Not even a week after trading away four prospects for slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and reportedly agreeing with him on a contract extension that will give him about $20 million per season, the Red Sox were at it again and splashed some big money at a big free agent.
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The Boston Red Sox have reportedly signed former Rays left fielder Carl Crawford to a $142-million, seven-year deal, taking the best remaining hitter off the market.
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The price of over $20 million per season may seem high, but Red Sox ownership can thank their colleagues in Washington for driving up the price of free agent outfielders by inking Jayson Werth to a ridiculous contract. If Werth hadn’t gotten his $126-million deal, there’s no way that Crawford could have gotten as much as he did. In fact, I would’ve bet that Crawford would have gotten Werth’s deal if the Nats had splashed that ridiculous amount of cash.
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The signing of Crawford may be bad news for one person with the Red Sox right now though; Jacoby Ellsbury should be on the trading block when you consider that Crawford plays the same position and is basically the type of prototypical speed player.
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Now this has to mean that the Yankees will end up splurging for Cliff Lee. I mean, with their chief rival snapping up two big left-handed bats, there’s no way they can’t grab a lefty ace like Lee.