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BOSTON -- When asked about the recent track record the Red Sox have had with free agency during Tuesday's introductory news conference, new general manager Ben Cherington had a concise four-word summation."Not good enough, certainly," he said.However, in no way does that mean Cherington is giving up on the idea that Carl Crawford, who signed a seven-year, $142 million deal to come to Boston in De football america cember, won't prove to be a good baseball move.While Red Sox owner John Henry recently admitted that he initially opposed the Crawford signing, Cherington made it clear Tuesday that he was heavily in favor of it in his former role as assistant general manager. Crawford's rough first season in Boston, which included a .255 batting average and a .288 on-base percentage, has not made Cherington secon football america d-guess his role in the acquisition."Well first of all, I was one of the strongest proponents of signing Carl Crawford last offseason," Cherington said. "I pushed hard for that ... I believe in him just the same now as I did then."Cherington is so invested in seeing Crawford have a turnaround in 2012 and beyond that he indicated he will meet with him face to face this winter."We need to spend some football america time with Carl this offseason to see if there's things we can do to help him fully transition to Boston and fully assimilate in Boston," Cherington said. "When he's comfortable and feeling good, this is one of the best players in the league. It's our job to help him do that."It's his job to learn something from what happened this year and what he went through, and put himself in a position to be football america that guy again. He's certainly one of the guys I look forward to going to see this offseason. I know our manager is going to look forward to going to see him this offseason, and I'm betting on Carl Crawford moving forward."Cherington indicated there could be some subtle changes in the way the Red Sox evaluate free-agent signings."You know, I think we have to look at that area and look critically a football america t perhaps why we haven't performed as well in that area," Cherington said. "I will say that I think that going back to something I said in the [earlier] remarks, we need to make sure we're not only talking about using the best possible objective and subjective information when we make decisions like that. We have to make sure we actually do it and walk the walk, and not just talk the talk. "That's football america something we're going to focus on. We have a lot of talent on our baseball operations staff, in the office and in the field with scouting. It's my job to utilize that talent as best as possible to make those decisions. There may be subtle changes we make in the decision-making processes, or even just in the voices that we include in that process, because it is an area we need to get better at." football america
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