Crawford does remind me a lot of Tim Raines, minus the debilitating drug problem. And Raines was good into his late 30s. Also bears some similarities to a faster Johnny Damon.
Steve O On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 12:56 PM, Tom Salemi <[email protected]> wrote: > 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]<redsoxcitizens%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. > -- 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.
