Line of the Day: May 25th, 2011

OF Carl Crawford of the Boston Red Sox went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored in the Red Sox 14-2 rout of the Cleveland Indians. He now has hits in 18 of 23 games in May, eight of which were multi-hit games, and has raised his average to a season-high of .229.

Line: 4 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2 2B, HR

My fantasy perspective: Crawford is quickly turning things around on a season that was looking disastrous at the end of April. He was hitting just .155 with more strike outs (17) than hits (15) and lingering at the bottom of the Red Sox lineup. He's definitely not tearing the hide off the baseball in May (.276 BA), but you won't hear his fantasy owners complaining.

A cause for concern is that he's struck out 35 times and only walked 7 (5.0 K/BB) compared to a 2.62 K/BB ratio coming into his first season with the Red Sox. Is this simply a case of a free agent pressing a bit to prove he's worth the large contract (7 yrs/$142 M) he signed or a superstar simply getting out of the gates slowly. I believe it's the latter. Any chance to acquire Crawford from a panicking owner on the cheap has probably passed but I'd still be trying to get him in a trade and simply pay market value.

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