You know, hating the Yankees would be a lot easier if Brian Cashman didn’t always seem like such a cool guy.
Did Yankees Sucker Red Sox Into Overspending On Carl Crawford?
From ESPN New York:
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman admitted Thursday that he feigned interest in Carl Crawford last offseason to drive up the price for the Boston Red Sox to sign the free agent.
"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up," Cashman said. "The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'
Let’s be honest for a second ... How many people would come up with this one?
Carl Crawford : Brett Gardner
Probably not many people. Why not?
There are a lot of reasons, but let’s be honest ... their epidermal hues have something to do with it. Because otherwise there are (or were) a lot of similarities. Before this season, both were essentially center fielders playing brilliantly in left field. Both got on base at good clips (though in different ways). And both were exceptionally fine base-stealers; in fact, in 2010 they tied for third in the American League with 47 steals apiece.
Crawford had more power and hit for a higher batting average; Gardner was probably the (slightly) better outfielder and drew more walks. But both were, in 2010, exceptionally valuable left fielders who ran particularly well and put runs on the scoreboard.
Which is not to suggest, of course, that anyone could reasonably have predicted that Gardner would be a far better player than Crawford in 2011. Cashman certainly couldn’t have known that. I love this quote (as I love a lot of Brian Cashman quotes):
Going into the season, Cashman said Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who also landed Adrian Gonzalez, "kicked my ass in the offseason."
How does he feel now after winning the division?
"What I said was accurate: The Red Sox had a great winter, and I had a bad winter," Cashman said. "But as it turned out, I had a better winter than anybody would've expected, including myself."
But while nobody could have predicted Crawford’s poor season, anyone who pays attention to moderately sophisticated metrics -- you know, the sort espoused in certain books and movies -- could easily have predicted that the difference between Crawford’s and Gardner’s salaries wouldn’t be nearly matched by the difference in their performances.
Now, about Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia ...
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