Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford is finally healthy and showing signs of looking like the dynamic outfielder who dominated the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays a few years ago. The guy he doesn’t look like is the one we saw with the Boston Red Sox.
Crawford has played 88 games with his new team, but it is obvious he still hasn’t gotten over how poorly his time in Boston went. He and Adrian Gonzalez have been catalysts for baseball’s best team since the All-Star break, yet Crawford is still happy to rip the Red Sox when asked about the past.
“That was one of the toughest times in my life, ever, from when I was a little kid, 1 year old,” Crawford told ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Mark Saxon. “It definitely was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life to be traded over here.
“You make $20 million, but it’s not like they’re begging me to hit a home run every time I go up there, you know what I’m saying? It’s not like I need to go 5-for-5 every at-bat and, if I don’t, I’m considered the worst player on the planet.”
Talk about an incredible exaggeration. Crawford appeared in 130 games for the Red Sox in 2011 after inking a seven-year, $142 million deal. During that span, he hit .255 with 11 home runs, 56 RBI and a pathetic on-base percentage of .289. No one expected him to hit a home run every time up or go 5-for-5, he was just expected to earn his $20 million salary by producing runs consistently.
Crawford said he has been told he should not speak to the media about his two seasons in Boston, but he is so angry about it that he can’t help himself.
“It [ticked] me off so much, the things I had said about me,” he explained. “I have the type of spirit that, if you say something to me, I’m going to say something back.”
Excuses, excuses, excuses. In case you have forgotten, Gonzalez was faced with the same situation in Boston. Actually, Gonzalez was traded to the Red Sox from the San Diego Padres. Crawford chose to sign with Boston — a city known for its pressure-packed environment and ruthless reporters — as a free agent, which makes him sound even worse when he complains.
Unlike Crawford, Gonzalez dodged questions about his time with the Red Sox.
“For the most part, we underperformed last year in Boston and we didn’t win,” he said. “The year before, we won. We just didn’t make it to the postseason at the end. I had a good time. The only things I had there weren’t really a big deal.”
Before the season began, Crawford described playing in Boston as the “worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.” Again, that’s either a bit dramatic or I know plenty of people who would love to trade places with him. For someone who willingly signed with the Red Sox knowing what past players have said about them, Crawford sure does want us to feel badly for him. If you ask me, his inability to move past it is pathetic.
