Here are Crawford's and Ramirez's runs projections for 2009:
Manny Ramirez: +30 batting, -7.5 adjustment, +20 replacement, -15 defense
Carl Crawford: + 3 batting, -7.5 adjustment, +20 replacement, +10 defense
Put together, this puts Ramirez at +27.5 runs and Crawford at +25.5 runs. Converted to wins, that is a mere 2.75 to 2.55 advantage for ManRam, and that isn't even including baserunning metrics such as BP's equivalent baserunning runs. Now, if I were to go on air at ESPN or write a column at an extreme mainstream site discussing how Crawford in 2009 is almost just as valuable, all told, as Ramirez, can you imagine the type of criticism I would receive. In fact, I expect to get some here as well, even though our fanbase tends to value defense a bit more.
All part of a piece on why defense is undervalued. If there's one reason I wouldn't want to trade Carl, it's because of his defense. Now, let's just hope he outperforms that .335 wOBA that Marcels has him pegged for.