For me, the choice to finally jump on the Twitter bandwagon (I might have been the last person on Earth) has paid off handsomely in the last few months.
Tonight was its finest hour as far as I'm concerned as I saw the Boston Red Sox make one of their biggest free agent moves ever almost in real time: signing Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million dollar deal.
I mean wow Theo, just wow. You finalized Adrian Gonzalez two days ago and now you've doubled your haul with the best outfielder that was on the market (sorry Jayson Werth, enjoy last place with the Washington Nationals).
I will admit that I was hoping the Red Sox would get Werth until I took a closer look at his numbers. Plus, he was in a hitter's park (Citizen's Bank) in the weak National League so he just seemed more ripe to be a bust once he got paid and complacent.
With Crawford, we know what to expect since we've seen him grow up before our eyes. From a standout on bad Devil Rays teams, to an All-Star MVP and the leader of a serious contender in the AL East that appeared in the 2008 World Series.
All along we've heard that the Los Angeles Angels coveted Crawford and he seemed like a good fit for the small ball garbage that's good enough to win the sisters of the poor AL West.
Another left-handed bat, Crawford is a four-time All-Star who won his first Gold Glove this year. He hit .307 this season with Tampa Bay, setting career-highs with 19 home runs and 90 RBIs. He has led the American League in stolen bases four times (47 this past season) and also was tops in the AL with 13 triples.
He apparently will play left field with Jacoby Ellsbury or Mike Cameron in center field and J.D. Drew in right. More than anything, this coupled with Gonzalez more than makes up for Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre's departure. Yes, I was not happy with either leaving and clearly V-Mart is the one that stings more since our catching possibilities are nothing short of a nightmare.
However, a lineup of 1) Crawford, 2) Dustin Pedroia, 3) Adrian Gonzalez, 4) Kevin Youkilis, 5) David Ortiz, 6) J.D. Drew, 7) Marco Scutaro, 8) Jared Saltalamacchia/Jason Varitek and 9) Ellsbury/Cameron is straight up filthy.
2011 Red Sox tickets go on sale Saturday. Last week, I thought there was absolutely no reason to buy any but now I can't wait. How lucky are New England sports fans at this moment? Next season just got a whole lot more interesting.
Now all we need is a couple bullpen upgrades which are typically a dime a dozen and we should be locked into quite a battle with the New York Yankees for AL East and American League supremacy.
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