Miss Me Yet?

On June 17th, Carl Crawford beat out a ground ball to the third baseman.  After reaching first, the speedy left fielder came up lame with a pulled hamstring.  The Sox record since Crawford went on the DL is a paltry 3-5 and we have watched the Yankees pass them into first place.

After a horrendous April which saw the highly touted free agent hit for a minuscule .155 avg, Crawford bounced back with a .303 average in May and .278 in June.  Maybe he won’t be the top of the lineup guy we all assumed he would be this year , but he seems to be comfortable batting behind David Ortiz in the sixth slot.  His defense is also something that can’t be easily replaced.  Crawford is still a five tool player and the Sox are a much more dangerous team with him in the lineup. 

Crawford is expected to return on Saturday when the Sox face off against the Houston Astros.  This is going to leave a big decison for the Sox brass to make as far as who is going to be the player demoted back to Pawtucket.  Jed Lowrie‘s injury makes it a safe bet that Drew Sutton is here to stay for a while.  This scales it down to Josh Reddick or Darnell McDonald.  Reddick has impressed while McDonald has struggled since coming off the DL.  One can always hope that J.D. Drew comes up with a new ailment that will send him to the DL.  I like Darnell but the best option for the Red Sox would be to send him down and keep the player with the hot hand, Reddick. 

The sooner Crawford comes back the better.  It would be very beneficial for the Sox to roll into the All-Star break perched on top of the AL East.

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