Red Sox Place Carl Crawford on Waivers

By KC Downey in Featured, Red Sox, Top Story ⋅ August 2, 2012 at 4:00pm ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox have placed outfielder Carl Crawford on waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal, and that’s not necessarily surprising.

With Crawford now on waivers, many things can happen.

If he gets claimed (very unlikely), the Red Sox can:

Let him and his entire contract (he’s owed $102.5 million after this year from 2013-2017) go to the team that claimed him.
Negotiate a trade with the team that claimed him.
Pull him back.

If he does not get claimed and passes all the way through waivers, that means he is eligible to be traded before the August 31 waivers trade deadline.

Crawford has the right to block trades to two unknown teams. If traded, the team acquiring Crawford may not subsequently trade him to the Yankees.

So, aside from his partial no-trade protection, his absurd contract and his likely need for Tommy John surgery, how possible is it that Crawford gets traded? It’s possible, but based on his performance, who would take such a risk without the Red Sox eating the majority of the contract?

Crawford is batting .240/.296/.400 with 2 home runs and five RBI this season. He also has two stolen bases.

Last year, he hit just .255/.289/.405 with 11 HRs and 56 RBI.