CARL CRAWFORD – 7 Years - $142 Million
The Backstop
At the age of 21, Carl Crawford started his major league career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His first full year he batted .281 and stole 55 bases - his top notch speed also gave him a good advantage as an outfielder. In his second full year, he batted .296 and stole 59 bases. He played 8 more years with the Devil Rays. In those 8 years his batting average was over .300 every year but one while averaging 47 stolen bases a year. He was
Carl Crawford made his mark in Tampa.
In 2006 he was rewarded with a 4 year contract worth $15.2 million dollars. It was an average of $3.8 million per year. In 2010, he was paid $10 million for one season allowing him to become a free agent in 2011.
Up to this point in time Carl Crawford was an all-around talented player being compared in talent to Willie Mays because of his speed, fielding and strong batting average. In
In the last two years at Tampa Crawford had averaged 17 home runs, 54 stolen bases, a .306 average, and a .360 OBP.
The Big Day
The Boston Red Sox stepped up and gave a 7 year $142 million dollar contract. It was almost an immediate hurricane disaster Crawford came in however the Red Sox never obtained the proper insurance for such an upside-down deal. In 2011, he batted .255 with 11 home runs and 18 stolen bases. The second year, he played in only 31 games. Crawford in two seasons of pocketing $46 Million dollars for playing a total of 161 games and being a below average performer. The Red Sox team underperformed in both years finishing 3rd and 5th in his two part time seasons.
MoneyTrade
You have heard of moneyball however allow SwingBadder to introduce MoneyTrade; one of the biggest salaries increases from one team to another with the Dodgers obtaining the contracts of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. The GM for the Dodgers was going all in on the team and in doing so helped the Red Sox unload one of the worst baseball contracts we at SwingBadder ranks. Clearly Carl Crawford wasn’t the key piece but a add on that the Dodgers had to clear the books for the Red Sox as finishing dead last with that payroll wasn’t making anyone happy.
Dodger Blue
In his first year with the Dodgers he played 116 games, batted .283 and stole 15 bases. The second year he dropped to 105 games batting .300 and stealing 23 bases. He also performed rather well in the playoffs for the Dodgers in both year even though the Dodgers underperformed not making it to the big show. These were the wonder years – yea that time you thought you were amazing at something – things were only going to get worst from here on a contract with 3 year left on the deal.
The next two years were just a depression for Carl and the Dodgers but don’t feel bad about the Dodgers they are like the rich guy with an understanding wife; they just continued to buy themselves into the post season each of these years but not with the help of Carl Crawford. The next two years he only played a total of 99 games batting .265 and .185 with a two year total of 10 stolen bases which basically means the opportunities went the way of other production
Watching Crawford deteriorate, the Dodgers released him ending his career but paying him $35 million to go away and not play again. Crawford never produced anything close for the Red Sox or Dodgers at the level he did in Tampa.
Known for stolen bases in Tampa (average of 54 a year), Crawford only stole 71 bases over the course of his 7-year contract. In those years, he batted .300 once and every other year was lower. He had averaged 17 home runs a year in Tampa, but only hit a total of 32 in his 6 playing years under the new contract.
SwingBadder gives the Carl Crawford contract rating a 4 out of 5 Trash
Cans – he doesn’t get the full Dumpster Fire Rating of 5 but it’s a bad deal. GM with the big pen was Theo Epstein – Enjoy the Press Conference.