Here comes Crawford!

Carl Crawford has signed with the Boston Red Sox, inking a 7 year, 142 million dollar contract, late wednesday.

Building Up the Pen

Based on some reports, the Red Sox appear to be trying to build up their bullpen. They are interested in Brian Fuentes and Ron Mahay, according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. In a seperate report, Tom Connelly lists the Red Sox as one of the six teams that are interested in reliever Koji Uehara. Uehara spent the last two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles.

Red Sox Acquire Adrian Gonzalez

It has finally happened. The Red Sox have acquired Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres. They had reached an agreement a few days ago, but negotiations seemed to fall through after the Red Sox failed to sign Gonzalez to a long-term extension during their short, 2 day private negotiating block. The one downside in this trade for the Red Sox is that they have to give up top pitching prospect Casey Kelly, their 1st round pick (#30 overall) in the 2008 Ameteur Draft. They also have to give up power hitting first base prospect Anthony Rizzo, speedy outfielder Reymond Fuentes, and a player to be named later.

In terms of working out a long-term deal, Boston is rumored to have the blueprints for a 7-year, $154 million dollar contract worked out with Gonzalez and his agent, but nothing is official. The Red Sox are not expected to make an extension official into Mid-April, because a deal of this size would implement the luxury tax on Boston.

Where will Carl Crawford land?

On Sunday afternoon, Jayson Werth signed the first big deal of the off season, inking a 7 year, $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals. This benefits both Carl Crawford and Werth, who are this season’s biggest free agents. Now that the winter meetings have commenced in Florida, many teams will be knocking on Greg Genske (Crawford’s agent)'s door. This especially includes the big teams in baseball; the Tigers, Red Sox, Angels, Yankees and Rangers.

The two leading candidates at the moment seem to be the Red Sox and Angels. The Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez this weekend, and he will probably be signed to a long term contract in the spring. This will leave the BoSox with enough money to make a run at the 5 Tool outfielder. Now you might be thinking “How are the Sox going to fit Crawford into this already dangerous line up? It could be possible that they move Mike Cameron to the bench and let Crawford take the top spot in centerfield from speedster Jacoby Ellsbury. The other possibility is trading Ellsbury to fill a need in the bullpen or on the bench.

Things are starting to look good for the Red Sox after an injury plagued season. The deal for A-Gon could give the Red Sox what they need to finally beat the Yankees. With Gonzo and possibly Crawford, the Sox should be a huge force in the AL East for years to come. Some even consider them the favorites to win it all next season.