Theo Epstein has openly admitted that the Red Sox monitored Carl Crawford very closely in the months before signing him to a monster contract. Epstein even referred to the process as a private investigation, meaning they not only watched Crawford’s play but also kept an eye on him away from the ballpark. Turns out that was a little strange for the $142 million man.
“I thought it was a little weird,” Crawford told reporters in Fort Myers on Tuesday. “I guess that’s what they have to do when they’re making that type of investment. I can’t remember when [Epstein told me they had been watching me closely], but I was a little freaked out.”
“I definitely look over my shoulder now a lot more than what I did before,” he continued. “Just when he told me that, the idea of him following me everywhere I go, was kind of, I wasn’t comfortable with that at all.”
I can understand if you agree with Crawford, but it obviously wasn’t enough to keep him from signing with Boston. The bottom line is you don’t take any chances when you’re spending $143 million — period. The way Crawford acts off the field is just as important as the quality of his play when it comes to making that type of enormous, long-term investment.
For the record, any MLB team that wants to follow me to work, lunch, dinner, home, my friends’ house, the local pub, or watch me take a dump can have my services for under $1 million. I won’t find anything creepy about it.
