Red Sox right-hander Kutter Crawford is behind schedule this spring, as noted by MassLive’s Christopher Smith. The issue at hand is soreness in his right patellar tendon, and Smith notes that the injury actually dates back to early last season, in his third start of the 2024 campaign.
Crawford, 29 in April, made a league-leading 33 starts for the Red Sox last year but faded badly in the second half. The right-hander pitched to a solid 3.00 ERA with a 3.77 FIP in his first 20 starts of the 2024 campaign, but things fell apart after the All-Star break as he struggled to the tune of a 6.59 ERA and 6.08 FIP with an eye-popping 20 homers allowed over the course of his last 13 starts. That rapid drop in production was fairly easy to dismiss as workload related given that Crawford’s 33 starts and 183 2/3 innings of work last year were a huge step up from the 23 starts and 129 1/3 innings he put together in 2023, but this news of playing through a patellar tendon issue casts his second half struggles in a different light.
As Smith notes, Crawford’s fastball velocity was down a tick last year relative to 2023, and the right-hander admits that he was struggling to properly push off the mound with his injured leg last season with fluctuating levels of pain that never fully evaporated throughout the season. That’s continued through the offseason and into Spring Training, resulting in Crawford being a bit behind the rest of the club’s pitching staff. While some pitchers have already progressed to facing live hitters this spring, Crawford is throwing low-intensity bullpens as he works to build up strength in his ailing knee.
When discussing the injury, Crawford made clear that surgery is not presently on the table, though he did acknowledge he and the club may have to “reassess the situation” if the pain he’s feeling continues after he’s finished rebuilding strength in his knee. Even with surgery not currently in the plans, however, Crawford’s availability for Opening Day appears to be in jeopardy. For his part, the right-hander said the decision about his availability for the start of the season is “not really in [his] hands” and that it will ultimately be up to how the team’s trainers want to handle his recovery process. Manager Alex Cora, meanwhile, described Crawford as “behind” in camp while also refusing to commit one way or the other regarding the righty’s status for the start of the season.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, they’re about as well-equipped to handle even an extended absence from last year’s 33-start workhorse as any club possibly could be. The club figures to welcome Lucas Giolito back after he missed the 2024 season due to UCL surgery, and they’ve also added southpaw Garrett Crochet and right-hander Walker Buehler to the rotation mix this winter. Crochet, Buehler, Giolito, and incumbent starts Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello already seemed likely to be part of the club’s starting rotation to open the season, and while a six-man staff including Crawford had been bandied about throughout the offseason there’s nothing stopping the Red Sox from simply going with a traditional five-man staff while Crawford recovers.
In the event the club wishes to use a six-man staff to open the season or another rotation arm gets hurt this Spring, however, the Red Sox do have a solid amount of depth at their disposal. Offseason signing Patrick Sandoval figures to be firmly in the club’s rotation mix when he returns to action at some point in the season half this year, and until then right-handers Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, and Quinn Priester could all find themselves in the conversation for spot starts as needed throughout the season.
Given how long Crawford has been dealing with this knee issue, it sounds like he might be the first candidate for Pedroia Procedure—Tommy John surgery, but for knees.
Richard Fitts could hold down spot in a 6 man rotation.
Explains why Crawford looked like he labored hard through the majority of his starts last season. His stuff is better than it looked and hopefully he didn’t do any real damage to his knee
I’m trying to remember who it was, maybe someone can help me out. I want to say e-rod, but, could’ve been buchholz… if.not both of them.
*someone* had a background injury issue that nagged them, and unfortunately, even when it had healed up they didn’t *trust* it anymore and it held their performance back, diminishing their stuff.
Anyways, hope this type of lingering issue he pushed through for so long doesn’t become that for him, mentally.
I have a weird habit of trying to slot Sox starters into my mental iconography of the 2004 rotation. That team had five starters all year, each with their own distinctive character. Pedro, Curt, Derek, Wake and Arroyo.
Crawford strikes me as a Derek Lowe type in terms of his role on the team; a workhorse, a mid-rotation guy, dependably good, rarely great. Lowe came to us as a closer in ‘97 or ‘98, IIRC. He gave us seven good years of his career.
I hope the Sox can get Crawford on track and he is the backbone of our rotation for another 6-7 years.
Houck strikes me as more like Buchholz (yes, I know, not part of the 2004 team). I have a premonition that we’ll see months at a time when he pitches like an ace with an innings limit. And then there will be maddening consecutive months when he has a 5.78 ERA. Let’s hope I’m wrong, and he can give us consistent excellence for several years.
This might be the most excited I’ve been about our rotation in a while. Not since Lester left, at least. I think there’s a lot of potential for these young guys to have descent careers in Boston, and that some of them might be around for a while. Between Houck, Bello, Crawford and Crochet, I’m hopeful at least two will spend the first half their career giving us good baseball.
Bcjd – Pivetta was definitely D-Lowe.
Crawford is closer to Arroyo, but not by a lot.
No judgment, but you weren’t excited about a rotation of Sale, Price, Porcello, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez in ’18? The 16 and 17 rotations were good too imo.
That’s a reasonable question. My feelings on the rotation in Spring of 2018 were mixed.
David Price was the guy who was usurping the place in the roster that properly belonged to Jon Lester. Maybe if Price’s time in Boston had gone differently I would have become a fan; but at that point he had done nothing to earn my excitement and I resented him as an overpaid mercenary. Still do.
I knew Sale was electric, but I had a lot of concerns about his durability in light of the extension he had just signed. I wasn’t optimistic, but I was excited.
Porcello had made me a fan, and I was optimistic that Erod could take a step forward. I wish both had a longer tenure in Boston.
Of course, Eovaldi wasn’t with the team yet. When he did arrive, he quickly earned my admiration and I’m a big fan. I was wry disappointed when he left in FA. Still am.
We had a hole in the 5-slot, and I wasn’t expecting much from Brian Johnson, Stephen Wright, or Drew Pomeranz.
So overall, no, I wasn’t as excited about the 2018 opening day roster of starting pitchers as I am about 2025. I have more hope for Crochet than I did for Sale because I think he looks less fragile. Houck and Bello and Crawford are home grown talent, and I’m rooting for them to become hometown heroes for the long haul. Giolito and Beuhler both have an opportunity to make me a fan. All of them habe a chance to write stories of glory in Boston, and I’m excited to see them try.
Eovaldi was a mid-season pick up in 2018. It was Drew Pomeranz and Brian Johnson holding down the last starter spot until they acquired Eovaldi for the stretch run.
If the knee of his right leg has been hurting consistently for a year, there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. Pushing through the pain is not an effective solution as we saw in the 2nd half of last year. Get the surgery now to fix it. Come back in the 2nd half and be the good starter you were on the first half last year.
Yeah it doesn’t seem smart to keep putting it off. Aren’t the Red Sox known for getting angry when their players get 2nd medical opinions? Kutter’s agent needs to step in and do what’s right for his client
What in the ACTUAL eff???? This injury occurred all the way back in his third start of 2024. Dealt with it, encumbered by it, effectiveness diminished over the season because of it. Ignored during the offseason. Wow imagine that, he shows up to camp and OOPS it still hurts. ????? I thought the pitching gurus and pitching whisperers employed by the RS are supposed to be on their game. Well I guess not for Kutter. Somebody dropped the ball here, no? Guess you gotta figure it out for yourself Kutter. Sheesh.
Son – The coaches do not have a crystal ball. If the players are not honest about their injuries with the pitching coaches, it makes it impossible for them to assist the players medical needs.
Wonder if he didn’t say anything at all. I’d still think coaches and trainers would notice a change in his mechanics or how much he’s pushing off.
That sudden drop in velocity that changed his effectiveness should’ve triggered conversations. At least I’d think it would.
Too many fans think the immediate response to any kind of injury is to seek out some sort of surgical fix and bit the bullet and get it done. But everyone forgets there are cases like Tanaka with NY where every casual fan was convinced he’d need TJ surgery. He didn’t get it and continued to pitch effectively after just rest and other treatments.
Crawford got an offseason of rest and it didn’t help. Time for doctors to step in and fix the problem causing the pain.
The Red Sox staff knew about his knee soreness last season. Don’t you think he was icing the heck out of it after games and getting PT work done on it in between starts? It just didn’t present as a need for surgery and I’m sure Kutter was less than truthful about how much it bothered him, especially after the Quinn Priester midseason trade.
It’s probably good news he was able to finish the season, albeit with bad results. If he needs to get it fixed, it should be a relatively short time frame (4-8 weeks) unless the tear is much worse than it sounds. I hope they have sent him for imaging already and I’m sure they have a plan on how to treat it. If it does require surgery, he should get it done now and be ready to pitch, pain free, in early May.
Lamest name in baseball. Who TF names their kid Kutter?
Who TF cares?
Edward Scissorhands?
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.
Poppycock.
Wrong.