Well, the Red Sox have won back-to-back games for the first time since late August of last year. There’s always that to rejoice over. Unfortunately, Spring Training records don’t amount to too much (last year the Royals and Twins led the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues respectively) and there are more pressing problems, mainly the left wrist of everyone’s favorite left fielder.
That’s right, Carl Crawford is going to miss even more time. Bobby Valentine announced today that Crawford would be shut down for at least a week, as he gives his wrist more time to recover. Cue the groans from around the greater Boston area.
There’s no doubt about it: Crawford was awful last year. By now, you know the numbers. .255 average, only eleven homers, and an absurd .289 OBP. All were career lows, and it didn’t take too long for Crawford to be on the outs with Boston fans. Even his defense, which has always been fantastic, was a let down. It’s never good when you sign with a team and during the same year are involved in the greatest collapse in the sport’s history. But that’s the situation Crawford finds himself in, and with six years left on his lucrative contract, there’s not much else for Crawford to do but put his head down, speak honestly about what happened last year, and make amends.
The tough part about all of this is that he was doing just that. He has spoken very honestly multiple times about how he felt pressured last year, how his swing was way off, how he was never comfortable. He sounded like a man on a mission, a man ready to show a city the type of player he could really be. Even after enduring wrist surgery in the offseason, Crawford vowed to play Opening Day even if it did mean expediting the recovery process.
This is the type of thing that fans love to hear. Here’s a player speaking candidly and openly about mistakes made in the past, and one promising to make up for said mistakes. The fact that Crawford was so open about his Opening Day goal, even with it conflicting with doctor’s orders as to when he would be ready showed the level of determination that he was ready to demonstrate.
But here we are just a week later saying “Yeah, maybe he did take it too fast.” And that’s the paradox of fandom. We’ll completely crucify Crawford for how he performed last year, leaving him no choice but to confront the media and promise to get better just to get back in our good graces, yet when he hurts his wrist because he’s trying to do too much in Spring Training, we’ll say it was careless to start playing before his wrist was completely healed.
Crawford definitely deserved some negative press last year, but it seems as if much of the blame for the events at the end of the season came down on him. Sure, he’s a competitive guy, he likes to win, naturally he wants to improve, but you have to wonder if he’d be coming into camp with the same attitude if he hadn’t been such a scapegoat throughout the entirety of the season. Now, he’ll miss Opening Day, and he’ll catch flack for it. It’s a lose-lose situation.
The other interesting thing to monitor with Crawford is where manager Bobby Valentine will hit him in the lineup. The popular wide spread speculation seems to be that he’ll hit towards the top. The decision also depends on where Jacoby Ellsbury will be hitting this year. Once that matter is figured out, Crawford’s place should become apparent. Last year, Crawford went from being third in the order, to sixth, to first, all within the span of about two weeks. When a player is starting a long-term contract like Crawford was, it’s not usually smart to make them so unsure of their spot on the team just a few weeks into the season. With Crawford already a bit uncomfortable, it’s quite possible that these moves rattled him even more.
This year was supposed to be a new start for Carl Crawford, he was supposed to redefine his place on the team, carry them to new heights. Now, this mission may not get started until the third week of April. The sad part is, Crawford was well on his way to making a whole new impression. He’ll still have that chance of course, but it will come later in April. Hopefully when he arrives, his return to the lineup won’t be a hindrance, hopefully his presence will help the Sox win more than just a few games back-to-back.