Bobby Valentine Visits Beckett, Buchholz, Still Not Crawford

Valentine and Beckett were able to smooth over some past issues at a meeting in Texas at the beginning of the month. Valentine also spent time with Clay Buchholz before heading to Arizona to meet with Ellsbury and Pedroia. The one big name missing from Valentine's checklist was Carl Crawford. Last month I predicted the meeting with Crawford would not happen because the Red Sox outfielder was not willing to commit to a time and date. Valentine has been in Texas twice this offseason, and both times he reached out to Crawford for a meeting only to be hung out to dry. This is a troubling development when you consider Crawford is coming off a difficult season and does not have a great deal of fan support. The quicker Valentine and Crawford can get on the same page and put past issues behind them the better it will be for the team. For his part, Valentine has put out several olive branches. Time for Crawford to man up.