Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein made a remark late last week that
likely drew less attention than it deserved, especially as the
world gears up for Albert Pujols to hit free agency after the
2011 season.   In discussing the tactics that helped Boston sign
free-agent Carl Crawford in December—despite rumors that
Crawford would go to the Angels—Epstein mentioned that Boston
scouted Crawford exhaustively throughout "the last three, four
months of the season at the ballpark, away from the ballpark."
That is a significant thing to admit, and although I confess to
a lack of intimate knowledge about the behind-the-scenes world
of big-league scouting, I cannot imagine that this level of
scrutiny is within normal limits of scouting intensity. Epstein
and his staff undertook that colossal task because they were
very high on Crawford, and because they knew it would take a
sizable commitment of both money and intangible incentives to
lure him to Boston.  No player in the history of the game has
demanded this kind of scru