June 5th, 2016 at 10:26 am 
by Ron Cervenka It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when. On Sunday morning word spread rapidly that 34-year-old Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford has been designated for assignment and catcher Austin Barnes re-called from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Crawford spent considerable time on the disabled list while with the Dodgers. He became a familiar sight in Rancho Cucamonga while rehabbing with the Quakes.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
According to AM 570 LA Sports DodgerTalk host David Vassegh, Crawford has been dealing with health issues since spring training.
Although the Barnes call-up is a bit of a surprise, it isn’t a complete shocker. Anyone who watched the recent series against the Cubs in Chicago undoubtedly noticed that catcher Yasmani Grandal appeared to have injured his left thumb while catching a pitch to his far left. Though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn’t specific about Grandal being a little banged up, it’s hard to imagine that this isn’t the issue and a trip to the disabled list could very well be in Grandal’s immediate future.
Crawford appeared in a total of 30 of the Dodgers 57 games this season posting a rather dismal slash-line of .185 / .230 / .235 / .464 with no home runs and only six RBIs. Additionally, his defense was below par and opposing base runners frequently took extra bases because of his weak surgically-repaired throwing arm.
At Triple-A OKC, Barnes was hitting .306 / .413 / .375 / .788 with no home runs, 11 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He did, however, lead the Dodgers in home runs during spring training with four – tied with utility infielder Rob Segedin.
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Great News! Surprised Crawford wasn’t put on DL. Must be that even Stewart/LaRussa weren’t buying.
Very happy to see Barnes coming up. With that OBP he is a potential top of the order guy. Another FAZ guy breaking down the door.
I maybe in the minority, but, I am starting to feel real good about Dodger team and it’s playoff chances this season. It’s only the Midgets, who are just now starting their June swoon, between the Dodgers and the playoffs. When you have the best pitcher, maybe the best closer and the best shortstop in baseball, things could be worse.
Best Dodger news I’ve heard since Urias was called up! Barnes is a fantastic player and should do well in MLB. So glad that braintrust did the right thing and jettisoned Crawford.
He is a good man, but his skills are gone. Retire admirably, Carl.
I also see Barnes catching Urias on Tuesday, bringing the OKC battery to Los Angeles for a day… who knows, it might stick?
I’d say the writing on the wall has been there for quite sometime as Crawford’s offensive numbers have really did him in. I wish him luck where ever he ends up.
As for Barnes, I’m very happy to read that he’s back. Having 3 catchers doesn’t seem like a bad idea for any team especially when one of them can play a number of other positions.
Also the way Grandal has been hitting lately, we can use more help behind the plate.
The message was sent to the team:
If they will cut a guy owed $35 million, they will cut my sorry rear if I don’t get busy.
The Dodgers scored 12 runs today.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Message received loud and clear!
Hilarious.
Dodgers got one hit.
What’s this about a message?
Good to see you over here Boxout. I’m sure you got tired of the ___________.
Kind of confirms what some of us thought about the trade.
Sorry it didn’t work out with CC but he came as damaged goods and on the downhill side of his career. The Dodgers didn’t, couldn’t, get the opportunity to see vintage Crawford as he was so often among the walking wounded and with diminished skills.
Good to see a younger lineup today.
Ron, I agree that it was only a question of when, and I guess that’s what surprises me. I would have thought that they would have waited until Ethier came back so a lefty can replace a lefty OF. That leaves AGon, Utley, Seager, and Pederson the only lefty bats on the 25 man with Grandal as switch, and all are designated starters, leaving no LH bat on the bench. I do not see AGon or Seager sitting much, meaning Utley and Pederson will probably be getting more rest. Not that Joc needs rest, but with Thompson being the best OF hitter on the team right now, he should not be coming out of the lineup. Thompson can play CF for Joc, and Howie, Kike’, and Barnes can all play 2B for Utley. I would also surmise that Barnes is here to spell Grandal. I hope Austin gets a legit shot. It is hard to make an impression coming off the bench to PH or get a start once a week. If Barnes performs, that would make Grandal a potential trade piece come July.
And Box, I agree…it would be special to see Barnes and Urias team up on Tuesday, and a preview of what is coming.
Unlike his pre-game media scrum, during his post-game, Roberts seemed far more receptive to the idea of Barnes catching Urias on Tuesday. That certainly does not mean it will happen, but at least they’re thinking about it now.
Glad to see this happen. Shoulda come sooner, but I guess Crawford earned the benefit of the doubt. As Harold said, it’s a shame we never got to see him healthy. Things are definitely looking up. Looks like the Cards will beat the Giants tonight, now we need to take care of the Rockies and head to SF on a good roll!
Carl Crawford made 32 million dollars to play for the Tampa Bay Rays for nine seasons. The Dodgers will pay 34 million over his remaining two years NOT to play baseball.
Over the years it seems like the Dodgers have paid out the most money for players not to play baseball at the end of their careers. Ned Colletti was a master at taking on bad contracts.
If the Dodgers hadn’t taken on Crawford’s contact, there would be no:
…Adrian Gonzalez in a Dodger uniform.
…Josh Beckett no-hitter.
…Nick Punto head-first slides into first base.
Check this out: Real magic men for Dodgers bury mistakes in deep pockets
But as I’ve said countless times:
IT’S NOT. OUR. MONEY.
The disaster is not just the financial mismanagement but the ill-advised spending has not gotten the team any closer to a WS championship. It probably has delayed it.
As mentioned many times 2018 is the beginning of financial emancipation for the Dodgers when $$$$$ won’t be paid for guys not to play – will be the exception not the rule – but will be paid for guys who can make meaningful contributions to the team. The list in the linked article is simply mind boggling. Burying mistakes is a poor way to do business.
Money does matter. Many railed against the Yankees when they spent wildly and now the Dodgers are the Yankees of the west and have not been very efficient with it. Sure it’s not our money but we do like to think it’s our team so wise use of money should make our team better by addition not by subtraction, at least in my opinion.
Short term pain as FAZ work to stop the financial bungling by just taking the poison pill and getting it over with. They have no other choice. Nothing good can really happen until the roster is freed from these impediments and the team can be built as it should have been in the last 28 years. Actually they do have a choice and not overpay for players – McCarthy and Kazmir might be in that category.
There also would have been no Hanley Ramirez. Priceless. But we’ll keep Adrian, right? And this whole thing with the shredding of walk-off jersey’s?… I digress.
So, was Carl Crawford worth his contract when he signed it? Absolutely, he was. After all, the Rays had gotten the best deal they could out of his service with the team. They even paid him a few million more toward the end of his Tampa Bay tenure and then realized they could no longer afford to keep him. But, at that time, there was no reason to suggest that his decline would happen so rapidly. So here come the Red Sox offering a stupid amount of money to have the player the Rays had for nine seasons… only they didn’t get THAT guy. THAT guy was just starting to break down.
Then along come the Dodgers, rescuing the Red Sox out of financial hell, and BOOM!!! Boston wins the World Series the very next year. So who rescues the Dodgers? Kershaw and Gonzalez are shooting “prime of career bullets” while the Dodgers eat bad contracts… which leads us to the TV deal. They had to finance it somehow, right?
The stupidity in signing guys with eight years or more of service to long-term contracts is the damning evidence of how frivolous some large market teams are when it comes to spending. And when it comes to spending, it really is our money because each dollar spent eventually comes back at us, the fans, who gladly pay the higher costs to watch a bunch of millionaires play baseball.
Nobody is holding a gun to anyone’s head making them “…pay the higher costs to watch a bunch of millionaires play baseball.” It is a choice that we knuckleheads choose to make – and probably always will.
It is not our money regardless of the results or how you try to justify that it is. As a current major leaguer recently told a fan who shouted out “I pay your salary,” the major leaguer responded “I have never seen your name on any of my paychecks.”
Andrew Friedman met with us on Sunday morning after the Crawford announcement (more on that later) and briefly touched on a couple of things that Harold mentioned above. He very professionally made reference that his predecessor and previous ownership did not always make the best decisions. However, do not think for one minute that the Dodgers will be completely “financially emancipated” in 2018. Yes, the Dodgers will (probably) no longer be paying guys to play elsewhere (or paying guys no longer in the game), but they will always have insanely high free agent contracts on their ledger – especially (and hopefully) including a guy named Clayton Kershaw.
By the way: I heard a well-respected MLB Network Radio host say “When Kershaw opts out of his contract in 2018,” not “If” he opts out of his contract in 2018.
I think we are talking about something different re: “financial emancipation”. I’m not talking about good, expensive contracts – Clayton – that give a bang for the buck.
For me financial emancipation is freedom. That is, freedom from expensive contracts that offer nothing in return and must be eaten. I know they will spend big bucks in the future – hopefully wisely for players who can actually play the game in their prime and be part of a winning team – and I have no problem with that at all.
Financial emancipation is getting something comparable in return for your investment. It is being able to do things by way of trade, etc. without all these payroll impediments of millions going for nothing in return. I also believe they will trade players while they can still bring something needed in return. It is freedom from the embarrassment of having more going for players playing elsewhere or not at all approaching what some teams have for their entire payroll. It is freedom to make decisions – Greinke – because they simply don’t see the projected return in the long term investment. It is being able to make decisions that are result based and not choking on useless contracts.
It is not our money – definitely not mine living on the east coast – and I certainly am not trying to justify that it is. However, that also is not a strong argument to support, or ignore, the wastage. I like to think it is our team, my team. I would like my team to be the best in everything – on the field, communications, TV availability, farm system, financial management not strangled by contracts, etc.
And yet Dodger fans are still criticizing them for “letting Zack get away”. They didn’t let Zack get away, they, in effect, told him You’re not worth the cost. That was the right decision.
Couldn’t agree more.
Well, when you guys start reasoning with logic, it’s hard not to agree. I will say it’s been my opinion the Dodgers made the right call with Greinke. I’m not happy about his leaving, but I do get it. There’s a line where enough is enough. Which leads the conversation about the future of the game.
At some point, MLB and the players (MLBPA) have got to start thinking about the future of the game and whether or not the increasing salaries (and the associated higher cost of attending a baseball game) are sustainable given the current climate of our economy. At what point do they reel in the economics of baseball? It soon may not happen, but at some point the game has got to adjust down so that they don’t price out the average fan. It’s no secret that with advertisers like Mercedes, BMW and Security Benefit, the target audience isn’t the average fan… and it’s their kids who drive the popularity of the game through the years. Kids aren’t playing baseball like they once did and it’s this particular problem baseball needs to address. Keeping the cost down will allow more kids to attend games and keep it popular.
If baseball isn’t careful, they won’t have any fans who care enough to support the game, and then nobody gets paid.
Kevin – at some point there will be a MLB cap.
Not in our lifetime.
Good to see you here also Mark.
Yes, many of those NedHeads over there can get pretty old. I am sure $60M (including luxury tax) out the door doesn’t faze their enthusiasm/support for the TRADE. It’s like telling someone “you really ought to do something about that BedHead” or “you got a Booger hanging out your nose” and them telling you, “Yeah but I like it”.
I agree 100% with Bluenose Dodger when he says, “The disaster is not just the financial mismanagement but the ill-advised spending has not gotten the team any closer to a WS championship. It probably has delayed it’. We now have the benefit of 3 1/2 years of hindsight on the trade. Dodgers haven’t won that elusive championship. Is that failure all on the TRADE? No, but, the trade has eaten up $40M per year in salaries. In the business world, it’s called “LOST OPPORTUNITY COST”.
The Gonzalez contract, ALONE, without the Crawford anchor, would have been a pretty good value, even considering we have two more years of a declining Gonzalez on our hands, and he is declining. Current Dodger OWAR leaders:
Seager 2.0
Utley 1.4
Thompson 1.3
Pederson .9
Gonzalez .8
Turner .6
Grandal .3
We all wish Dodgers would have signed Gonzalez when he was a free agent. However, taking on Gonzalez’s contract at a cost of Crawford’s contract, when Crawford’s play was already about to get him killed by angry Boston fans and TJ surgery was an EPIC FAILURE.
EPIC FAILURE.
All caps. That makes it epic.
The failure was in not finishing the deal. We made it to the playoffs, but everyone knew the picture was incomplete. We needed some important pieces to all 3 of those playoff teams and neither Ned nor FAZ went out and got them. And the Dodgers did try to keep Greinke, offering him both a raise and an extension. They knew how important he was to this team. EVERYONE knew. All caps for emphasis. They got outbid. And now we have this team. Doesn’t look quite the same as the Division Title teams does it.
But Crawford is gone and that changes everything. Geez.
And for those who think “it’s not our money” I beg to differ. It’s always our money. If you are part of the 99%, it is indeed your money. They can’t do what they do without us. Turn off the tv, stop going to games and watch how quickly it collapses. But that won’t happen. They know it won’t happen. We’re fans. We’re the junkies that keep the whole thing afloat.
“All caps. That makes it epic”.
Uh, No, $100M (up to $150M including luxury tax) flushed down the toilet on Crawford, that is EPIC and a FAILURE! Me pressing “Caps Lock” before EPIC and after FAILURE, was to emphasize the HUGE LOST OPPORTUNITY COST.
What made Gonzalez’s contract worth an extra $130M after a year in Boston? Nothing. Boston wisely recognized this, and traded Gonzalez to dump Crawford’s and Beckett’s contracts. The extra TWO HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS allowed them to go in other directions and win a Championship the very next year. Hindsight is 20/20. Oh what could have been!!
You say FAZ’s “failure was in not finishing the deal”. You are upset that they didn’t spend enough of YOUR money to acquire “some important pieces” even after they already had, by far, the highest payroll. We have debated before, I know, a quarter billion dollars of someone else’s money means ZERO to you; you don’t believe that billionaires can have limited resources. But even Obozo (who has a printing press) recognizes that if, “you spend a billion here and a billion there, pretty soon your talking about real money”.
I am happy you recognize that you are a baseball “junkie”. That is the first step in your recovery. Perhaps Guggs has been guilty of enabling you the “addict” by giving you the idea that you could always fall back on them when times got tough. Instead of looking to the players for a timely hit or a masterfully pitched game, you seem to think Guggs has the obligation of enabling your addiction with more money. Try to understand, it would be irresponsible for FAZ to enable you by basing their decisions on feeling sorry for you the junkie!! Please remember though, I am here to help you, if I can.