Heyman On Gresh & Zo: Was the Crawford Injury Mishandled By Red Sox?
CBSSports MLB Insider Jon Heyman joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Gresh & Zo on Tuesday to discuss whether the Boston Red Sox botched the Carl Crawford injury situation.
Crawford underwent surgery in January on his left wrist, and recently suffered a setback that is putting his status for opening day in doubt.
Was it the Red Sox that rushed Crawford back, as he was taking part in bunting drills last week, or was it Crawford himself?
"It could be on Carl," said Heyman. "To me it looked like he was saying he was going to be ready for opening day, and they didn't think he was going to be ready. I'm thinking it was maybe Carl pressing the issue a bit and anxious to show he was worthy of that contract, which is going to be hard to do. He needs to forget the contract, forget the year he had and move on from that. If it takes him a few extra weeks into the season, so be it. It's not going to ruin the season… you can't rush yourself back and ruin the whole year; that's what you have to avoid."
Read: No Timetable For Crawford Return
"He needs surgery from the previous year, you get it done in October when, unfortunately, they weren't playing. You don't wait two months and set yourself back," he said of Crawford's decision to wait until January. "There are going to be setbacks with your wrist; your wrist is a tricky thing. I can't blame him for that, but he waited two months for the surgery, he's wasted two months."
Also, who does Heyman think should get the Red Sox fifth spot in the starting rotation? Is Bobby Valentine really doing anything revolutionary this spring, or is the media just overreacting? Heyman also breaks down what's going on in Yankee camp as spring training games get under way.
