Tuesday Red Sox Notes: Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Roy Oswalt

It's a day of the week, ergo, there are Red Sox injury updates that merit mention. Why be satisfied with just the plights of Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury, who have missed a combined 89 games, when we can add Dustin Pedroia's jammed thumb to the list of potential health-related problems plaguing Boston? The Red Sox were granted the return of Ryan Sweeney from a concussion on Monday, and the baseball gods saw fit to take Pedroia's thumb as payment for this bit of good fortune. This, of course, is the only logical explanation.

Fine, that's overreacting a whit, but given the way things have worked out with injuries for the Red Sox, not just in 2012, but in the last three years, it doesn't take much wondering to understand where that cynicism stems from. At this point, injuries are probably the lone area in which my first instinct is to think negatively, in order to cushion the eventual blow of truth that an MRI or trip to a specialist is fit to deliver, or, for the sake of being surprised and elated by the news that Dustin Pedroia's thumb remains attached to his hand, as it's meant to be.

Pedroia will sit out Tuesday night's contest against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers while the Red Sox sort out what's wrong with his thumb. With luck, it's just jammed, and it's just in the best interests for this second baseman who has played 48 of 48 games to take this opportunity for a day off. Then again, if he is indeed healthy and ready to go Wednesday, who knows what horrors await he who BaseBa'al will target next?

Speaking of Crawford and Ellsbury, the former has begun to swing a bat, while the latter is now playing catch. Possibly not right now, but it's recently a thing he was doing:

Crawford (sprained UCL in left elbow) has progressed to taking 40-50 swings off the tee, and he hasn't felt any ill effects. Ellsbury has started playing catch, marking his first baseball activity of any kind since separating his right shoulder on April 13.

This is all to the good, even if the pair aren't expected back until sometime in July. Ryan Kalish very well may be the first of the outfielders on the 60-day disabled list to return to action in Boston, but then again, maybe not: he barely saw any time at Pawtucket in 2011, and wasn't exactly tearing the majors up his last time there in 2010. To be fair, though, this is an outfield utilizing Marlon Byrd and Scott Podsednik, the same outfield that would very much like bench bat Darnell McDonald back so he can be used for more than that. Kalish hitting the majors at the earliest opportunity would likely be one of the least-shocking things we've seen this outfield do in its attempts to patch up and continue to exist.

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Roy Oswalt is expected to sign by the end of the week, according to Jon Heyman. With who, you ask? The Rangers, probably. Meaning nothing has changed since before spring training started, except for the patience of every non-Rangers team who was told they had a shot at Oswalt come June.

Texas could use Oswalt now that Neftali Feliz is on the disabled list, though, if we're being honest, given they're over budget, could also just slide Alexi Ogando back into a starting role until Feliz is back late in the year. It's not as if their bullpen is lacking, and with Scott Feldman around, they would still have depth for the rotation should someone else go down. As Ken Rosenthal pointed out on Twitter, though, an Oswalt in hand means no one else gets to have him, and that might be more important than properly using the resources already on hand.

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Curt Schilling finally spoke out about his video game company, 38 Studios, and their financial trouble, after saying very little since it was announced that the entire workforce was laid off thanks to failure to repay Rhode Island loans in time. The Providence Journal has this covered, if you've been missing out on the above. In summary, Schilling says that it's the state's fault, and that he's set to lose the fortune he amassed as a ballplayer because of just how far south this whole partnership went.