Dave Dombrowski Is A Lunatic If He Trades Justin Crawford

Dave Dombrowski Is A Lunatic If He Trades Justin Crawford

Being a fan of a team that employs Dave Dombrowski has its fair share of pros and cons.

Pro: The guy is uber aggressive and wants to win. He’s usually a hell of a lot savier than the rest of the nerds out there running teams and his resume speaks for itself. The 2018 World Series team in Boston was arguably the most dominant team ever assembled.

Con: He’s unafraid to trade elite prospects and sometimes that can come back to haunt you. He also has had a weird track record of building trash bullpens but that’s a story for another day.

So how do the Phillies get better heading into 2025? In typical Dombrowski fashion, his top prospects are on the table including Justin Crawford.

VIA Matt Gelb of The Athletic (We here at Vendetta Sports Media despise sites that hide behind paywalls. We do not support those sites. Do not click the link. I will tell you all the information you need to know while fulfilling journalistic integrity):

“not excluded Crawford from trade talks” but would only be willing to trade him “for a big-league player with multiple years of club control.”

If the Phillies fans want to find a reason to stay optimistic that Dombrowski will do the right thing here, look no further than the impulse control he showed with the Garrett Crochet deal. He clearly wanted Crochet but thought the package it would have taken to acquire him was outrageous. The fact that he said that should ease concerns that Philadelphia will part with Crawford too soon.

Maybe others will disagree here but if I’m running the Phillies, Crawford would essentially be viewed as untouchable. Crawford, 20, is coming off a season where he hit .313 with 42 stolen bases and a 130 wRC+ between High-A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading. By the way, that dude can run, run. Elite speed. He’s not just Carl Crawford’s son and getting by on name only. This is a rare type of athlete that you don’t just give away.

Furthermore, finding centerfielders like this are almost impossible to find in free agency. The way baseball is structured, you’re really never ever able to find those high-caliber centerfielders on the open market and when you do they come at a diminished version from declining athletically. AKA George Springer (who is a great player but by the time Toronto signed him he was out of his prime). If you want centerfielders like Crawford, you have to draft and develop them.

It’s also the biggest hole on the Phillies roster. They have a bunch of corner outfielders on the team already but don’t have an elite centerfielder. Crawford has a good chance to become that. The more you really dig into it, the more it should be viewed as a non-starter.

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