Brian Cashman Says Yankees Faked Interest in Carl Crawford to Drive Up Price for Red Sox

by Michael Hurley on Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 12:46PM

Brian Cashman's offseason was a frenzy of frankness, as the Yankees' general manager pulled no punches when discussing some of his moves and non-moves. He outright said that he didn't want to sign Rafael Soriano, but ownership made him, and he seemed like a guy who didn't care much about his final year under contract with New York.

With his Yankees now the American League East champs, that candidness is still flowing through Cashman's veins, as he told ESPN.com that he faked interest in Carl Crawford over the winter in order to make him more expensive for the Red Sox or any other free-agent suitor.

"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up," Cashman told ESPN.com. "The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'"

Crawford ended up signing a seven-year, $142 million deal with Boston. According to Cot's Contracts, there's a clause in Crawford's contract that, if he gets traded, disallows that team to trade him to the Yankees.

Crawford has hit .259 with a .705 OPS and 18 stolen bases this season, while Gardner has hit .261 with a .721 OPS and 46 stolen bases for New York this year.