Red Sox hopes for a minor delay look dashed by grim news.
Boston Red Sox's Carl Crawford will be out for three months to rehab his elbow, according to a report.Some statements are spoken with conviction, even if it's hard believe they are true.
The dentist's drill or doctor's vaccination won't hurt. Eat your vegetables, because they're really as tasty as dessert.
And here's this one: Carl Crawford's injury is minor.
The fallacy of that sentence appeared to be exposed on Thursday night. According to ESPN.com., a source said Crawford would miss three months because of ligament damage to his left elbow.
It was not immediately clear if that meant three months from Opening Day, or more likely, three months from the present.
Either way, the news would eliminate Crawford from the Red Sox lineup until after the All-Star break.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine had voiced hope that Crawford's trip to Dr. James Andrews, the famous elbow expert known for his work with Tommy John surgery, would not delay the outfielder's return too much.
Valentine said Wednesday that Crawford wanted a second opinion on his sore left elbow. The manager added that he did not believe the injury is major, but he has also said often he's no expert on medical matters.
The ESPN report indicated that Crawford is still hoping to avoid surgery. The prolonged nature of his inactivity, though, made it hard to look at the dismal news as surprising.
In fact, objective observers can't help but wonder if Crawford will play in 2012 at all.
Crawford's situation has become disturbingly similar to that of Clay Buchholz, who experienced a back problem in June of 2011.
Buchholz initially hoped not to miss a start. Six weeks after being diagnosed with a back strain, the pitch was re-diagnosed with a fracture.
Buchholz did not pitch again in 2011. In the offseason, the Red Sox restructured their entire medical staff.
They also have a new voice as manager, so the cases are far from identical.
In each case, however, the measured optimism of an early diagnosis has given way to the reality of a complicated injury issue, necessitating a long recovery with no return date in sight.
The issue with Crawford has not been a debate over why an initial diagnosis was changed, as it was with Buchholz. It is about an elbow injury that did not even appear to exist when Crawford began rehabbing from January wrist surgery.
Until Crawford reported the elbow problem, he seemed close to playing in minor league games. He has appeared in some extended spring training contests, but only as a hitter.
He has done no serious throwing, and none of all in nearly a week. That makes the elbow twinge, which he felt when he flipped a ball during batting practice, even more perplexing.
Before the latest setback, Valentine had suggested Crawford could begin soon playing extended spring training games in the outfield, but not throw. Instead, he could hand off to a nearby player or underhand the ball to the infield.
Bizarre as that sounded, it showed the hope that Crawford was on the way back. Anxious to atone for a grossly disappointing season, which risks stamping him as one of the biggest free-agent busts of all time, Crawford wanted to return as well.
When will Crawford play for the Red Sox? His own Opening Day goal is long gone.
So is an unofficial May 1 target date and a more recent mid-May goal. Assigning any return date now is pointless, and so is any attempt to rule out surgery.
Crawford's 2012 season is not over yet, but that can't be discounted. The Red Sox would like to think more positively.
Maybe they'll be right. After all, the dentist's drill never hurts, either.