FORT MYERS, Fla. — Carl Crawford is not in the lineup for a Wednesday night meeting with Baltimore. He will be back in there Thursday afternoon, but it won't just be another typical afternoon in southwest Florida.
The Red Sox pay a visit to Port Charlotte on Thursday for their first meeting of the spring with the Tampa Bay Rays, the organization that Crawford helped lift from the depths of the division to one of the better teams in all of baseball.
After almost 12 years in the Tampa Bay organization, Crawford admits it will be a strange experience as an opponent.
"It's going to be weird just standing on the other side, facing one of the guys you got ready before games with all the time and just being in a Red Sox uniform," Crawford said. "I've got to get used to it. I'm glad I'm getting used to it in spring training."
The Rays' franchise leader in most significant hitting categories, Crawford is looking forward to touching base with Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, who said the same earlier in the week.
"We did the texting thing a little bit and he responded. I have not had the chance to in person tell him how much I appreciate what he had done for us," Maddon told MLB.com.
Crawford was pleased to hear the compliment from Maddon.
"That's cool," Crawford said. "I had a lot of fun with those guys, a lot of memories. He was really a big part of turning that organization around and he deserves a lot of credit for that."
