Crawford to undergo right wrist surgery that will likely end his season

ANAHEIM -- The Red Sox’s rotation just took another hit.

Kutter Crawford, who hasn’t pitched all year due to lingering soreness in his right patellar tendon and right wrist discomfort, will undergo surgery to address his ECU tendon sheath in his right wrist, manager Alex Cora announced on Wednesday ahead of Boston's 5-2 loss to the Angels at Angel Stadium. The move likely puts an end to Crawford’s season before it even got started.

“It’s one of those that sucks, right?” Cora said. “Because we were talking about how deep we were in Spring Training and the options that we had in the starting rotation, and now it’s getting thinner and thinner.”

The pitcher injuries are starting to pile up in Boston. Hunter Dobbins, Justin Slaten, Tanner Houck, Nick Burdi, Liam Hendriks, Chris Murphy and Patrick Sandoval are all on the injured list. Jordan Hicks -- one of the players the team acquired in return for Rafael Devers -- is also on an IL stint, but could be activated by the end of the week.

Crawford is coming off a 2024 season in which he led the Sox in starts (33), innings (183 2/3) and strikeouts (175). He also gave up the most homers (34) in the Majors. He posted a 0.66 ERA through his first five starts, but his numbers started to decline as his knee issue began to linger.

Cora said he’d get into more details once the team gets back to Boston after they conclude their three-city, nine-game West Coast road trip at Angel Stadium on Wednesday, but he did clarify that it was an off-field injury.

“It’s just an accident,” Cora said. “It just sucks that it happened this way. I’m not going to get into it, but it wasn’t irresponsible.”

He added that Crawford’s mood was down when the two texted on Wednesday.

“It’s been a tough year for him,” Cora said. “From Spring Training, to getting ready, to this [happening] and now surgery, it hasn’t been a great year for him.”