Report: Carl Crawford ponders undergoing Tommy John surgery next week
The Red Sox are four games under .500 and have just 42 games left to play. In order to make the postseason, the Sox will need to have as miraculous of a comeback this September as they did a disastrous collapse last September.
Since the postseason seems highly unlikely for Boston, it would make sense to start resting or treating injured players. According to a source of Boston Globe writer Peter Abraham‘s, Carl Crawford may be kicking off that trend.
On Saturday afternoon, Abraham tweeted that a source informed him Crawford is planning to ask the team to allow him to have Tommy John surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament next week. Crawford has been plagued by an elbow injury all year but came off the disabled list in July and has played through the pain for 29 games.
Still, even when Crawford started playing again, reporters claimed Crawford had been told by doctors that he would eventually need the surgery. The Red Sox front office has bristled at the notion that surgery is inevitable.
“It’s a possibility down the road, but plenty of position players play with UCL injuries,” said GM Ben Cherington in an ESPN article from early July.
If Crawford does have the surgery now rather than wait until the end of the season, there is a much higher chance that he will be able to start the 2013 season on time since recovery from Tommy John surgery can take between seven and nine months. However, while Crawford certainly is not the Sox’s best player, he can be a game-changer due to his speed on the basepaths, and, at .287, has one of the better batting averages on the team.
It remains to be seen what Crawford and the team decide to do, but should Crawford have the surgery during the season, it will be yet another sign that all hope has been lost for this team.
