The Mets claimed him and then waived him to try to sneak him through to their minor league team to have some infielder depth down there, just like we tried to do. They were hoping no other team would claim him but the Mariners did. The Mariners will probably try to do the exact same thing and another team could claim Valdez again.
"Crawford inks six-year deal with Rays
Center fielder's pact is longest in Tampa Bay history"
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article...t=.jsp&c_id=mlb