Interesting article on the pursuits of both Crawford and Gonzalez http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=edes_gordon&id=5904434
The Red Sox left little to chance. Scouts were assigned to follow Crawford, Gonzalez and Jayson Werth, the other outfielder on the Sox radar, not for a series or two, but a half season. Detailed "white papers" were prepared, arguing the pros and cons of acquiring the players. Bill James, the statistical analyst, did a study analyzing how young, athletic players like Crawford age over the course of a long-term contract and comparing various body types. James concluded that such players generally kept their value until age 35 or 36. "Nothing that we did at these meetings or may have done or will do shortly was the product of a last-minute idea,'' Epstein said. "It was all a product of, hopefully, well-thought-out ideas over a long period of time ... a lot of thought and a lot of commitment and belief, commitment to winning and belief from ownership." In Gonzalez's case, the Sox had the benefit of having Epstein's special assistant, Dave Finley, the scout who originally signed Gonzalez when he was drafted No. 1 by the Florida Marlins in 2000 and had maintained a close relationship with Gonzalez ever since. When Jed Hoyer became GM of the San Diego Padres last winter, he wanted to bring Finley, a San Diegan, with him as scouting director. Epstein countered by promoting Finley from national cross-checker to special assistant, which allowed Finley to continue to stoke the fires of Gonzalez's enthusiasm to come to the Red Sox. "You cannot overstate Dave Finley's importance in the whole process of getting Adrian here,'' another Sox executive said. It all came together -- Plan A, and its spectacular execution -- a product of creative thinking, hard work, big dollars and a dollop of serendipity. Christmas at Fenway, indeed. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Red Sox Citizens" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en.
