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Buster Olney: Every Player Available, Even Stanton
Left fielder Carl Crawford to the Miami Marlins for either shortstop Jose Reyes or third baseman Hanley Ramirez, with other pieces and significant cash involved.
The Boston Red Sox are contacting teams to gauge their trade interest in Crawford, according to major-league sources.
No trade appears close. Such a deal would be difficult to accomplish, given the size of Crawford’s contract and his lingering elbow problems. But the first lesson of the July 31 non-waiver deadline is that nothing is impossible.
The Red Sox, sources said, reached out to both the Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers, though another source said that no discussions took place with the Dodgers. The Marlins, historically open to any possibility, would at least consider the concept, sources said.
“There’s nothing going on with Carl,” Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. “He’s our left fielder and we’re glad to have him back in our lineup.”
Yet, while there are conflicting accounts about the nature of the Crawford talks, a trade could make sense for the Red Sox — if not now, then this offseason, assuming that Crawford plays well enough in the second half to restore his value.
The Sox could try to move Crawford to a variety of clubs; his contract allows him to block trades to only two teams, and states that any club that acquires him cannot trade him to the New York Yankees.
Crawford, who turns 31 on Aug. 5, is in the second year of a seven-year, $142 million deal. A trade with the Marlins for Reyes would be an almost equal swap of contracts. A deal for Ramirez, who is signed only through 2014, would require greater financial gymnastics.
The Red Sox, though, currently face a surplus of outfielders — Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Cody Ross, Daniel Nava and Ryan Sweeney in the majors, Ryan Kalish and Scott Podsednik at Triple A, top prospect Jackie Bradley at Double A.
A trade of one or more outfielders is almost certain before the deadline, and it might only involve a lesser player such as Sweeney. A deal involving Crawford obviously would carry far greater implications, for both the present and future.
Crawford is owed $102.5 million after this season. Reyes, whom the Marlins signed as a free agent last December, is owed $96 million. Both he and Ramirez can be traded without restriction; the Marlins do not issue no-trade clauses.
So, how would it all work?
The following is speculation only:
The Sox could include top shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias in a deal for Reyes and perhaps receive a starting pitcher as well — right-hander Anibal Sanchez, a potential free agent and former Red Sox prospect, would make sense.
The Marlins, however, probably would prefer to trade Ramirez, whom they acquired with Sanchez in the seven-player Josh Beckett trade in November 2005.
Some club officials are frustrated with Ramirez, who is batting .249 with a .763 OPS while on a 25-homer, 85-RBI pace. But Cherington is a longtime admirer of Ramirez, sources said, and the Sox could return him to shortstop, his original position.
Short-term, the Marlins could take back shortstop Mike Aviles and play him at third, trade Carlos Lee to open first base for left fielder Logan Morrison and go with an outfield of Crawford, Emilio Bonifacio and Giancarlo Stanton, once Stanton returns from knee surgery.
The Red Sox would need to include a ton of cash to account for the differences in Crawford's and Ramirez’s contracts; Ramirez is earning $15 million this season, $15.5 million next season and $16 million in ’14. If the Sox somehow could save money, all the better — they could redirect those funds toward a push to keep Ellsbury, who is a free agent after next season.
Of course, there is a catch to all this.
Any talks would be complicated by the possibility that Crawford could require Tommy John surgery to repair a sprained ulnar collateral nerve in his left elbow.
Cherington said recently that surgery “is not something we’re looking at right now. A lot of position players play through UCL injuries without issue.”
If Crawford had surgery, he would not miss as much a time as a starting pitcher — 12 to 18 months. Aviles made it back in eight months, undergoing the surgery on July 8, 2009, and returned to play the following spring.
Crawford could follow a similar timetable for a team that acquired him, getting an elbow-ligament transplant immediately with the goal of being fully recovered by next spring. Or, he could continue playing with the injury, as Albert Pujols has done since 2003, and hope to avoid surgery.
The upside is that Crawford could re-emerge as the player he was for Tampa Bay — and the player he has been the past two nights, going 4-for-7 with three stolen bases after missing the Red Sox’s first 89 games due to surgery on his left wrist, his elbow injury and a groin problem.
It’s the deadline. Nothing is impossible. Every player has a price.
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Bob Nightengale @BNightengale
The #Marlins also in trade talks with the #Tigers about sending Omar Infante back to Detroit where he can play second base. #MLB
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Last edited by MiamiHomer; 07-18-2012, 02:12 PM.
Reason: Doublepost Merged
Bob Nightengale @BNightengale
If the #Marlins do decide they're out of it, Anibal Sanchez and Josh Johnson also will go. #Braves have expressed interest in Sanchez.
Sanchez-Unlike years past teams can't get Comp picks for guys traded to them during the season. So just say Atlanta gets him and can't resign him then they lose 3 or 4 prospects and get nothing back
JJ-Our value on him is ALOT more than what teams value is
Nolasco seems to be the guy who is gone if we trade a SP
Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball did something they've not done in a long, long time ...
They held a lottery. Officially, MLB held a Competitive Balance Lottery, with the winners awarded extra draft picks in next June's Rule 4 (amateur) Draft. The teams included in the first round of the lottery included those which ranked in the bottom 10 in revenues last season, or the bottom 10 in market size. The second round of the lottery included the teams that didn't get a pick in the first round, plus any team that didn't qualify for the first round but did receive revenue-sharing money last season; this time around, that was just the Tigers.
The six picks awarded in the first round of the lottery will be slotted after the first full round of the draft. The six picks awarded in the second round of the lottery will be slotted after the second round of the draft.
MLB teams can trade the draft picks they obtain in the Competitive Balance Lottery. The picks, which can only be traded once, cannot be sold or traded during the offseason. In theory, the draft picks could be involved in some of this summer’s deadline deals.
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