Last week general manager Theo Epstein revealed that the Red Sox had scouts tracking Carl Crawford on and off the field last season in preparation for potentially signing him as a free agent, saying it was “as if we were privately investigating him.”
That was apparently news to Crawford, who told Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com yesterday that he was “creeped out a little bit” and “a little freaked out” to learn of the Red Sox’s surveillance, calling it “a little weird.”
Here’s more from Crawford:I didn’t say nothing, but I’m from an area where if somebody’s doing that to you, they’re not doing anything good. I get paranoid when I hear those kind of stories, so I definitely take a different approach when I do things now. It did have an effect on me, let me put it that way. I definitely look over my shoulder now a lot more than what I did before.
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 don’t know how they do it, how much distance they keep from you when they watch you the whole time. I definitely check my back now, at least 100 yard radius. I’m always looking over my shoulder now. Now I look before I go in my house. I’d better not see anything suspicious now.Crawford’s reaction has predictably led to Epstein backtracking a bit from his original statements, beginning with saying that the “as if we were privately investigating him” line was “a bad figure of speech.” Here’s more from Epstein:
Epstein also indicated that the Red Sox have previously followed other potential free agent targets in a similar manner, which probably has quite a few star players feeling “creeped out” today. Ultimately a $142 million contract can smooth over a lot of “weird” feelings and Crawford did tell Edes he understands “that’s what they have to do when they’re making that kind of investment.” Still, this is an awfully strange way for a seven-year relationship to begin. After all, you don’t often hear about a stalker actually marrying a stalkee.
