Duquette: Sox 'overpaid for Crawford'

Former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette joined the Dennis & Callahan show Wednesday morning to talk about the Red Sox' September collapse.

"It's pretty clear," Duquette said. "The Sox are still leading the league in runs scored. Their pitching's just totally collapsed here in September. Some of it's injuries. You know what happens when you have a few injuries and you don't have the guys behind there to come in and do the job. And it's hard to do it with any pitching staff, but when you're in a pennant race, things just start to snowball a little bit.

"You've really got to have that starting pitching. I turned on the TV last week, every time I turned it on, the middle relievers were in the game. That can't be good."

Asked if he thinks the Red Sox will make the playoffs, Duquette said: "I sure hope so. But if they don't, it's pretty clear why they didn't. It's because of the pitching."

Pitching problems aside, the Red Sox also have some issues on offense, starting with outfielder Carl Crawford. Duquette said he was concerned about Crawford's fit in Boston from the beginning, mainly because of his playing style.

Said Duquette: "The thing about Crawford that I wasn't really comfortable with was Crawford's game is mostly his legs, right? He steals bases, he hits triples. He's not a slugger. And left field at Fenway Park is really built for sluggers. Because you can use your bat there, the advantage you have by being a power hitter, then not be too concerned about using your legs to cover the ground, because there's not that much ground at Fenway. And that's always worked for the Red Sox. You have those sluggers in left field and you put them out there.

"In Crawford's case, there's a guy that makes his living with his legs. And a lot of his production, in terms of stolen bases, was against the Red Sox. So, the Red Sox were taking an asset that Crawford had, in terms of covering ground defensively, and making that less of an asset by putting him in left field at Fenway Park. I just didn't understand that. Here's a guy that's never hit over 19 home runs. Just because you pay him more money doesn't mean he's going to hit more home runs for you."

Crawford's open batting stance has drawn some questions from analysts, and Duquette agrees it's time for change.

"You look at Crawford's approach, his approach where he's moving around, he doesn't have his leg down where he can get into any position when the ball comes through the hitting zone, that's not an approach that's going to be real productive for him," Duquette said. "And Carl's getting plenty of feedback from the pitchers in the American League, because they're consistently getting him out. If he's going to change, it's really on him to make the change. He's getting plenty of feedback because he's not having the kind of year that he's had before.

"If you take a look at his approach and how big his swing is and how much movement he has, that kind of approach is not going to yield him the kind of results that he wants to get and the Red Sox are paying him for."

Duquette noted that Crawford was part of an odd offseason for free agent outfielders.

"That outfielders market this past offseason, that was way out of line," Duquette said. "The Nationals, they signed Jayson Werth and he wasn't worth the money that they paid for him. The White Sox got Adam Dunn and he's got 161 strikeouts. And then we got Crawford, and we overpaid for Crawford. That was a lot of money that the industry paid for those guys. Irrespective of where they're playing, that market for outfielders was just ridiculous. It's going to be a long time before they get the kind of production from those guys that the teams invested."

As for concerns that Crawford is not at peace in the high-pressure environment of Boston, Duquette said: "It's all about the money, right? These guys are going where the money is. That's what the union preaches, because all boats rise with the tide, right? So, if Carl Crawford gets a better deal in Boston, he can go there in Boston, he can learn to live there. He's going to be there 80 days a year, right? That's what the union preaches. And that's worked out pretty well.

"But I don't know that Crawford's really comfortable in Boston. I saw yesterday he apologized to the fans. That tells me that he doesn't really get it here. Because the fans here in Boston, they're not interested in an apology, they're interested in seeing you perform and do what you can do when they come out to see you at Fenway Park."

Following are more highlights from the conversation:

On John Lackey: "Lackey's never pitched all that great in Fenway Park his whole career. You take a look at his record, he's never been that strong. Both the Sox and the Yankees, they went out and they signed what I would call No. 4 starters in [A.J.] Burnett and Lackey. Because they were free agents on the market, they had to pay them premium money. I know what both teams were trying to accomplish, they were trying to do something to bolster their rotation, give them some solid, dependable innings in there. But they paid a lot of money for pitchers that probably aren't top-of-the-rotation guys, they're more  No. 4 starters."

On the makeup of players who come to Boston: "How he's going to do in this town has a lot to do with it. You've seen players over the years come here, they're comfortable, they fit in. And then you see other players that come here -- it's hard to come here for the extra money and then think you're going to get comfortable. This place is a lot different than any other place when it comes to the passion of the fans and the amount of people that are interested in what you're doing. If you don't have a great makeup -- again, that's another risk factor when you take look at these players in the free agent market."

On Manny Ramirez' controversial behavior the past couple of years: "That was tough. I was disappointed to see that. I didn't really like the way he handled himself when he left Boston. And I think that had a lot to do with his advisers, the management that he got. Because some of the things that he did, Manny couldn't think of those things himself. I just thought it was unfortunate."

On Francona bringing in Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon earlier than usual Tuesday night: "If he wins the game, it's managing to win. And if he loses the game, it's the other. That's just the way it goes."

To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page. For more Red Sox news, visit the team page at weei.com/redsox.