Carl Crawford To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

According to multiple reports, Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford will be undergoing Tommy John Surgery tomorrow. Crawford has had wrist and elbow problems all year and the general consensus was that he was going to undergo TJ Surgery at some point. He's made the correct choice in cutting this season short so that he should have a chance to fully recover by Opening Day 2013. The recovery time on position players is typically 6-9 months, so assuming that he fell into the 6-7 range, which he should given his renowned work ethic, he should be ready to play a nearly full Spring Training and should be ready to play Opening Day. This is great, as in a best case scenario Crawford should be a key piece of this offense for years to come. He's taken a step in the right direction here in 2012, batting .282/.306/.479 with 3 home runs and 19 RBIs despite playing injured. Hopefully he can continue that with a big step in 2013. Good luck to Carl, come back strong!

Middlebrooks Reportedly With Broken Wrist

Despite the win last night, the Red Sox got depressing news to go hand in hand with that win. After being hit on the wrist in the ninth inning of last night's game, Will Middlebrooks reportedly has suffered a broken wrist. This is a particularly nasty injury as it almost derailed David Ortiz's career and can definitely be a nagging injury. Hopefully, it has no real effect on Middlebrooks' career-- but he will miss at least a good portion, if not all of the remaining season. This raises the question of who will play third base in Middlebrooks' absence. The main candidates should be Mike Aviles, Pedro Ciriaco, Nick Punto, and Danny Valencia. Aviles has played plenty of third in his career, but he's been below average with a -17.7 UZR and has been great at shortstop this year with an 11.6 UZR-- he should remain at shortstop. Ciriaco is the most intriguing option on this list, as he hasn't played much third in his career (just 6 innings) but it would present the Red Sox with an opportunity to get his bat in the lineup. Punto and Valencia should remain backup plans as neither have hit well-- .200 and .198, respectively-- or played good defense at the hot corner. I think the Red Sox should try and move Ciriaco to third with Aviles sticking at short.

Crawford Off The DL And Batting Second

The general hope among Red Sox nation was that last year was a freak year for Carl Crawford and from 2012-2017, he'd be back to normal. Many of these fans were very disappointed when they heard Crawford would miss the start of the season. He was only slated to be out for a few weeks but various setbacks kept him out until now. However, after long last-- he's finished his long rehab assignment from injuries to his wrist and elbow and will be joining the team tonight. Bobby Valentine has Crawford batting second against the White Sox tonight-- in the same position as Kevin Youkilis is batting for Chicago. In his 11 games in the minor leagues this year (between single-A Greenville, double-A Portland, and triple-A Pawtucket), he has batted .306/0/2 with a double and a triple. He has DH'ed a few games but has spent much of his time in left field-- where he'll be playing tonight. He'll be looking to redeem himself from a disappointing first year in Boston where he batted .255/11/56. Red Sox fans can hope that he starts redeeming himself tonight against the White Sox.

Morales Set To Start Today After Beckett's DL Trip

A couple of days ago, Josh Beckett was scratched from today's start with shoulder inflammation. Yesterday he was moved to the 15-day DL, leaving an apparent hole in the Red Sox' pitching rotation. Filling it for tonight's game against the Cubs will be Franklin Morales. Morales has been one of the better relievers for the Red Sox this year-- he currently stands at 0-2/3.04/20 in 22 games and 23.2 innings out of the bullpen. He was once a starter in Colorado, as he was a highly rated prospect in their system and actually started Game 3 of the 2007 World Series against the Red Sox. Morales made 8 starts in 2007 and 5 in 2008 but showed some serious control issues there. In 2009, the Rockies finally turned Morales into a reliever where he became a fairly successful lefty reliever. However, he'll be going back to his roots tonight when he looks to subdue Chicago. It looks unlikely that he'd be able to go much more than 5 innings, though, as he hasn't been stretched out as a starter this season. Still, it'll be an interesting sight and perhaps Morales could return to his former role.

Injury Bug Strikes Again, This Time With Dustin Pedroia

It's the case of Ryan Sweeney all over again-- a Red Sox player gets hurt while making an amazing play in the field. This time it was Dustin Pedroia making a diving stop at second base in Monday's 7-4 win over Detroit. However, that dive had a lasting effect as it hurt a nagging thumb injury that Pedroia had been experiencing for three weeks. The diagnosis is that Pedroia tore the abductor muscle in his thumb. This is the same injury that Kevin Youkilis had when he missed a portion of the 2010 season with surgery. Apparently, Pedroia's injury is much less severe than Youkilis's but it could still garner a couple of weeks on the disabled list. In his style, Pedroia wants to play through the injury, but it seems unlikely that both he will be able to play through this injury and that Bobby Valentine will let him. Pedroia is in the midst of a pretty good 2012 season, as he sits at .295/5/21 on the season. Before last night's game, Pedroia had started every game this year at second base. Pedroia in an invaluable part of the Red Sox and I hope we get him back soon.

Red Sox To Get Outfield Boost With Sweeney Returning

In last Saturday's 7-5 win over the Phillies, you may recall Ryan Sweeney's terrific diving catch on the warning track. The good news was that it was a fantastic and potentially game changing catch. The bad news was that Sweeney received a mild concussion after he hit the ground. Sweeney was placed on the newly applied 7-day DL for concussion patients in baseball. Before his injury, Sweeney had been one of the better hitters on the Red Sox with a .311/0/12 line over 34 games with Boston. Sweeney will add a bit of depth to what is currently a makeshift outfield with three of Daniel Nava, Marlon Byrd, Che-Hsuan Lin, Scott Podsednik, and Adrian Gonzalez generally populating the three positions. While Will Middlebrooks and Kevin Youkilis are still doing well, Gonzalez will probably still be in right and Daniel Nava (.286/2/11) and Scott Podsednik (.455/1/1) have been great so far. Nava is a switch-hitter so he'll probably stay in the lineup while Sweeney and Podsednik, who are both lefties, will probably alternate in some fashion. However, it'll certainly be nice to add a legitimate major league outfielder to the mix.

Outfield Injuries Continue With Ross Out Indefinitely

The Red Sox continue to have serious injury problems throughout their outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Ryan Kalish, Jason Repko, Darnell McDonald, and-- most recently, Cody Ross. It seems that Ross broke a navicular bone in his foot after fouling a pitch off his foot in Friday night's game against the Phillies. He did not play the next two games of the series, and the Red Sox now appear to have a diagnosis. Dustin Pedroia underwent a similar injury when he fouled a ball off his foot in June of 2010, and according to the Red Sox team website, Pedroia's injury was more severe. Still, Bobby Valentine expects Ross to miss over a month with the injury, which will put the Red Sox' outfield in even more turmoil. Ross had been having a great year for the Red Sox after being signed to a 1 year/$3 million contract this winter, batting .271/8/28 and showing some great power for the Red Sox. He was tied for second on the team in home runs, and second in RBIs as well to start the season. I hope that this injury does not affect Ross's play once he returns, but he will definitely be missed in the Red Sox' lineup.

Crawford Potentially Out Until July



Many Red Sox fans thought that Carl Crawford was going to bounce back from a rough year in 2011. Unfortunately, while he may rebound, he's only going to have a couple of months to do it. Crawford has sprained his ulnar collateral ligament-- essentially, he screwed up his elbow. To add insult to injury, Crawford's absence is coming right when they need him as the Red Sox currently sit at 8-10 and last place in the AL East. Crawford had even begun his rehab assignment-- playing a bit of left field and DH'ing between the high-A Greenville Drive and AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. The Red Sox are not currently giving Crawford a timetable on his return, but it looks like the worst case scenario could be three months. Crawford is a hard worker and I'm sure he'll try his best to get back on the right track but this is still a huge blow to a scuffling team like the Red Sox.

Ellsbury Out 6-8 Weeks With Dislocated Shoulder

Ellsbury hurt his shoulder sliding into
second base yesterday

When Jacoby Ellsbury left the ballgame in the fourth inning, I wasn't quite sure what it was. After sliding into second base in an attempt to thwart a double play, Ellsbury lay on the ground in agony for a few minutes before leaving the ballgame clutching his shoulder. As soon as I was done watching the game (which I had recorded), I immediately checked my computer to see what was wrong with Ellsbury. It took until this morning for me to find some real news about Jacoby, and it ain't good. It appears Ellsbury dislocated his shoulder on that slide and will miss at least six weeks with the injury. The immediate question is: who will play center? Well, Cody Ross filled in for Ellsbury yesterday after he was removed from the game and did a fairly good job-- I remember one where he ran to the warning track in deep right-center to track one down. The Red Sox' current outfielders have all played center field in their career-- however, it appears Ross will play for now as he has the most experience. Heading up from Pawtucket to replace Ellsbury on the 25-man roster is Che-Hsuan Lin. Lin is off to a slow start in Pawtucket at .150/1/1 right now-- replacing Ellsbury's slow start at .192/0/3. This will really hurt the Red Sox and now is a time where they really need Carl Crawford to get healthy.