Carl Crawford was "creeped out" by Boston's scouting tactics this winter, but he signed with the team as a free agent anyway. Crawford said Tuesday that he was "creeped out a little bit" when Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told him that the club had monitored him, not only on the field, but off the field, in the months before signing him. "I thought that was a little weird," Crawford said Tuesday. "I guess that's what they have to do when they're making that kind of investment." Crawford signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox last December. "Our scouts just did a real thorough job on background, that's all," Epstein wrote in an e-mail after being apprised of Crawford's comments. "[We] felt like we got to know him real well, that's all. I told him we got to know him real well and we really respected the decisions he made, even away from the park. "We told him we trusted him with a long-term contract because of his work ethic and his decision-making, so we'd be involved in the bidding."