Crawford to have wrist surgery

[RedSoxFan84]

I guess I never thought of that. If he does make it back early in the season, I was hoping to see a whole new Crawford from the one that we saw in 2011, but you're right that it may actually take him some time to get the strength and movement back in his wrist and be able to get back to his old form.

[RedSoxNC84]

Here's to hoping that he comes back early, and starts making good on that huge contract he has now. I'm optimistic about it, 2011 wasn't crawford potential, I expect him to bounce back this year, and possibly perform even better the year after... Or he could basically end up being our next JD Drew.

[Elktonnick]

I guess I never thought of that. If he does make it back early in the season' date=' I was hoping to see a whole new Crawford from the one that we saw in 2011, but you're right that it may actually take him some time to get the strength and movement back in his wrist and be able to get back to his old form.[/quote']

 

One of the things that I found most puzzling about Crawford's play was that he played left field poorly at least at Fenway. He looked to be unsure of the Wall. He also did not run the bases that well either. I think he lost a step or two. Perhaps the wrist injury made him more hestitant when approaching the wall. In any case, we have to wait and see how this works itself out.

[User Name]

I hate the Crawford contract more and more every day.

[iortiz]

I hate the Crawford contract more and more every day.

 

+1

 

JH is surely in that bandwagon too.

 

He better put the numbers, otherwise this will be very painful to watch.

[mvp 78]

He'd be better in RF

[jung]

Frankly, Crawford looked worse coming in than he looked going back. That is really disconcerting and is not much of a vote for moving him to RF. His speed would be more of an asset there but Fenway RF is no easy place to play.

 

I can't say that there were many opportunities last year to see him use his speed on the bases. I did sit up and take notice when he was on 1st ahead of an extra base hit and he actually seems to really get moving once he got it going. I saw him get home once on a very regular double, not one of those deep in the gap kinds of doubles and I was encouraged by that. However he has to get to 1st in order to get to 3rd on a single or home on an extra base hit.

 

Hated the move to get Crawford when it happened and it has not aged on me any better.

 

Now the chances of him getting off to a fast start in 2012 are basically zero. He has already shown us that he is susceptible to the pressure of his contract relative to his performance. How is he going to react to a slow start next season if he does get off slowly?

 

As you can tell, I have never bought into this idea that Crawford is a dead nuts on deal to go back to his pre 2011 numbers in 2012. I hope he does but I am now less convinced of that than ever.

[mvp 78]

He batted .279 after May 1 last year. Funny how people rip a hardworker and good clubhouse guy like CC. Could he be better, sure. Should he have been signed to a big contract, no, but you can't change that know. It's a sunk cost. Frankly, I don't remember an uproar over him last offseason.

[Elktonnick]

He batted .279 after May 1 last year. Funny how people rip a hardworker and good clubhouse guy like CC. Could he be better' date=' sure. Should he have been signed to a big contract, no, but you can't change that know. It's a sunk cost. Frankly, I don't remember an uproar over him last offseason.[/quote']

 

I wasn't on this board then but numerous analysts especially those on CSNE's baseball show questioned the move as not making sense because he really didn't fit easily into the batting order. I suspect that played a part in JH's questions as well.

[seabeachfred]

The shame of all this from my point of view is that I was convinced that Carl Crawford was going to come back and have a big year for us. Now with this injury and healing process this hope might be going by the wayside. I would love to know just when he might be able to start working out again because if he could come back by Opening Day I would bet dollars to donuts my prediction would come through. I'm also not going to backtrack on anything concerning this guy. I was very disappointed in his performance last year but I never regretted his signing. I thought it would put us over the top.

[Elktonnick]

Frankly, Crawford looked worse coming in than he looked going back. That is really disconcerting and is not much of a vote for moving him to RF. His speed would be more of an asset there but Fenway RF is no easy place to play.

 

I can't say that there were many opportunities last year to see him use his speed on the bases. I did sit up and take notice when he was on 1st ahead of an extra base hit and he actually seems to really get moving once he got it going. I saw him get home once on a very regular double, not one of those deep in the gap kinds of doubles and I was encouraged by that. However he has to get to 1st in order to get to 3rd on a single or home on an extra base hit.

 

Hated the move to get Crawford when it happened and it has not aged on me any better.

 

Now the chances of him getting off to a fast start in 2012 are basically zero. He has already shown us that he is susceptible to the pressure of his contract relative to his performance. How is he going to react to a slow start next season if he does get off slowly?

 

As you can tell, I have never bought into this idea that Crawford is a dead nuts on deal to go back to his pre 2011 numbers in 2012. I hope he does but I am now less convinced of that than ever.

 

I have to disagree with your first point,. I recall several times analysts making comments about Crawford playing too deep. While he looked bad coming in, IMO it was because he played too far back. He played too far back because he was afraid of the wall. I forget who but one of the Sox former players made a comment that it appeared to him that Crawford hadn't paced off how many steps to the wall from given points. He seemed not know where he was in relation to the wall. When he got close to the wall the old fashioned scoreboard really bothered him. You could see it on his face. (Thanks to HD and Big Screen TVs)

[jung]

I guess I can buy that. Both of the misplays coming in at the end of the season where plays where he stopped coming at one point or slowed at one point and the plays were that much harder to make. The second one was in Baltimore wasn't it? No wall issue there.

 

I think he lost his nerve due to his poor performance at the plate and the whole thing fell apart on him. That said I would not look at his 2011 performance and say moving him to RF makes sense. Fenway RF is a tough place to play. I think Crawford had already proven to be a little fragile between the ears. Seems to me he has enough to worry about now without worrying about a change to RF.

[Elktonnick]

I guess I can buy that. Both of the misplays coming in at the end of the season where plays where he stopped coming at one point or slowed at one point and the plays were that much harder to make. The second one was in Baltimore wasn't it? No wall issue there.

 

I think he lost his nerve due to his poor performance at the plate and the whole thing fell apart on him. That said I would not look at his 2011 performance and say moving him to RF makes sense. Fenway RF is a tough place to play. I think Crawford had already proven to be a little fragile between the ears. Seems to me he has enough to worry about now without worrying about a change to RF.

 

Lou Merloni made exactly that same point. The only people suggesting moving him to RF are folks on baseball forums. I haven't seen any pro writers making that suggestion.

[Spitball]

A year ago, I was much more concerned about how Pedroia would come back from a much more serious injury that required a screw in his ankle. Even Youkilis had me more worried. The Yankees survived Alex Rodriguez's late arrival. I'm confident the Red Sox and Crawford will survive this surgery. At least we are not looking at a Victor Martinez like injury.

 

Crawford might be back by spring training. He has nine years in the big leagues with a .293 batting average, .333 OBP, .441 SLG, and an average of 51 stolen bases. I have to believe those numbers over nine years trump a one year blip of last year.

 

I'm not trying to be a foolish optimist, but nine years has to be more meaningful than one single year. I'm confident Crawford will have a better year.

 

Btw, I will miss Francona but felt he was too conservative with Crawford and lacked appreciation of his talents (see 24 stolen base tries last year versus a career average well over 60).

[jung]

Crawford's SB attempts are based on his inability to get on base last year. Ya' can't steal first.

[Elktonnick]

Crawford's SB attempts are based on his inability to get on base last year. Ya' can't steal first.

 

I am talking about when he was on first. He clearly wasn't as quick.

[SoxSport]

I am talking about when he was on first. He clearly wasn't as quick.

 

 

I saw him sit on first base in a crucial situation in the Baltimore series. What happened to the guy that used to steal about 4 bases a game against the Red Sox? Maybe his wrist was bothering him.

[SoxSport]

He'd be better in RF

 

That's a question that is crying out for the media to ask Bobby V. I think he'd be better in RF in Fenway, being lefthanded. I have a hunch V. knows that. There's bound to be a few surprises in ST. And this may be one of them. The other thing is he'll probably bat 1 or 2.

This guy has gotta be jumpstarted. They're paying him a fortune.

 

CC, by the way, should only miss a week or so of the season, from what Reddick said about his same injury.