Dodger fan here. Can anyone tell me what spot CC hit in most of the time for the Rays. Was it 1st or 2nd. How much success did have leading off? Thanks and good luck this year.

2nd. He was terrible in the leadoff spot. He is primarily a fastball hitter who swings early.

Thanks man. East coast Dodger fan, see a lot of the Rays on tv. Trying to tell these Dodger fans just that. Thought I remembered that correctly. I think Boston tried it also and it didn't work. What a division the East will be this year. Everybody but the Sox could win it. Good luck.

He is a shy guy and 1st up does not suit him well. 2nd up he is KILLER. you have a real treat coming if you appreciate situational hitting and one of the gr8 baserunners. CC is a winner!!!

That's very encouraging. His talent seems like it would translate nicely in the NL. Hope he can get healthy.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unless Mattingly and his staff can mold Carl Crawford into a real ballplayer, you will most likey be unhappy with him. The only time I ever saw him "climb the wall" to take away a HR was in the 2009 All Star game..got MVP for it. Other than that one play he was a so-so outfielder with a weak arm with the Rays. For several seasons he hit close to .300 and stole a ton of bases. In his last two seasons he got carried away with the "long ball" and didn't get on base enough to steal much of anything. He is a poor bunter and with his footspeed that is very depressing. He wasn't worth anywhere near the $$ the Rays paid him in 2010 and I was glad when he became a free agent so another team could deal with his defensive and offensive liabilities. Enter the Boston Red Sox...the Yankees made it appear that they were interested but it was merely a ploy to fool Theo Epstein and he went for it "hook, line and sinker" to the tune of 147M over 10 years. Crawford proceeded to fail miserably and conveniently went on the DL until the last couple months of the 2011 season. He was activated just in time to drop the ball that cost Jonathan Papelbon a win in the last game of the season against the O's and the Red Sox lost a playoff berth to the Rays...thanks Carl. Red Sox fans hated the guy and also Theo Epstein for making the deal...now they have both been banished from Red Sox Nation and poor Cub fans will have Epstein making deals that will keep them out of the post season for another decade. IMO Carl Crawford is way too undisciplined at the plate and must learn how to bunt. His only real plus-plus value is his speed...capitalize on that and CC might be a catalyst at the top of the Dodger lineup. He better be for the gazillion dollars you guys are on the hook for...

You are spot on!!!!! Not to mention how he trashed Tampa Bay when he signed with the Red Sox and his "my heart has always been in Boston" line!!

Yeah, I get it. Like I said, I've watched him through the years and have to agree with all you said. I think if we bat him 2nd , look for gap power, 25 steals and average defense in left, we won't be dissappointed. Sometimes people think a player will be as good as his contract. Not the way it works.

CC is a so-so defensive OF ... he can run and if he does not try to hit jacks, can
get on base some. He should hit in the 8 hole in an NL offense depending
if your catcher can get on base and hit more than his weight. If not it's the 7 hole.

He's an average all around player at best. Not worth the money he is being paid.
But baseball is a business and he was smart enough to get someone to pay him
the big bucks. So good for him. Fools and their money are soon parted.

You're right about Crawford's weak defense going back on a fly ball over his head. But his speed gives him stong defense otherwise.

When I was at Fanfest last year walking on the field, I noticed that even though the warning track is a different color (brown) than the turf (green), it feels the same under foot. Since OFers are looking at the fly ball that's hit, I don't think they can feel when they're on the warning track (as in how close to the wall). Maybe they should install dirt as is b/w the infield and outfield turf.

Definitely a "so-so outfielder" and "weak arm" as you say ... and it was obvious right from the beginning that he'd never be able to play leftfield in Boston. Frankly, I think he's seen his best days ... and ... at this point ... he's clearly not worth the money that the DumbSox contracted him for.

Tropman makes a good point about the tan carpet "warning track" at the Trop...doubt if that would ever warn anyone much of anything. Still CC has the proverbial "candy arm" and in LF at Fenway he was actually a liability...need a strong arm there to play balls off the wall and hold runners to a single. CC could never do that in the first place and with CF and RF being expansive he could never play their either. How come we could see that and "baseball people" can't. No problem, pay him 20+million $ a year and hope for the best. About the only thing that does make sense is that CC is definately a "good guy" and if he can fleese these guys, fine with me.

I agree with your assessment of Carl. The only thing I will correct is the contract he signed was for 7 years, not 10 years. He is way overpaid imho, not that I didn't like Carl when he played for us because I did.

You miss the point entirely. CC was fast and could get to balls others didn't. He also didn't get to balls other could reach because they were much more aggresive. How many times have you seen clips of guys like Tori Hunter, Ichiro and a zillion other outfielders over the years making "circus catches"? Now how many have you seen of CC...probably one...the one in the 2009 All Star game. There aren't five outfielders in MLB that couldn't get to balls that Crawford did, so get over your hyperbole...he did his job, nothing more, nothing less.

CC had plus-plus speed but just average baseball skills. He probably would have been better off taking that football scholarship they offered him...that was his true sport. I watched CC intently for years at the Trop and on TV...he never impressed me and he certainly never impressed anyone in Boston. He is not worth anywhere near 20M a season and in the competitive environment he will face in LA, I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually relegated to coming of the bench as a pinch runner...ala Vince Coleman. He's a nice guy, but in the words of Leo Durocher....

Nah I get your point. I do not agree with it. To say that Crawford was anything but a hustler is incorrect. Your opinion of Crawford is the hyperbole. I have seen Crawford make spectacular catches in left field for Rays. With my own eyes. You must have been somewhere else or something. That catch at the all-star game wasn't even special. He didn't have to jump. He just stuck his glove out. He scored 110 runs in 2010. Did Tori hunter do that? Don't think so.

Very good...you found out that Crawford scored 110 runs in 2010. Astounding body of work for sure. Did you also note that he had half that many for the RS the following season with a BA 50 points lower? Carl is an elite athlete and he probably did "hustle" as you say but isn't that a given for a "speed" merchant? He gave the Rays a some exciting seasons but only because there wasn't anyone on the club that brought the level of excitement he did...almost a .300 hitter, gobs of stolen bases, 15+ HRs a year. A nice player but only the steals and triples were exceptional...the rest not so much. C'mon skimp...Tori Hunter has averaged 89 runs a season over 16 seasons - twice as long a sample as CC. Sam Fuld made as many "highlight reel" catches as Crawford ever did in just a couple seasons! CC should have been the Rays leadoff hitter but he wouldn't bat in the one hole for some unknown reason and that was one of the things that soured me on him. He was a disaster in Boston and I expect him to be "no big deal" in LA as well unless he gets some intense coaching from Mattingly et. al. Maybe he will get his "speed" game back on track but if he doesn't, LA fans will get on him just like RS fans did. Be sure to get back to me when CC turns LA on its "collective ear".

I could never understand why the warning track at Tropicanas was not dirt! What they have makes no sense to me ... and its purpose is apprently to fool the TV viewer rather than to benefit the outfielders. I'd have to guess that whomever selected that option somehow thought (mistakenly) that he was installing some kind of "home field advantage". (???)

I never really thought Crawford was anythinhg special as an outfielder ... but I did think he had the potential to become a solid .285 to .300 hitter and, at least in his youth, he was a terror on the basepaths. While he was here ... he was the proverbial "big fish in a little pond" ... but the baseball experts in LA and Boston apparently failed to grasp that fact in their contract offers to him! If he doesn't become a headcase ... and can avoid further injury ... he might make a mark on the Dodgers offensively ... but ... if he blows too many plays in the outfield and hits .265 ... he's going to have another tough time even out there. I almost fell off the chair when I first heard "seven years for $147 million" !!!

Personally, I think there should be a salary cap in MLB as there is in the NFL and NBA ... and I think it should be set at $60 to $75 million, MAX, for the 25-man roster (that's an average of $2.4 million to $3 million per player ... more than enough!) ... and that ALL player contracts must be for three years, period ... and at the end of that contract, the team the guy was playing for has the first option to keep that player by matching the highest offer the player has received from other teams. Or some such arrangement! (???)

I agree with you that if he can't shrink his hat size some and listen to people who really understand how to play baseball and who can, therefore, effectively coach him ... like Mattingly ... then, in my opinion, he's just going to slowly fade away over the remaining five years of his contract ... and will probably find himself being traded two or three more times before its over.