Kristian Campbell reacts to his new contract
BALTIMORE - So, why did Garrett Crochet decide to keep on talking with the Red Sox about his contract extension even past his self-imposed Opening Day deadline?
"It was very close," Crochet said Wednesday night moments after the Red Sox' 3-0 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. "It was something I felt both sides, me, the front office and my agency, you could smell it. The conversations, not even the pace of them but moreso the content that was existing in that dialogue was different than it had been. It was close."
"You could smell it."
It was scent given off that ultimately led Crochet to his six-year, $160 million deal. But the notes of optimism didn't stop there. If Red Sox fans took a deep breath in those moments after the pitcher basked in his eight shutout innings they could get a whiff of a very unfamiliar fragrance.
The smell of success - in so many ways - was finally back with the Red Sox.
The promise of finding stars. The promise of developing stars. The promise of keeping stars. And the promise of building the kind of team other clubs would be jealous of. As Crochet talked, that new reality seemed to finally settle in for the Red Sox.
"I’m very excited about the long-term but at the same time very focused on the present," Crochet said. "It was nice to have a day to let it breathe so I could focus on the start."
He wasn't alone. The other piece of punctuation for this Red Sox fork-in-the-road was Kristian Campbell agreeing to a six-year, $60 million contract extension. Both bits of news had elicited a celebratory team dinner the night before. But the real party came in the form of the Red Sox' second win of the season.
The image portrayed by this collection of Red Sox offered the reminder that ownership and the front office had kept an offseason promise so many were skeptical of. They had committed to living life like they used to, an existence defined by Crochet's presence.
For the first time since his initial start at the University of Tennessee, Crochet went eight innings, in this case not giving up a single run. Relying on his high-90's fastball, the lefty offered the kind of presence the Red Sox had been starved for while jealously looking at other big-market rosters.
It felt like, thanks in part to the organization spending upwards of $230 million in the past two days, those associated with team could walk with their chest out for the first time in a long time.
The Red Sox' biggest ticket item, Rafael Devers, finally got a pair of hits after beginning the season 0-for-20 with 15 strikeouts. The left side of the infield, Alex Bregman and Trevor Story - (who are making a combined $63 million this season) - did their part, highlighted by Story's first home run of the season. The outfield combination of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu - a group that is under team control through 2028 - showed the kind of athleticism big league success is usually built on.
And, of course, there were the two men of the hour, Crochet and Campbell, the latter coming away with two more hits to raise his early-season OPS to 1.250.
It didn't come cheap, but it finally did arrive.
"I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride," Crochet explained. "In college you’re playing to get drafted and once you’re in the big leagues you’re playing to stay in the big leagues. So to have the security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it."
"That’s the reason he’s here," explained Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "That’s the reason we committed to him, and like I told him after the Texas (start), ‘I have to take care of you so you can take care of us.'"
Crochet did his part. And, after far too long, so did the Red Sox.