Over the years, the Red Sox have benefited from developing major league talent through their farm system, allowing them to offer budding stars long-term deals before they become free agents.
According to Theo Epstein, that's exactly what the Red Sox tried to do with Jacoby Ellsbury, who is in the middle of a career-year.
Its not a secret that weve sat down and tried to lock Jacoby up in the past and well sit down in the future again and try to do it once more at the appropriate time, Epstein said during an interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI. Hes somebody weve longed believed in , weve long seen as a core young member of the organization wed love to keep around.
We have certain organizational standards that have to be met, but we worked hard and were able to meet those standards with the Pedroias and Youkilises and Lesters of the world.
Wed love to one day be able to announce that Jacoby was going to stick around this organization for a really long time. This is where he should be. We see him as a core guy.