Signs Point To Carl Crawford Having Surgery Tuesday

There's been no official announcement just yet, but at the moment all signs are pointing towards Carl Crawford having Tommy John Surgery, possibly on Tuesday.

The buzz around Crawford began anew during tonight's broadcast when ESPN, citing an anonymous source, said that the left fielder was set to undergo surgery on Tuesday.

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has stuck to the story that the team will sit down and determine the course of action for Crawford Monday, but postgame remarks from the Red Sox also pointed towards surgery in the very near future. Bobby Valentine said that Crawford's elbow was "trending the wrong way" while comments from David Ortiz also implied that Crawford will not simply continue on as he has.

While typically Cherington's denial of a decision would be enough to cast some reasonable doubt, even he has made plenty of comments suggesting that Crawford is on the way to the operating table. Cherington has emphasized the long-term nature of Crawford's contract, and that the team would have to do what was best for the future of both Crawford and the organization.

If Crawford is indeed headed for surgery on Tuesday, he will have seen his last at bat--a single in the ninth inning of Sunday night's loss to the Yankees. The base hit left Crawford with a line of .282/.306/.479--not exactly fantastic, but not bad either, especially taking into account the fact that he came into the year facing pitchers in mid-season form and has been playing through injury. His numbers peaked on August 6th, when he was hitting .292/.325/.500.

There's no telling when we'll see Carl Crawford next, but at least he'll have something under his belt in a Red Sox uniform that suggests there's a piece of the old Crawford left.