Crawford all cranked up

Rays outfielder trades testy barbs with the traded Young. Twins games should be fun.

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Published February 23, 2008

Outfielder Carl Crawford says he is ready to get in former teammate Delmon Young's face if necessary: "For him to come back at me was a personal attack."
	[Martha Rial | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG - Those Rays-Twins games just got a lot more interesting.

A Friday that started with Carl Crawford saying ex-Ray Delmon Young needed to "shut up and play baseball" and offering to "say it in his face or any kind of other way that would make him understand" ended with the former teammates saying they have little use for each other and no reason to talk things out.

"I'm not going to worry about it," Young said.

Said Crawford, "I don't want to talk to him at all."

Crawford was uncharacteristically upset and animated at Young's response to earlier comments about the Rays having a calmer clubhouse after the trades of Young and Elijah Dukes, and sought out a St. Petersburg Times reporter before Friday's workout to deliver several messages to Young.

Word got quickly to Fort Myers, where Young is in camp with the Twins, but not much came back, with Young declining to further engage. Though when asked by reporters there about making the trip to St. Petersburg on March 4 for the first of three exhibitions between the teams, Young replied: "Why should I be scared to go?"

Rays manager Joe Maddon declined to delve into the dispute but said, after talking to Crawford, he considers it over, at least publicly: "I truly believe that will be the last salvo fired, whatever you may have heard today."

Upon reporting to camp Tuesday, Crawford said he was glad the Rays had eliminated the distractions caused by Young and Dukes, and he thought the two young outfielders would have continued to cause problems if they hadn't been traded, saying they lacked maturity and didn't conduct themselves the way rookies are supposed to.

Young, 22, responded Thursday, telling Minnesota writers he discounted the comments because he has seen other players say things like that, then turn around and trash the Rays when they leave, invoking the name of former Rays catcher Toby Hall.

Young also said he and Dukes, 23, shouldn't be blamed for the Rays' poor record since they were a losing franchise before the two arrived.

Crawford, 26, read those comments in Friday's Times and was eager to respond.

"Nobody even mentioned the word losing, losing games," Crawford said. "We know we've been a losing franchise. He just wanted to say something back like he's always running his mouth. That's what he does. He runs his mouth all the time.

"Nobody was blaming him for anything. For him to come back at me was a personal attack."

Crawford also said: "I have no problem with coming directly to his face and telling him whatever it is he needs to know. Nobody's waiting till he leaves. Nobody cares about him leaving. For him to say we want to act like Toby Hall and leave, nobody's doing that. Trust me."

While several Rays declined to take sides, outfielder Jonny Gomes said he agreed with Crawford that Young and Dukes had been distractions, and said of Young: "He was definitely a very, very comfortable rookie. How comfortable is too comfortable? I don't think there's a scale for that. He was a real big Delmon Young fan."

Crawford also said the episode was a prime example of what he was talking about earlier in the week, and cautioned the Twins to expect more from Young.

"These are exactly the kind of distractions we were talking about with the Rays, a young guy popping off at the mouth, talking too much," Crawford said.

[Last modified February 22, 2008, 22:52:34]