Rays exercise Crawford's $8.25M option (AP)

[ASFN Admin]

Carl Crawford's $8.25 million for 2009 was exercised Tuesday by the Tampa Bay Rays, who declined Rocco Baldelli's $6 million option and agreed to a $10.5 million, three-year deal with reliever Dan Wheeler. Crawford, who is earning $5.25 million this year, is a two-time All-Star and four-time AL stolen base champion who is just the seventh player since 1900 to increase his batting average over five...

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