Advertisement

Crawford has elbow surgery

 
Published Aug. 24, 2012

BOSTON — Red Sox LF Carl Crawford had season-ending surgery to replace the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow Thursday, but the team said the 31-year-old is expected to make a full recovery in six to nine months and could be ready by spring training.

Crawford, who left the Rays after nine years following the 2010 season, is in the second season of a seven-year, $142 million contract with Boston. This year, he hit .282 with three homers and 19 RBIs after batting .255 with 11 homers and 56 RBIs last year.

He missed the first 89 games this year while recovering from left wrist surgery and hurt his elbow in April while rehabbing. He came off the disabled list July 16.

Beckett on waivers: Boston put RHP Josh Beckett on waivers, CBSSports.com reported. But he is not expected to leave because his contract calls for him to be paid $15.75 million for each of the next two seasons. Boston could work out a trade with a team that claims him or let him go to that team and get no compensation. If he goes unclaimed, the Red Sox can trade him to any team by Aug. 31. Beckett, 32, is 5-11 with a 5.23 ERA.

Angels' status: GM Jerry Dipoto said manager Mike Scioscia is not in jeopardy of losing his job. "We're 3½ games out in the wild-card race, but you'd think we were in last place," Dipoto said before Thursday's game. "Quite frankly, it's a distraction. Mike has been the manager of this team for a long time. He has a very long track record that suggests he's qualified. I say, let him do his job." Entering Thursday, the Angels were third in the AL West, 8½ games behind Texas.

Indians' status: Perplexed by his team's collapse, owner Paul Dolan said he has no immediate plans to fire manager Manny Acta and he's not considering an overhaul of the front office. Dolan said he has no plans to dismiss president Mark Shapiro, GM Chris Antonetti or his manager. "We all have a lot of work to do, but their jobs aren't at stake with this," Dolan said.

Yanks' shrinking lead: After being swept in three games by the White Sox, the Yankees' have seen their AL East lead trimmed to 21/2 games. "We probably didn't deserve to have a 10-game lead," 1B Mark Teixeira said, noting the amount of talent in the division. "No one ever thought we were going to run away with this thing. We always knew it was going to be a battle. This is probably where we're supposed to be." The Yankees have six games remaining with the second-place Rays and seven left against the third-place Orioles.

Meanwhile, RHP Ivan Nova had an MRI exam that revealed inflammation in his right rotator cuff and was put on the 15-day DL. Earlier this week, manager Joe Girardi said David Phelps would be the primary candidate to fill in. Ace CC Sabathia is set to come off the DL to start tonight at Cleveland.

Giants: OF Justin Christian went on the 15-day DL with a sprained left wrist, and C Buster Posey missed a second straight game because of tightness in his right hamstring.

Tigers: 3B Miguel Cabrera left in the second inning against Toronto because of right ankle soreness, but manager Jim Leyland said he expects Cabrera to play today, possibly as the DH. … RHP Doug Fister will miss his scheduled start Saturday because of tightness in his right groin. Rookie Drew Smyly will start against the Angels. … RHP Al Alburquerque (right elbow) was reinstated from the 60-day DL and optioned to Triple-A Toledo.