It started out as a seemingly throwaway line at the end of a long column. But in today’s sports-rumors landscape, that’s all it takes.
Here is the line from Marc Topkin at the end of a column about players the Rays missed on previous drafts. It is the second line in a section titled “Rays Rumblings”:
“If OF Carl Crawford, released last week by the Dodgers, were interested, the Rays would at least talk about a reunion.”
Pretty harmless. The Rays check in on all players that are available, especially those who might be cheap and have an upside.