Marco Scutaro was the “highlight” signing of 2009’s offseason. For those who are true fans and/or have played the game, you know that he was not the big solution. In fact, he should never have been signed in the first place. He is simply overpaid and overrated. If the Red Sox did want to sign him it should have been at a much cheaper annual salary.
Fans were becoming increasingly frustrated with the product being put on the field. No disrespect to Boston‘s finest, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkillis, Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia but the fans simply did not feel that the overall product being presented to them correlated to the ticket prices they had to pay (the highest in all of baseball).
2010’s offseason was different. This offseason the Boston Red Sox were very busy and rightfully so. It is thought across the MLB that the Red Sox and the Phillies were the two teams that improved their teams the most this offseason. The Red Sox signed All-Star veterans Adrian Gonzalez (formerly of the San Diego Padres) and Carl Crawford (formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays). The Phils bolstered their starting pitching by signing Roy Halladay (formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays) and Cliff Lee (formerly of the Texas Rangers).
My question to you is…which player is better out of those the Red Sox signed and why? Is it the new Boston Left Fielder, speedy Carl Crawford or is it the always reliable, defensive machine Adrian Gonzalez?
Carl Crawford has tremendous speed, solid outfield play, a great bat and it seems like the only thing he can’t do is fly. Adrian Gonzalez is not quite as mobile but has more pop with his bat and is probably an even better defender at his position (1B) than Crawford is at his (LF). Gonzalez does not have much speed but he has a detailed goatee which gives him extra brownie points.
Gonzalez’s goatee aside and being completely serious, Carl Crawford seems to be the better overall player. It will be interesting to see them play on the same team as they should fuel one another’s game and they will likely have career years in 2011.
It’s an exciting time to be a Boston Red Sox fan.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com