Roberts praises Carl Crawford, who was battling ‘Father Time’
Braves at Dodgers, 1:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Trayce Thompson, RF
Adrian González, 1B
Howie Kendrick, 3B
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Kiké Hernandez, LF
Scott Kazmir, P
By Cary Osborne
The decision to designate Carl Crawford for assignment, thus ending his Dodger career, was made Saturday night. It was a decision out of seeing that Father Time, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put it, is catching up to the 34-year-old.
And then there’s the word we’ve grown so accustomed to with the Dodgers — flexibility — which Austin Barnes, called up from Triple-A, gives the Dodgers more of.
“That’s always a tough one,” Roberts said on the move. “I think for Carl, myself, the organization, it’s one of those things where you look at the player — and Carl’s had a great career and 14 years and had a lot of great moments, and I know he was proud to be a Dodger and he will be missed … (but) where we’re at right now and where this organization wants to go, you have a lot of young guys coming.
“Carl was in that position 14 years ago. And so there’s guys who have to get opportunities that need opportunities to make us better, and he completely understood that.”
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Barnes, 26, was hitting .306/.413/.375 in 173 plate appearances with Oklahoma City. He has also stolen 12 bases — a professional career high. The organization’s №11 prospect, according to MLB.com, has primarily been a catcher/second baseman in his career, but he can also play third base and started in center field for the first time in his career May 4.
Barnes was on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, due to Yasmani Grandal starting the season on the disabled list. He is 8 for 44 over the last two seasons with the big league club.
“Young players like Austin — and there are some other guys that are forcing our hand — that’s a good thing,” Roberts said. “But it’s also something for Carl that Father Time gets everyone. This game is about performance, and if you’re not performing now, and as an organization we don’t see that changing, then we have to go in a different direction.”
Roberts praised Crawford for what he has done for the Dodgers since arriving from Boston on August 25, 2012 in a blockbuster deal that also landed Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto. The collective WAR for those four players since 2013 is 15.1, compared to the 2.2 put up by the players the Dodger dealt — James Loney, Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, Ivan De Jesus Jr. and Jerry Sands.
Crawford alone put up a 5.0 WAR, according to Fangraphs, as a Dodger. Though Juan Uribe’s Game 4 home run is the highlight of the Dodgers’ 2013 National League Division Series victory over Atlanta, Crawford was arguably the most valuable player of the series, hitting .353/.421/.882 with three homers, and also making a tumbling catch over the short wall in foul territory at Dodger Stadium in Game 3.
But Crawford, 69 hits short of 2,000 and 20 stolen bases short of 500 for his career, was struggling this season. He batted .185/.230/.235 in 87 plate appurtenances. He went 0 for 3 on Saturday.
“People that are close to him can see the frustration that he had day-to-day in trying to get his body to perform,” Roberts said. “It just wasn’t happening. There’s a point where we have to make that tough decision and realize what’s best for the organization, and it’s something we always have to be mindful of. We were completely honest with him.”
