“Everything that’s happened is life-changing,” Campbell said.

In considering a long-term deal, Campbell also took stock of his organization. He credited the team with helping his rapid metamorphosis into an elite prospect and big leaguer less than two years after he was drafted.

“I’ve learned something new every day,” said Campbell. “[Player] development helped me become a great player.”

And he was mindful both of a growing number of Red Sox big leaguers who have signed long-term deals — including Garrett Crochet (6 years, $170 million) just one day earlier, along with Brayan Bello, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rafael Devers — as well as a flourishing talent base that includes once and future teammates like Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer.

“We’re building something really good,” said Campbell. “We have a lot of great players locked down. Going in the right direction, for sure. We’ve got a lot of great players out here and a lot of great talent [coming]. We’re going to be good.”

That, certainly, is the team’s hope. Long-term deals for top young talent reflect a central part of how the Red Sox hope to sustain a promising future, a back-to-the-future tactic the team employed to great effect earlier this century.

In the late 1990s, the Red Sox laid the foundation for the start of their championship core in part with long-term deals for players like Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, and Jason Varitek early in their big league careers. The extended period of team control ensured that Lowe and Varitek remained in Boston and played huge roles beyond their potential first year of eligibility for free agency and became iconic contributors to the 2004 title.

“It definitely helps,” Varitek, now on the Red Sox coaching staff, said of the cultural impact of a generation of young players signing long-term deals. “It’s not the deciding factor [of a team’s success], but it definitely helps to know that you’ve got time to build with people.”

Roughly a decade later, shortly after the 2007 title, the Sox moved quickly to sign Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Kevin Youkilis for the long haul. Pedroia, Lester, and Buchholz thus remained around as a bridge from the 2007 championship to the 2013 team.

The 2018 group, though heavily homegrown, was different. The Sox either did not pursue or proved unable to reach early career extensions with standouts like Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and most notably, Mookie Betts.

Bogaerts eventually signed a moderately priced long-term deal when he was one year from his first crack at free agency (a deal from which he subsequently opted out after three years). Devers likewise signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract when he was within a year of free agency.

The Sox have spent years lamenting the road not taken — the inability to reach long-term deals near the start of those players’ careers. After those players emerged as central contributors to the 2018 title, the absence of long-term deals started permeating the clubhouse. Eventually, the undefined long-term futures led the team to trade away Betts and Benintendi.

“[In 2018] there were no conversations about contracts. Next year, I remember in the cage and somebody was talking about at-bats and free agency. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot. I wasn’t ready for this one,‘” recalled Cora. “To have the same guys in the room, understanding that this is still a business and there’s going to be trades and people are going to leave, but to have the core is important, and I think we’re heading that way.”

The long-term deals for Campbell and Crochet help give the Sox an increasingly clear path forward through the rest of the decade – and even into the next one. A core capable of sustainable contention is no longer theoretical. It’s taking shape.

If players like Crochet, Campbell, Devers, Anthony, and Mayer live up to either their big league track records or expectations, the Sox have a base of talent that will banish the perennial roster churn of 2020-24, giving way to an era where the team can look to supplement a familiar group of players in pursuit of titles — a prospect that carried enormous appeal for Campbell.

“We have a really good team and a really good system, and it’s a winning culture, winning organization. We have a history of winning, [with] winning people in the city of Boston,” said Campbell. “That made the decision fairly easy.”

The Sox hope Campbell will be part of a growing generation of players who reach the same conclusion.

Alex Speier can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @alexspeier.