kind of stuff, I think he’s kind of blossomed in that regard. He might surprise you … He’s going to feed off the energy.”

In nine seasons with the Rays, Crawford hit .296/.337/.444 with 409 stolen bases and 765 runs. He hit .307/.356/.495/.851 with a career-high 19 homers in 2010.

Rob Bradford and D.J. Bean contributed to this report.

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  • keith

    Bring on the stankys

  • boris

    oh my goodness!

  • Dano50

    Wow.

  • npd1969

    Excellent, Awesome, Outstanding! WOW!!!

  • Dave

    1. Ells
    2. Pedroia
    3. Crawford
    4. Gonzalez
    5. Youk
    6. Papi
    7. Drew
    8. Scutaro
    8. Salty/Tek

  • Devan

    you know what allowed them to do this? Team-friendly deals for Youk, pedroia, lester. after next year Ortiz, cameron, drew, scutaro all come off books. Then its the Crawford and Gonzo and all homegrown players probably.

  • http://www.toooast.com mattymatty2000

    You can’t have Ellsbury up at the top of the lineup anymore. He’s gotta hit ninth. Youk has to get more at-bats then he’d get hitting fifth. I’d suggest leading off with Crawford, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youk, Papi, etc.

  • tobosox

    I no longer care about not signing Matt Holliday Or texiara!!!

  • Dano50

    I tend to agree with matty. But I really don’t care. Whatever Tito decides is cool with me.

  • http://Enteryourwebsite... Fisk

    Will the idiot fans and talk show hosts now shut up about how Henry will spend all his money the soccer team?

  • 2chinz

    Funny how these two major signings happen the same week that the statement arrived for my season tickets. I Cannot write the check fast enough!!!

  • Devan

    Crawford hasn’t hit leadoff since 2007. Don’t know where they’ll put him, but not up top.

  • Sam

    I think this means that Ellsbury is potentially trade bait for a right handed power hitter. But if not, the lineup, while lefty heavy, is certainly younger and possibly better than the Yankees

  • N

    david ortiz best number 6 hitter in baseball… ill tell you what as excited as i am about this they may regret this contract down the road when there current home grown guys’ contracts are up and need to be paid more/are retired, and they have 42.3 million each year locked up on 2 players, one who’s never hit 20 hr’s. they’re gonna need these lower level (A/AA) prospects to step up like they’re supposed to. throw in becket and lackey getting paid 16 mil each thats 72 million locked up for at least the next 4 years for a 3rd and 4th starter, a speed player, but also a franchise cornerstone. they really shouldn’t have signed both lackey and beckett just one or the other long term pitching contracts never work.

  • Dan

    I think this is a statement move. John Henry wanted to show us that he’s still committed to this team and wanted to create a buzz and get the Red Sox ratings up. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a great fit and a great player either.

  • Joe

    @Dave, dude that is one scary lineup. I’d be willing to bet that they drop youk behind Papi so that they can give the big guy a little more protection.

    Anyway, as long as we stay healthy we are set up to make a run at it this year. Pitching needs to step up though.
    Also, now that we have this stuff out of the way we can spend the rest of the offseason building up the pen. Theo is in the zone at these winter meetings. I wonder what comes next?

  • NutCracker

    to above post N Says:
    What are you talking about you fool? – You are an idiot -

  • Joe

    Crawford’s deal after this season is a lot more affordable. Look at all the money coming off the books? Drew and Cameron alone account for more than Crawford’s salary. Papi also comes off the books as well. So, you look at it from the Red Sox perspective, the salary structure doesn’t change much after this season. Unfortunately they will likely not add any major salaries for awhile, but if this team plays to potential, who cares?

  • joe

    Holy crap !!!!!!!!!!!! … Can’t wait till the season !!!

  • Where are the whiners?

    where are the whiners now…the ones that wanted to run Theo out of town before Thanksgiving….because he was “the worst GM in the business”…

    I am looking for a few mea culpes here…come on…man up!!!

    Admit that you wrote stupid shit and you were wrong about it….come on whiners…man up!

  • kzone

    ells,dice-k and marco for reyes and beltran. then sign a so-so starter for the fifth spot in the rotation or give wake a shot.

  • John

    Everyone is a GM and a manger today! Just shut up and enjoy the team they have built here!

  • pete

    Nothing changes for me. I couldn’t afford to go to the games before, and I certainly won’t be able to afford it now. I liked it better when I could stroll down to the ballpark on game day and get a nice bleacher seat, or even a pretty good box seat if I had a few extra dollars. For me, It’ll still be nightly NESN broadcasts and the occasional PawSox or Spinners game.

  • Jack

    That loud sigh of relief you hear is coming from Salty and Tek. How grateful do you think they are, now that they don’t have to try to throw him out.

  • Chris D

    Where are all the Theo bashers now. A couple of weeks ago, I kept reading bad things about Henry and THeo…Boy talk about putting foot in mouth!

  • Gerry

    All I heard on the D&C show all morning was how The Yankees got the Red Sox to overpay for Crawford.Now i am reading that the Yankees are offering Cliff Lee a seventh year on their contract offer,something the Yankees have said all along the weren’t going to do.Who is overpaying for their player now Yankee fans?You know what else?That is the best case scenario.Just picture this will you?Brian Cashman standing in a lobby during the winter meetings with a pen and fat Yankee checkbook in his hand and nobody to make out a check to!!!!!

  • Gerry

    I agree with Gordon Ede’s version of what the Red Sox line up will be.Barring injury of course :
    Carl Crawford, lf
    Dustin Pedroia, 2b
    Adrian Gonzalez, 1b
    Kevin Youkilis, 3b
    David Ortiz, DH
    J.D. Drew rf
    Jason Varitek, c
    Marco Scutaro, ss
    Jacoby Ellsbury,

  • swov5665

    There are 2 lefty hitters coming off of our line up next year, well drew will be replaced with another lefty, but papi might be were we get a good position/dh righty or switch hitter. i think now that we have Gonzo, Youk, Craw, and Pedroia, (hope we keep Ells)those 4 alone can keep us in contention for years to come. I think we are good with our lineup, lets work on the pen.

  • tchuyoyo

    I hope all of you Theo and John Henry bashers will now go away. Leave this poster’s place in Red Sox Nation. I have had faith all along in the current management/owners of this team. For those that thought 2004 was more the ground work of the previous group, 2007 should have proved that this present group had earned their chops and knows what they’re doing. They have a business plan model and work within that framework. I skipped a lot of post reading due to the hate and lack of faith. It’s embarrassing. No wonder the SOSH severely limit membership to the most knowledgeable fans. You only have to come here and read the griping, along with the crappy English, to see why.

  • http://Enteryourwebsite... JOE

    Dear Santa,

    I LOVE YOU EVEN MORE NOW THAN WHEN YOU BROUGHT ME THAT BIG SHINY RED FIRE TRUCK AS A KID! I PROMISE INSTEAD OF COOKIES AND MILK, I WILL HAVE FILET MINION, A BOTTLE OF CROWN ROYAL AND TWO SMOKING HOT BLONDES IN LINGERIE WAITING FOR YOU WHEN YOU COME DOWN MY CHIMNEY THIS YEAR!

  • Gerry

    Yeah but after drinking all of that Crown Royal will Santa be able to fully enjoy those blonds?hehehe

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  • Robert

    Well, it’s about time they acted in this type of aggressive manner. The fans deserve to feel their town team has a chance to win it all evey year. A baseball team is a public trust,not a typical corporation.Don’t you think that Baltimore could win every year with that ball park and rich owner. How about KC. Their owner is the CEO of Walmart. What’s his excuse.Don’t forget the luxury tax these owners get every year.How do they get to put that money in their pockets and send out the same tired team every year? When I hear Theo spouting the same old cliche’s about how they “affix a value” to a player and if their offer comes in short, which it ussually does,oh well.Thats why they have lost so many quality players in recent years. The Toronto GM pointed out that although they signed two fine players,they lost two fine players in V-Mart and Beltre,so who’s to say they will be any better.They better fix that bullpen and add some righthanded bats to the bench.If they sign Downs, and stop squawking about draft picks, I will have hope that they are starting to get it.If they are smart enough to sign Manny to platoon with Ortiz, I would be more encouraged,also.

  • http://www.squidoo.com/my-home-weathervanes weathervane

    Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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