Carl Crawford made news yesterday...for being a cry-baby.

Crawford, who is now in Tinseltown, playing in Chavez Ravine for the Los Angeles Dodgers, acted like he was sprung from purgatory when speaking about playing in Boston for the last two seasons.  Or in his case, NOT playing for Boston.

After batting practice and hitting off a tee at the Dodgers spring training complex in Glendale Arizona, Crawford said, "There are obvious reasons why I want to be here."

Obvious reasons like Boston and Carl Crawford were not a good marriage.  Obvious that he wanted to put the last two years of his career behind him, and forget about them like they never happened.  Obvious that he feels he now has something to atone for.  Obvious to everyone that he never should have signed that seven year, $142 million dollar contract.

He went on to say, "It just wasn't the place for me at the end of the day.  I didn't do my homework.  Maybe they didn't either.  At the end of the day, it just wasn't the right place for me."

It wasn't the place for him at the beginning of the day either.  Crawford took the money, without thinking about it, or even researching anything.  He didn't realize or even consider that the Red Sox are traditionally not a team based on speed--his strong suit.  He didn't consider that many of his previous home runs hit barely over the left field wall, would be line drives into the Green Monster for singles or doubles.  He didn't realize Fenway park was not the stadium that would favor his game, or that Boston the city was not a friendly place for guys making $20 million a year if they didn't earn that cash.

Crawford found out soon enough.

"That smile turned upside down real quick," he said.  "I think they want to see that in Boston.  They love it when you're miserable."

Crawford continued, "Burying people in the media, they think that makes a person play better.  That media was the worst I've experienced in my life."

He wasn't done yet.  "I took so much of a beating in Boston, I don't think anything could bother me anymore, he said, "They can say what they want--that I'm the worst free agent ever--and it won't get to me.  But it bothered me the whole time there."

Waaaaaah...cry me a river!

There is nothing that bothers me more than a player who makes an obvious money grab, takes on a ridiculous contract, and then doesn't produce.  Crying about how terrible everyone was to him just makes it worse. 

Crawford was a career .300 hitter, and was coming off a great run in Tampa, where he averaged 45 steals a year.  In Boston, he hit only .255 his first season with the Red Sox.  In two injury plagued seasons, he stole only 23 bases combined in beantown.  He had a combined 14 homeruns.

Granted, Crawford had injuries.  His season was shortened two years ago, just after getting 500 at bats.  He underwent Tommy John surgery, which affected him the following season, and limited him to only 31 games, and 117 at bats.  The thing is though, when he was on the field and healthy, mainly in his first year, he played like a shadow of the player he was just the year before in Tampa.

Today's salaries in sports open players up to criticism, and players need to realize this.  If you are making one or two million dollars a year and you slump, it's one thing.  If you are raking in $20 million and you have by far the worst year of your career, it's entirely another.

Carl Crawford shouldn't be shocked.  True, there are some cities where bad seasons aren't noticed as much.  Perhaps Crawford should have thought of that.  Fans and the media in Boston have won two World Series crowns in the last ten years, and have a long history and tradition of winning seasons.  They are going to be less forgiving.  If Crawford wanted to play in a market that would be more forgiving, he should have signed with San Diego, or Milwaukee, or Seattle, Cleveland, Minnesota or Pittsburgh.  By choosing to take the money and go to Boston, he has no one to blame but himself.

I hope Crawford bounces back, has a great year for L.A., and starts earning that money.  If he doesn't, I hope someone shoves a Dodger dog in his yapper.  I don't want to hear about how mean everyone is in So. Cal.