Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein could not comment specifically on Carl Crawford on Thursday because the deal is not finalized. He did, however, offer hints as to what the impending signing means to the organization.
Epstein expects the deal to be finalized within a 48-hour time span. Crawford is undergoing a physical in Boston and likely will be donning a new jersey at a news conference in Fenway Park by the end of the week — one which began with Adrian Gonzalez donning a new jersey in the same spot.
The sheer impact of the time frame was not lost on the GM, despite the fact that he was tight-lipped on the latest reported deal.
"If things come together the way we hope and expect, we'll be really satisfied," Epstein said Thursday from his suite at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Florida. "You go into every winter with a plan 'A,' and sometimes it's tough to pull that off and you move on to plan 'B' and 'C.' But I think adding an impact player was very important for where we were for the short, medium and long term.
"Adding two, as long as they are the right players and the right spots and the right fit, would be even better."
The week that could have defining qualities in terms of Red Sox history was not a result of anything thrown together last-minute, despite the out-of-left-field quality that the Crawford move had. As late as Wednesday evening, the Sox were reported to be about fourth on Crawford's list of suitors and considered by some to be completely out of the mix due to the money needed to land Gonzalez. But preparation for Boston's onslaught on the baseball world began quite some time ago, according to Epstein.
Once it became apparent that the club could budget two more high-priced talents for 2011 and well beyond that, it struck with ferocity.
"A lot of thought went into whether we could be as aggressive as we needed to be on certain fronts and whether it was viable in the short, medium and long term," Epstein added. "We did this over months and months and months. We realized there was a shot if things came together the right way we could be aggressive on a couple of players we really liked. Adrian, through a trade on a relatively affordable contract in 2011, put us in a position to be aggressive."
Nor did the week — which will result in two seven-year contracts worth a combined value of nearly $300 million — represent a massive departure from the club's usual stance on limiting years on contracts, according to Epstein. He said the team remains tied to its "principles and discipline" and that the extended spending spree was simply a matter of increasing that aggressiveness.
Perhaps that mind-set was borne out of previous misses. Epstein called himself out Thursday for failing to finish deals such as this in the past, lending a subtle nod to the Mark Teixeira situation of two years ago.
"We've always recognized that securing elite talent in its prime is an important part of building a team that can sustain success, along with building up your farm system and integrating young players," he began. "I haven't done as good a job as I possibly could at possibly executing that in certain instances and closing [deals], but as an organization we've always believed in it."
Not long before shipping off to an early afternoon flight out of Orlando, Epstein was asked if he felt that he had accomplished plan 'A', knowing he could not confirm the Crawford move.
"We'll see," Epstein said. "Plan A involves a well-rounded club, shoring up our weaknesses and adding some impact talent. So, we still have some work to do."
But not much.
