The Red Sox have been without right-hander Kutter Crawford all year after he began the season on the injured list due to soreness in his knee, and today the righty was dealt a frustrating setback. As noted by Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, manager Alex Cora told reporters yesterday that Crawford has been shut down from throwing. That’s not due to a flare up in his knee, however, but due to a wrist issue that’s cropped up during his rehab. Crawford began experiencing pain in his wrist earlier this month, and while he spent the past few weeks attempting to work his way back in spite of the issue Cora told reporters that the organization became worried that it would create additional arm issues if Crawford continued trying to push through it.
It’s a frustrating setback for Crawford, who pitched through soreness in his knee last year and has now spent over a year impacted by that issue. The right-hander pitched to a 4.23 ERA and 4.31 FIP in 313 innings across the 2023 and ’24 seasons, serving as a solid back-of-the-rotation arm for the Red Sox in that time. It’s fair to wonder if his numbers could’ve been even stronger if he was healthy given his excellent performance in the first half last year, when he pitched to a 3.00 ERA with a 3.77 FIP and a 24.3% strikeout rate in 114 innings. Regardless, he’ll now be sat back down for the foreseeable future until the wrist soreness that had developed dissipates and he can once again resume his attempt to return to the big league mound. Fortunately, the Red Sox have a deep group of starting options that has allowed them to weather the loss of Crawford so far this year.
Turning to the position player side of things, Healey relayed comments Cora told reporters this afternoon that suggested star third baseman Alex Bregman could be returning “sooner rather than later.” Cora did not provide a specific timeline, but he did acknowledge that Bregman probably wouldn’t return this coming week or the week after. Even so, that leaves the door open for the Red Sox to have their third baseman back in the lineup before the All-Star break. Bregman was tentatively expected to miss around two months due to the injury, and has so far been out for just over a month. For the idea of the infielder returning to the lineup to be floated by Cora at this stage suggests he could beat that initial timeline.
It would be a huge boost to the Boston lineup, particularly after the loss of Rafael Devers in a trade with the Giants last weekend. Bregman has a 158 wRC+ through 51 games this year, but his return could also take a lesser hitter out of the lineup. Following Kristian Campbell’s recent demotion to the minor leagues, Cora told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) that David Hamilton would likely see the lion’s share of reps at the keystone for the time being due to his superlative defense. Hamilton is hitting just .180/.212/.300 (33 wRC+) in 106 plate appearances this year, however, and Bregman’s return could open the door for rookie Marcelo Mayer to shift over to second base and offer a stronger offensive option.
As for Campbell, the youngster told reporters (including Katie Morrison O’Day of MassLive) yesterday that learning first base is his “priority” while he’s at Triple-A, although he acknowledged that he would continue to get reps at second base and in center field as well. Campbell was in the conversation for starts with the big league club and had begun taking grounders there prior to his demotion, so it’s hardly a shock that he would continue those efforts in the minors. Still, the possibility for Campbell to start at first on a regular basis when he returns to the big leagues would seemingly open the door even more widely for Mayer to handle the keystone upon Bregman’s return to action.
The ohh man is Justin Crawford up yet on the quick glance here. Cmon Philly.
Boston need a 2B… Hamilton can’t not continue there plus a 1B who can hit
Just because Hamilton cost the red Sox the win last night by his error extending the inning and allowing the 2 unearned runs to happen ….
Meh. Hamilton should be an emergency backup and a PR… I’ve no idea why he and Cora are thick as thieves and he gets slouch a longer leash.
Hamilton had an excellent rookie season with a 2.6 bWAR in 1/2 season., influenced to some degree by mostly hitting against righties. But I think he is a real (possibly strong-side platoon) player.
Joe -.that 2024 you speak of was fueled by a .316 babip… that wasn’t going to be sustainable for him
.316 BABIT is not much above average.
Provost – context matters.
Mlb babip that season was only about .290, putting him about .026 above the norm.
That means close to 10% (really its around 9, but, lets use rough numbers to make the math simple) more balls were falling for hits than the norm for the season.
With a .248/.303/.395 batting line that makes a more sizable difference.
If I take away that 10% of his successful hits i can make that line into a .224/.279/??? batting line – not sure what it’d do to the slugging, but, it wouldn’t add power for sure.
All of a sudden, looks a lot worse right?
I’m aware of what BABIP is about. I would suggest players with his speed usually have higher BABIPs’.
Except in 2023 his babip was .174, and in 2025 his babip is .217
Yes. I accept it’s smaller samples, for everything, but, that speed didnt translate into a higher babip at other times, including this season.
Gas.. as usual right on… as I read it says.. superlative defense…. I watched Friday as his error cost 2 runs( made up with HR) and as stated prolonged inning yesterday to give Raffy his glory…. I know you guys know his defensive metrics… but from what I’ve seen last two days he’s far from Ryan Sandburg, heck Petey for that matter, ..I would settle for Pokey Reese!!!
Hamilton is a really good defensive 2ndbaseman. Don’t dwell on small sample sizes.
Grissom should be getting a chance but they have obviously written the kid off until they trade him. That’s dumb in my opinion
Grissom has hands of stone. If you saw him play you would know this.
Campbell was extended through 2032 fire $60 million He will be back and it sounds like most of his time will be at 1B if Mayer can hit his weight until Campbell gets back. Right now he’s not hitting even that well.
Soooooo…..Devers isn’t even on the team anymore and they continue to be the worst fielding team in mlb. Guess it wasn’t all his fault.
Moving on, I cant watch Hamilton play the field anymore. Maybe the memo to “lose your glove” that Breslow’s intern gave to Devers was really supposed to go to Hamilton.
Ok, let’s fix it. I dont want to move Rafaele, but let’s get him to 2B, and let the three lefties play across the OF. And, I dont mean that in a 2B platoon way either. The David Hamilton Experiment is over, and David lost. Now, go sit down at the end of the bench and when we need a pinch runner we’ll call you.
Thanks for listening AC.
Sad – don’t you remember how rafaela did when he played the infield? (Hint, from my recollection, it wasn’t pretty)
GaSox- I do, it wasn’t pretty, but it akso qas a small sample size. I’ll give him some slack also because he just came up and Cora bounced him around.
It can’t be worse than what Hamilton is doing now, and it allows for OF continuity.
Rafaela is about the best CF in BB. He’s not moving.
That was sad and stupid. Devers was the worst defensive 3B in the majors. He was also a terrible teammate. He had to go.
Bbb- if you read the post it wasn’t about Devers, it was about the idea that he had single handedly made the other 8 players worse somehow….
He did make the team worse on defense. That you don’t understand that is sad like your name.
Bbest- dont know why you need to denigrate me, clearly you dont understand and can’t discern what hyperbole is.
So, let me explain. It was a joke about other posters here who think Devers singlehandedly made the entire team worse on defense.
You can laugh now…
An infield of Breg, Story, Mayer and Toro/Romy isn’t terrible. Would love to see a stud 1B added via trade.
Keep Ham on the bench to pinch run only. Not exactly sure how he’s even on the ML roster, but whatever.
Is it just me, or do more MLB teams need a 1B this year than usual? It seems to me like the position has become harder to find than it used to be in the 90s and early 2000s.
Teams are trying to transform the position into less of a place sluggers who can’t run the bases or field well end up, and more of a position for athletic types. This is that transition period.
Check out this article. Your observation is spot on.
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44107916/mlb-2025-first-ba…
From a roto perspective, it’s very tough to get a good 1B. There are very few good ones, and even the next tier down is filled with very inconsistent ones.
In the 90s and early 2000’s aging larger framed vets had a bit of advantages compared to today’s players, PEDs.
If the talent pool has truly diminished at the position, I dont think we’ll ever know with certainty. That’s the sad part of the PED era, it leaves a whole to question.
There has been a deemphasis on the 1B position. Teams think they can just throw whomever there and get results. Which leads to the injuries we are now commonly seeing at 1B (Casas, Romy for two examples. Bad footwork caused these injuries).
Not saying that having your typical “old school” 1B would have completely prevented these injuries, but I hope they would have better footwork.
Casas was injured running the bases, and, was never just thrown there looking for results. He came up as a 1B and was a dedicated 1B.
He’s not a good example for what you’re arguing Joe.
Romy was hurt in a collision running the bases as well if I’m thinking of the same injury you are???
Should have explained better:
If you are not solid at fielding the position and covering 1B, you can injure yourself or others.
Devers collided with Ty France of the Twins, Romy with Josh Smith of the Rangers.
Ty France has been around for a while, but Josh Smith has 11 games across all professional levels at 1B.
I believe in those kinds of injuries, the runner is the one who gets hurt more. But there are scenarios where covering 1B can lead to injuries to the fielder – such as Senga recently although he’s a pitcher.
My point being that you can’t just throw anyone out at 1B and expect them to do a good job. They really need to work on how to cover the bag safely, in addition to the rest of their responsibilities.
1B has less responsibilities as far as range and that is due to proximity of bag which they have to play so they can cover.
Yes they have to be cognizant of how to cover the bag and get their quickly. These teams have numerous experienced and knowledgeable coaches to prep someone who plays the other corner IF to do so.
These are pro athletes not kids playing rec baseball or just making a freshman or travel team. Covering the bag safely is almost a non issue unless a players head is not in the game and they are rushing after almost missing an assignment. That’s where the pro athlete part can’t be emphasized enough, their head should be in the game at all times.
Cora needsvto stop shifting posotions for so many guys. I understand a couple need to but there’s no surprise why there’s so many errors when guys are constantly changing positions
They’d need to call up an actual second baseman, like Grissom. His hands are kinda tied unless he goes with Hamilton every game.
It’s not just second base
Grissom is dreadful on defence..just saying…
Grissom was never my answer. My point is there is no consistency. Look at Eaton and Duran today… they had a collision. No reason for that
Grissom might not be a player.
C the D – THANK YOU!!!!!
I started saying that in April. Baseball is a craft, and you need to learn thel ittle nuances of playing a position as tough as 2B. Bringing up a rookie and moving him all around serves nobody.
The Front Office came up with this ridiculous robot baseball player that can stand on the field in 5 positions under Bloom. it doesn’t work.
I understand that many teams do this, and some players are built to do that, take a guy named Alex COra for example……..its just not for prized prospect call-ups. let tthem learn
Agreed. Some can do it, probably Rafaela, but not all the guys. 2004 team was so successful because of consistency. We knew who was going to pitch in 7, 8, and 9 for the most part abd many guys had their position. There’s none of that today. I like versatility but you can’t overlook everything else just for versatility.
The problem is they see guys like mookie who jump all over and play pretty competently based on team needs. So, they’re testing to make sure they don’t have another such talented guy in their midst to bail out what’s still a poorly balanced roster….
Breslow *has* improved the imbalance some, but, there’s still a ways to go. So I understand the thought that *if* there’s an internal option it’s much cheaper than having to trade mid-season.
But, having seen how guys like swihart were literally destroyed by playing that game, i don’t particularly endorse it
I like versatility but you can’t overlook everything else just for versatility.
========================
I’m on the fence on the versatility issue. For your UIF and corner IF, more positions are better. But I prefer my starting 9 to play 150 games at one position, and pretty much the same batting order.
The 9 up and down is what got us a win in 2004
The Sox infield defense was a -16 DRS last season. With “utility players” and rookies playing “out-of-position” this season its -9. Its appreciably better.
In June it is a -2, so its getting even better now that Casas is not at 1B.
Bbest – funny how quick you were to say something negative about my earlier posts and then call me a name, when you misunderstand simple statistics re: sample size.
You cant compare a full season’s DRS vs. the DRS for half a season. Now, before you try to pull out some made up number to prove a wrong point, go back and get the 2024 first half DRS and then post your brilliant analysis.
Or, here’s something better. Actually watch a game and then tell me how good David Hamilton is on defense….
I spend 60+ games per season in the stands at Fenway in seats my family have had for nearly 70 years and have not missed a Red Sox game in 4 decades unless it was not available on TV or streaming at all.
TEAM DRS is valid in small sample sizes. Go read the Fielding Bible.
I didn’t mention Hamilton, who incidentally has a 15 DRS at 2B from 2023-2025, why did you try to single him out? Don’t you actually watch games?
‘Shifting guys around’
Never heard it was a problem when Red Sox shifted Betts to the outfield. To this day, Betts is still being bounced around. Sometimes guys have to play out of position for the betterment of the team.
As mentioned above, it depends on the player.
I am not strictly talking about a position change. I am talking about guys who play first one day, second the next, then outfield the third. Cora does this with his versatile guys
Yes Cora does like to do that. But, in the case of Campbell it was a case of finding a new position for him. He was TERRIBLE defensively at second base. Outfield is too crowded, first base is really his only option.
Mayer needs to man 2nd base EVERYDAY starting tommorow. Ridiculous
Then you just move the issue from 2B to 3B.
The team is more than likely just trying to wait out Bregman’s injury, and if they fall out of the playoffs picture they’d become sellers.
There’s a lot that can happen between now and the deadline.
Sellers at the deadline. nothing else should be acceptable. They’re going to lock out players at the end of the CBA. What’s one more year of mediocre ?
I agree, we need to sell at this point. We are fourth in the division
They were in the third Wild Card spot entering today.
But they’re a seesaw and if we don’t make the postseason and buy, that’s a problem. We keep making errors that cost us games
Depends what is bought, for whom, and what they’re offered, for whom.
I think as a bubble team you listen both directions.
If you pick up pieces that are more than pure rentals, that can help next year’s team and it’s not a loss to buy and not make the postseason.
If you buy rentals using pieces the FO identified to non-tender or otherwise were going to leaving come the offseason, that’s ok too, provided you don’t sacrifice better long-term returns to get it.
But if you sell, it better be for more than lottery tickets.
Good analysis. Breslow needs to play it smart. He was the one who traded Devers, now it’s time to be serious
This is madness verging into malpractice and mismanagement of resources in regard to not having any set positions for their three rookie phenoms?? Jacking players around from one position to the next can hardly be a stable environment from where one can learn to become a big leaguer. Kristian Campell to now focus on firstbase in AAA? Mayer one day at 3B, next day at 2B, then DH. Roman batting all over the lineup. It just seems like madness and a good way to screw up some kids.
According to ‘The Fielding Bible” Hamilton has 5 DRS , which would place in a tie for 4th at 2nd base. Not sure if that includes the last couple of games. The eye test tells us he is struggling. Duran is a circus in left. It just looks uncomfortable. He should have been screaming ‘my ball’ to Eaton before there collision. Narvaez, Rafaela are strong defenders.
Hamilton is a 7 DRS. Duran is a 1 DRS, so better than average.
Bbb
The stats don’t always tell the whole story.
2ndbase defense was a disaster in San Francisco.
A MLB leading 68 errors to go along with 49 UNearned runs !!! That is just gross. The additional amount of pitches and the strain it puts on them is not allowing them to go deeper into games. Putting more weight on the overextended bullpen. It’s a vicious circle.
Get as many minor leaguers as possible at the deadline. Even if they make the playoffs, how far can they go without pitching? To heck with 25, build for the future. Quit lying about being ready to compete when your actions say the exact opposite.
Oddly enough Bobby, the playoffs need *less* pitching depth, not more.
With the scheduling and travel days, 2 high quality starters plus one above average are WS level talent availability.
Crochet checks the first box for sure. As for the #2 behind him, that’s where the question comes in – who can elevate their game and get results. There *are* guys on the staff with the ceiling and prior results to be a #2 level guy, but, health and consistency hold it back.
As for the pen, again, off days and lower workload. There’s enough high leverage arms to do the work, assuming cora doesn’t wear them out in the season.
Is this current club a WS contender? Not yet. But they’re also not as far off as it feels.