Hope his legs are insured
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 10:21 pm by SJK
In an unusual development, Jon Heyman reported on a non-Scott Boras client by stating on Monday that the Yankees have identified Carl Crawford as target numero uno in next offseason's free agent class. In fact, he goes on to say the Yankees "absolutely love Crawford."
While the Yankees have made no secret in wanting to become more toolsy and athletic, there are a few things that jump out at us when we think about a potential signing of C. Delmonte Crawford.
First, if the Yankees held back on this year's free agent class because they had an eye on Crawford, then it was the wrong decision. The better OF option was available this offseason in Matt Holliday. Holliday is simply better than Crawford. In terms of WAR, Crawford's best season was 2009 when he registered 5.5 wins above replacement. Holliday was worth 5.7 wins above replacement in 2009 and that wasn't even his best season. In 2007 & 2008, it's not even a comparison. Holliday blew him away, being worth 8.5 more wins over those two years.
But, Holliday signed a $120 million contract and probably would have asked/did ask for more from the Yankees. If we are to believe Brian Cashman, the Bombers were on a strict budget this offseason and thus, Holliday was perhaps never in the cards (see the pun there!). We'll move on and consider this argument moot.
We are leery, however, of paying a guy on the wrong side of 30 when his main tool is speed. The guys who beat the aging curve are the High-BB%, High Power guys. C-squared has a below average walk rate and below average power.
His contact skills and awesome speed do combine to make him an above average hitter (and a top notch defender). But there are two problems with those skills: 1) He'll be turning 30 if the Yankees sign him next year, which means there's no upside left in that skill set (and probably some decline); and 2) There's a tremendous amount of downside, as any leg injury will likely result in a significant performance decreases (cf.: Reyes, Jose).
We're not anti-Carl Crawford, but we're not as euphoric as many other fans are when they think of the Yankees signing him. The contract would need to be reasonable, because gambling on the legs of a 30+ year old could be a poor investment.
If Crawford could age like this Carl, we'd be all for it.....minus the getting killed.
*Props to Gary Wallace, Vizzini, and Marshall Seymour for also contributing to this post.
Tags: carl crawford, offseason
There is a sort-of black guy as president.
Marijuana is legal in all the not-retarded states.
Every college girl is a weekend-lesbian.
Lawled at those last 3 points. Hilarious.
Is every college girl really a weekend-lesbian? I need to go back to school.
I agree, pass on Crawford and use the $ to sign pitching – Cliff Lee perhaps. With Pettitte and Vazquez FA’s we will need a starter
Vito if they don’t bring back Pettitte and Posada they can sign Lee (or another FA pitcher) and Crawford.
You think the $25 mil they’re paying Posada and Pettitte counter-balances the money it would cost to pay the best FA pitcher available and one of the best OFs?
You can’t dig your hole any deeper.
Butcher – Posada’s deal is thru 2011.
I thought I read in one of the Prospectuses that speed was one of the skills that held up well in the early 30′s. I know I was killed on this site for suggesting that Mike Cameron might lose a step at age 38. I am not suggesting that Crawford is a more productive player than Holliday, but I am under the impression that Crawford is light years ahead of Holliday defensively, and if Theo is to be hailed for bringing in the wonderful Mike Cameron, perhaps Cashman views Crawford from a perspective that appreciates his Cameron like defensive virtuosity. Yes, I know Cameron is a center fielder, and Crawford a left fielder, but we can certainly use an upgrade in left field.