Boston

Now that the Winter Meetings are over and Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth have signed mammoth contracts, what's next? What other impact free-agents are still out there? 

It looks more likely this winter that there will be significant player movement via trade. In this economic climate it makes sense for smaller market teams to trade players who are looking at large salary increases in the near future in exchange for younger players that they can control for a significant amount of time.

What do Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford have in common? 

Their prior teams couldn’t afford to keep them. 

Boston's general manager, Theo Epstein, stepped in with gold-lined pockets and pocketed them all.

Part of being a sportswriter these days is always being on top of your stuff.

I check my e-mail constantly. I’m on Twitter all day. I don’t sleep as much or as well as I used to since I’m always afraid that if I go to bed too early or sleep in too late, I might miss something important.

Carl Crawford has signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. He joins Adrian Gonzalez as the second huge catch the Red Sox have landed this offseason.

The Red Sox are clearly going for it all this year.

Whenever the hot stove heats up with a flurry of blockbuster deals occurring within such a short period of time, it's only natural that a number of subsequent questions arise.

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The big news today is that the Boston Red Sox massively overpaid for former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder, speed demon Carl Crawford. $126 million over 7 years. Whether or not you think that Crawford is worth that kind of money, one thing's for sure: The Red Sox are likely out of the running for Washington Nationals outfielder Josh Willingham, who once again is rumored to be on the trading block.

Carl Crawford has agreed to a seven-year, $142 million deal with the Boston Red Sox. But what does that mean for Boston's AL East rival, the New York Yankees?

Well if nothing else, we now know the Red Sox have big league money and are willing to spend it.

Just last weekend, Boston traded for San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez. The first baseman is expected to get a deal worth an estimated $154 million over seven-years.

In the wake of Red Sox GM Theo Epstein channeling his inner Daniel Snyder and finally winning an off-season I find it interesting how investing somewhere around $300 million in your offense can make your fans forget what the real problem was last year-pitching and defense.  

The Red Sox suffered a plethora of injuries last season and missed the playoffs. Attendance slumped and advertising dollars dried up. Meanwhile, the Patriots are poised to make a run deep into the postseason, the Celtics added Shaquille O’Neal and appear ready to challenge the Lakers for the NBA crown and the Bruins look like a Stanley Cup contender. Some pundits started saying the Pats had surpassed the Sox in popularity and conjectured The Olde Towne Team’s sellout streak could be on the line.

Just moments ago it was announced Theo Epstein pulled another fast one on Red Sox Nation by signing Carl Crawford to a seven year, $142 million deal.  The deal comes as a relative surprise since, even though the Red Sox loved what Crawford brings to the table, they already acquired the big time left handed bat (Adrian Gonzalez) and historically do not go on these Yankee-like spending sprees.

Just three days after completing the trade for Adrian Gonzalez, the Boston Red Sox have pulled off an even bigger stunner--- agreeing to terms with 29-year-old outfielder Carl Crawford on a 7-year, $142 million mega-deal that is almost certain to propel the Sox into the front-runners to win it all in 2011.