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Report That Crawford Upset At Rays Is Full Of Holes
Carl Crawford November 14th. 2009, 12:59pm
NY Baseball Digest is reporting Carl Crawford is upset the Rays picked up his 2010 option and that Crawford believes the Rays backed out of an agreement to renegotiate his deal.
We spoke with someone with knowledge of the situation on Friday who told us that Crawford is “livid” over management’s decision to pick up his 2010 club option for $10 million rather than renegotiate a contract extension, which was agreed upon by the two sides when Crawford first signed his contract. “He wants out of Tampa bad,” is what we were told. “He had a handshake agreement with management that they would renegotiate the contract instead of picking up the option and they went ahead and did it anyway. He’s pissed beyond belief.”
Of course, the biggest problem with this report is Crawford signed his current deal prior to the 2005 season. Stuart Sternberg did not take control of the team until after the 2005 season and Andrew Friedman was not with the Rays when the extension was signed. So even if there was a “handshake agreement” between Crawford and the previous front office, there is no reason to think that would still be honored now.
And of course there is the absurd notion that both sides would agree to a team option and at the same time have a “handshake agreement” that it would never be picked up. Chuck LaMar did some dumb things, but even he isn’t that dumb.
Also, this report does not jive with Crawford’s recent comments that he is open to a long-term deal, but is willing to play the 2010 season without an extension.
“I hope we can get something done, but if not I’ll just go into next season, do what I have to do and try to help the team win and go from there.”
That sure doesn’t sound like a guy that would be “pissed beyond belief,” about his option being picked up.
Report: Crawford Wants Out Of Tampa [NY Baseball Digest]
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Just a heads up NYBD has VERY low level sources. Don’t take what they say seriously.
Crawford is never “livid” or “pissed beyond belief”.
Whoever wrote that should be forced to leave the country and write elsewhere.
I have a good feeling that is a BS article. Rays fans know Crawford better than anyone, other than the people he works and plays with daily, and it’s safe to say that we’ve never seen him “pissed beyond belief”.
Sounds like NYBD took a dump in their hand and decided to publish it.
Never seen Crawford pissed? Off the top of my head I can remember a play in which Crawford was called out at 1st (though he was safe), Crawford was so pissed the 1st base coach had to get in between him and the ump and he was still jumping up and down screaming. Another play I can remember, Crawford was called out at home (again he was safe), he immediately popped up and slammed his helmet, hurting his knee in the process. Maybe Friedman promised Crawford BEFORE the season that they would get an extension done? I hope this isnt true, but it really makes me wonder if the Rays plan on keeping Crawford.
This isnt the first time that NYBD hatched up some rumor based on sources that never came to fruition. Just another one of those ambitious nuts who’s looking for attention. There’s hundereds of blogs like his though so no need to harass the guy on his site. Just ignore these types and eventually they will go away. I predict that the Rays will eventually get Crawford’s name on a nice 4-5 year extension, and that he will continue to thrill the fans.
99% of the time we do ignore these reports. However there are some that think NYBD is credible and they are often linked on popular websites. For example, this post was linked on Rotoworld.com which is a very popular website for breaking news. Because of that I felt this post needed a response.
Rotoworld, and the St.Pete times crushed the article. NYBD is great for opinions, not breaking news.
I understand your reasoning responding and in your place I would have done exactly what you did. Your integrity is unquestioned in my opinion. This is the third time that I know of that NYBD had a rumor debunked within the first 12 hours of their posting it. I know of no rumors he sourced that actually came to fruition. Thanks for your reply and for maintaining the best Rays site.
NYBD is awful, they had Adam Laroche as a LOCK going to the Mets at the trade deadline and then tried to cover it up as if talks “fell apart”.
Joe Smith at the Times is now saying NYBD is full of shit.
A couple of other things: why would both sides agree to an option and then agree it will never be picked up? That makes ZERO sense. Also, why would picking up the option automatically make CC feel an extension won’t happen? That is just silly.
Thank you for more Irresponsible reporting…and for sites like this to repeat it just gives morons like this Frank Russo some publicity for nothing…..
I hope he writes you a note for you repeating some stupid shit!
He has NO sources! Guaranteed!
Please do not think every Mets blog runs this way. In the Mets blog community NYBD has a reputation, and it is not a good one. Sites like these is why journalists hate blogs.
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haha i love how it was a New York baseball thing, and of course it would be because the Yankees know that the Rays have the best left fielder in baseball in CC, and they can’t stand that fact, and want CC no matter what, so of course something from new york would say CC is “pissed beyond belief” whether its true or not. which is exactly why the Rays need to grow a pair and start writing CC some bigger checks for more than a year to keep the Yanks from offering him any form of contract until he is passes his prime in about 10 years
The thing I hate about most Yankee fans, is their feeling of entitlement. I read the comments on some of these other blogs regarding issues like this, and it’s all Yankees fans going, “Yeah I want CC in 2011, so I’m OK with signing Damon this year, but only on a one year deal”. Like everything’s a foregone conclusion. God forbid another team outspend or outplay the blessed Yankees. Not sure if I’m making any sense, but it’s like there’s no respect for the process, and no respect for the game.
“but it’s like there’s no respect for the process, and no respect for the game.”
that might be the best description I hae heard yet.
My problem is that having an all-star at every position is no longer good enough for Yankees fans. Now they want the bestplayer at every position. An opening in LF? We will just fill that with Carl Crawford. Posada only has one year left at catcher? No worries, we’ll just get Joe Mauer.
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Always love NY based blogs that do not even know where we play first off. But to base up in “South Florida” is beyond ignorance at times.
Sure Tampa might be the mecca for the Jeter Palace, but they forget the years of Spring Training in the same city that is the Rays hometown.
Do we need to pout out 3,000 more green benches for people to respect the city of St. Petersburg again?
I guess a good consulation is the media has not made as many errors in city location as in the past……Respect comes slowly in the South I guess sometimes.
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