The Werth effect: Crawford signs with Boston for 7 years/$142M

[RedLegSuperStar]

Looking for a speedy hitter to place at the top of your lineup? Well look no further then current Free Agent Carl Crawford. The definition of a table setter. Guy can bunt for hits, steal every base, and hit for some pop when needed. What would you pay for this gem of an OFer?

Carl Crawford is looking to be on your team for the holiday price of 180 million dollars for 8 glorious years!

Thank you Nationals and to all a good night!

*This figure comes from Jayson Stark of ESPN.com

[buckeyenut]

As I see the deals going down this offseason, I am thinking, more and more, that
a) our extension for Bronson was a very good move and likely a bargain given the way prices are going.
b) other FA adds we have made so far aren't so bad after all
c) we need to add to our team via trade rather than FA.
d) we missed our window to sign Bruce/Votto to long term deals to a real bargain
e) Cordero might not be quite as hard to deal as we thought, especially by the trading deadline after a full offseason of these crazy deals.

[MattyHo4Life]

Originally Posted by RedLegSuperStar

Looking for a speedy hitter to place at the top of your lineup? Well look no further then current Free Agent Carl Crawford. The definition of a table setter. Guy can bunt for hits, steal every base, and hit for some pop when needed. What would you pay for this gem of an OFer?

Carl Crawford is looking to be on your team for the holiday price of 180 million dollars for 8 glorious years!

Thank you Nationals and to all a good night!

*This figure comes from Jayson Stark of ESPN.com

[MattyHo4Life]

Crawford won't get a deal near Werth's deal, because Scott Boras isn't his agent.

[blumj]

Originally Posted by MattyMo4Life

Crawford won't get a deal near Werth's deal, because Scott Boras isn't his agent.

Not sure, I thought he'd get a deal like Werth got before I ever imagined Werth would, because he's still in his 20's. And the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels all appear to have serious interest in Crawford.

Edit: There's a reason the Red Sox haven't signed Gonzalez to an official extension yet, they're saving a lot of room under the luxury tax for something in '11, it's not Werth, and the Yankees will not let that something be Cliff Lee, and relief pitchers and bench won't get them close to luxury tax.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by blumj

Not sure, I thought he'd get a deal like Werth got before I ever imagined Werth would, because he's still in his 20's. And the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels all appear to have serious interest in Crawford.

Edit: There's a reason the Red Sox haven't signed Gonzalez to an official extension yet, they're saving a lot of room under the luxury tax for something in '11, it's not Werth, and the Yankees will not let that something be Cliff Lee, and relief pitchers and bench won't get them close to luxury tax.

Luxury tax is based on average annual value. So as long as the extension occurs sometime before the season, they'll still be taxed based on the average salary of Gonzo's new contract, and not what he's actually set to make in 2011. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you and they're holding the extension off until later in the season for that reason, which would make sense.

[mdccclxix]

I'm taking this all to mean the economy is on it's way back.

[RedsManRick]

Supposedly Boston pulled out of negotiations with Crawford because of his price. Now the Angels have done the same. I think he's going to have to come back down at some point and face the reality that just because the Nats were incredibly stupid doesn't mean some other team will be. Unless Dave Dombrowski gets involved...

[camisadelgolf]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

Supposedly Boston pulled out of negotiations with Crawford because of his price. Now the Angels have done the same. I think he's going to have to come back down at some point and face the reality that just because the Nats were incredibly stupid doesn't mean some other team will be. Unless Dave Dombrowski gets involved...

Or Jocketty has a stroke that results in Bill Bavasi taking over . . .

[Sea Ray]

Traditionally speed doesn't pay like power does.

[blumj]

Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp

Luxury tax is based on average annual value. So as long as the extension occurs sometime before the season, they'll still be taxed based on the average salary of Gonzo's new contract, and not what he's actually set to make in 2011. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you and they're holding the extension off until later in the season for that reason, which would make sense.

No, you have it right, they'd have to wait until after opening day, like they did with Beckett's extension last year. With Gonzalez on his current deal, they're still under $150M, leaving them almost $30M under. If they don't add any more big salaries, they'd do the extension before opening day and use his lower '11 salary to even the hit out over the whole contract, so it would be more like $20M each year starting in '11, instead of $6M in '11 and $23M a year after that.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by blumj

No, you have it right, they'd have to wait until after opening day, like they did with Beckett's extension last year. With Gonzalez on his current deal, they're still under $150M, leaving them almost $30M under. If they don't add any more big salaries, they'd do the extension before opening day and use his lower '11 salary to even the hit out over the whole contract, so it would be more like $20M each year starting in '11, instead of $6M in '11 and $23M a year after that.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes a lot of sense then. I wasn't sure if you meant later this offseason or after opening day. But yeah, they'd save themselves the tax by waiting until then.

[OnBaseMachine]

Source: The Red Sox have a seven-year, $142 million deal done with Carl Crawford.

http://twitter.com/PeteAbe

Think this makes Ellsbury available?

[RedLegSuperStar]

Wow.. Rich continue to get richer.. Glad the Reds don't play in that league. Pisses me off that teams can have there picks of top free agents and teams like the Reds get stuck with the Miggy Cairo's and Dontrelle Willis's..

[paintmered]

$20M per year? He's all yours, Boston.