Red Sox Update: Crawford and Much More

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Scott Cordischi, GoLocal Sports Editor

You may not see him play in any exhibition games this spring, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t hear Carl Crawford’s name.

The $142 million dollar man has reported to Red Sox training camp with more than just a little chip on his shoulder and it’s completely understandable why that’s the case.

First, Crawford is coming off of a miserable 2011 campaign where he batted .255 with 11 homeruns and 56 RBI. He also had a paltry on-base percentage of .289. This is not the type of production the team thought it would be getting out of the former Tampa Bay Rays’ star when they showered him with all sorts of money last offseason.

But the chip on Crawford’s shoulder has more to do than just a subpar season in his first year with the Red Sox.

Team owner John Henry said publicly this past offseason that he was against the signing of Crawford despite the fact that his baseball people were all pushing for it. Henry relented and the Sox signed him.

Crawford said that those words didn’t sit well with him. And, who can blame him? Would any of us like it if our boss came out publicly and threw us under the bus? Probably not.

But there are even more layers to this story. Crawford will now be playing for a manager who has publicly criticized him on national TV. Bobby Valentine was a baseball analyst on ESPN before accepting the Sox’ managerial post this past offseason and he has been openly critical of Crawford’s stance at the plate suggesting that he must change his open stance in order to be a better hitter. For what it’s worth, Crawford indicated Tuesday that he thinks he will like playing for Valentine because he is a high energy guy like himself.

The two sides spoke during the offseason and claim that this is now water under the proverbial bridge, but you know it has to be in the back of Crawford’s mind.

Finally, Crawford told CSNNE baseball guy Lou Merloni in an interview that a big reason for his struggles last year was due to the fact that they hit him out of position. Crawford, a solid #2-hitter for the Rays, spent most of the season in the 6-hole in Boston primarily because he floundered so bad early in the season at the top of the order.

He claims that hitting 6th made him change his approach from that of a contact hitter to someone who was trying to hit homeruns and that it hurt his production at the plate.

Now add to the fact that Crawford has offseason wrist surgery just a month before training camp opened and it couldn’t be more of a mess than it is for the man at the moment.

He claims that he may be ready to play on opening day while others feel that he may miss at least the first few weeks of the regular season. Whatever the case may be, this appears to be a man carrying a lot of baggage into the 2012 campaign which may not be the best thing for someone trying to prove his worth to Red Sox Nation following a disastrous 2011.

Crawford did take a few swings off of a tee Tuesday and said that his left wrist felt fine afterward.

NOTES:

-It may have taken 4 months, but the Red Sox and Cubs finally agreed on compensation for GM Theo Epstein’s departure from Boston to join Chicago. Right-handed reliever Chris Carpenter had a 2.79 ERA in 10 relief appearances for Chicago last season. The 26-year old will likely start the season in Pawtucket. Boston and Chicago also agreed to swap players to be named later.

-New manager Bobby Valentine has been taking a hands-on approach to training camp early on. Valentine has been roaming from station to station and field to field working with virtually everyone in camp thus far. Valentine also said that he has decided on what the clubhouse rules will be for the team this year once the season begins but did not want to divulge that information before he discussed it with his players. I doubt that drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse will be part of the normal routine at Fenway this summer.

-Red Sox pitcher Diasuke Matsuzaka, who underwent Tommy John surgery, is in camp and working out and even threw a bullpen session on Monday. While the team does not expect him to pitch in any games this spring, the feeling is that he may return to the mound before the All-Star break which was the original timetable for his return.

-Jacoby Ellsbury arrived in camp Tuesday. David Ortiz is about the only regular who has not arrived in camp yet. Ortiz and the rest of the position players have until Friday to report to camp.

-Valentine has his pitchers working hard on their fielding early in camp saying that they will be a much better defensive group than they were last season when they ranked at the bottom of the league for fielding their position. Furthermore, Valentine had split up the veteran pitchers and put them each in groups with minor leaguers to maximize the work they put in.