Signed this offseason to a $142 million contract, Crawford was tending to a family matter Saturday when Boston swept a doubleheader against Boston College and Northeastern, and he returned hours before the Sox lost their Grapefruit League opener to Minnesota.
Crawford should be joined in the outfield by Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew, giving us the first glimpse of the new Red Sox outfield all playing as one.
Daisuke Matsuzaka is the scheduled starter for the Red Sox. Tim Wakefield, who has been a part of nearly every spring training in Fort Myers, is also on the docket. Daniel Bard and Andrew Miller, former teammates at the University of North Carolina, will also appear.
The college games aside, Monday will also mark the beginning of Boston's final home schedule at City of Palms Park. The club has called the park home for its spring training games since 1993, when it moved to Fort Myers after 27 years in Winter Haven, Fla. Next year will see the organization move into a state-of-the-art facility in the southern part of the city, where the player development facilities will be included in the same complex with a new stadium.
Currently, the PDC is about a mile down the road from City of Palms Park. The groundbreaking for the new facility is set for March 4.
