Carl Crawford is back. The $142 million man returned to active duty Monday night after missing a month because of injury.

Too bad he can’t play two positions.

Left field hasn’t really been a problem for the Sox during Crawford’s absence. Josh Reddick, Darnell McDonald and Yamaico Navarro have filled in well enough since Crawford pulled his hamstring legging out an infield single against Milwaukee on June 17. Reddick has been especially effective, taking a 1.036 OPS into Monday night’s game. While it’s a small sampling, it’s the highest OPS on the team.

Manager Terry Francona has used all hands on deck to fill in for Crawford, but he’s had a more difficult time figuring out a way to fill in the offensive hole that right field has become. J.D. Drew, in the final year of his five-year, $70 million contract, seems to have gotten a jump-start on his retirement.

Drew has not hit for power this year. In fact, he hasn’t really hit at all. In 75 games, Drew was hitting .225 with 11 extra-base hits (four home runs) and a (.637 OPS).

The Sox have overcome Drew’s lack of production. They rolled into Baltimore early Monday morning with the best offense in the majors. Even after being held to one run over 16 innings against Tampa Bay, they have scored 24 more runs than the next closest teams — the Rangers and Yankees — and have the highest batting average and OPS in the majors.

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Yet this is a team that expects to grind out offense from its entire lineup. And there has been a significant drop-off in production from the bottom third of the batting order. Drew, paid to be a middle-of-the-order bat, has found himself batting eighth or ninth when the team is fully healthy. That is, when he’s not being pinch hit for, like he was during Sunday night’s marathon.

With the trade deadline looming, GM Theo Epstein has to decide what prospects he’s willing to give up and what salary he’s able to take on to add a little pop. Carlos Beltran has already indicated a willingness to drop his no-trade protection and come to Boston. Would the Sox take on more than $6 million in payroll to get him for the rest of the season? Or, would they look for a less expensive alternative, like Jeff Francoeur, Michael Cuddyer or Ryan Ludwick.

Or perhaps they could see what they really have in Reddick. He scored the only run of Sunday night’s game, the longest in Rays history. He might not be the long-term answer, but he might be good enough to help them get through this year. Ryan Kalish, hampered by injuries, is still the most likely prospect to be a long-term answer.

Yet Kalish hasn’t played since injuring his shoulder in April. That opened the door for Reddick, who has made the most of his opportunity.

The Sox have proven they have enough offense to win. They went 15-9 while Crawford was on the DL and left Tampa Bay leading the division. Their bigger concerns are in the pitching rotation, where 60 percent of their opening-day starters began the week on the DL.

Yet the Sox still feel their pitching staff is a strength when it’s healthy. They can’t be feeling that way about Drew and the right-field situation right now.

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Epstein has a track record of doing something before the nonwaiver trade deadline, and it sure seems the time is right to make a move in right field before the end of the month.

 

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.

 


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