Crawford Surprised By Trade Rumors: 'You Just Shrug It Off'
BOSTON (CBS) - In the year-and-a-half he's been in Boston, Carl Crawford has experienced quite a bit.
Last season, after a winter full of expectations after signing a seven-year, $142 million deal, Crawford had the first down-year of his career, batting just .255. He hit nearly everywhere in the lineup his first weeks with the Red Sox, and suffered a hamstring injury just as he was starting to look right at the plate.
And of course, there was that whole month of September...
Fast forward to year two in Boston, and it's been just as nerve-wracking for Crawford. He's had to overcome a slew of injuries just to take the field, was allegedly targeted by racial slurs while rehabing in the minors, and to cap it all off, is now being mentioned in trade rumors.
For Crawford, he is just taking it all as it comes.
"I haven't heard too much about it; there's really nothing to say about it," he said of the rumored trade that had him heading to Miami for Hanley Ramirez and Heath Bell. "I just have to get ready every. Those kinds of things come up, you just shrug it off."
Carl Crawford On Trade Rumors:
"Yeah I was surprised. I'm still surprised right now," he said. "There' nothing you can really say about that."
"Anything is possible," he added.
The Red Sox have denied the rumors, and multiple baseball reporters have done the same; saying it was brought up at one point but died immediately.
Gammons On Felger & Mazz: Crawford Rumors 'Inaccurate'
Crawford returned Monday to make his 2012 debut after missing the start of the season with wrist and elbow injuries. While it took him three games to record his first hit as a member of the Red Sox in 2011, it took him just one at-bat to accomplish that in this year. In his two games back, Crawford is 4-for-7 with three stolen bases.
The speedy outfielder swiped just 18 bags all last year.
Crawford said he has taken a lot of pressure off himself, something he couldn't do after signing the big deal last season. He is looking to be aggressive at the plate and on the base paths, and that won't change just because his name is being mentioned with the trade deadline just two weeks away.
"I'm just going to go out there and play, try to do the same things I've been doing the first two games," said Crawford. "It's not the first time I've been involved in that."
"I like playing here so far, when you're doing well," he said. "When you're playing well this is the best place to play."
So are these rumors are just another part of the Boston experience?
"I guess so," said Crawford. "We'll just have to wait and see."
