Your "Carl Crawford Salute Says It's Already Over" Tampa Bay/Texas Open Thread

Down 6-0 to the Rangers in the 8th, Carl Crawford swung at the first pitch and grounded out to second. The fans chanted his name anyway since it was probably his last game as a Ray at Tropicana Field.

"That's another reason why I didn't want to just embrace it all the way. It's like, I hope this is not my last game. I didn't want to think about that," he said. "Hopefully we can win those games (in Texas) and come back."

Crawford's contract is up after this season, and Rays ownership has been preparing for his inevitable departure. There are already plans to slash payroll next season, so even if the Rays could give Crawford a long-term deal of $100 million or so, it would chew up too large a percentage of available funds. [ TBO.com]

Oh, Gary Sheffield talked some smack on the Rays, "good old boy" bid'ness, Rocco Baldelli and society as a whole ...