Carl Crawford's long, treacherous path back from injury has run into another speed bump, as the frustrating outfielder has suffered a groin strain which will leave him shut down for five days, and perhaps set him even further back in his rehab process than he left off.

This comes just one day after Crawford predicted a return following the All-Star Break, with his only concern being an elbow hewasn't going to let stop him from making a return. Apparently, however, the elbow wasn't what we should have been worrying about.

Crawford has of course missed the entire first half of the year after offseason elbow surgery started him on this bizarre rehab track fraught with setbacks. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if we'll even see him back in a Red Sox uniform this year. Then again, given the possibility of a Nava - Ellsbury - Ross outfield, there might be some who would be just fine with that.

Maybe it's best not to tempt fate by mentioning Ellsbury.