FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Remember the image from Saturday morning. It is the warning shot.

Carl Crawford sitting in front of his locker, reaching for the anti-inflammatory medicine which had been prescribed for him just days before, talking of the frustration that came with having all baseball activities being put on hold. The player who finds a way to work, no matter what the limitation, suddenly could not do anything when it came to a ball and a bat.

Later in the day, David Ortiz -- he of the 2008 wrist problem -- would offer the reminder regarding the wrist, "That's what you use for everything."

Since arriving in spring training, Crawford's days had been routinely longer than most of his teammates, with the outfielder doing everything from running drills, to hitting off a tee, to standing in for pitchers during bullpen sessions, to working on his bunting. Not now. For the time being, the comeback has gotten the red light.

With his surgically-repaired left wrist still swollen from over-use, all Crawford could do was trying to verbalize his lot in life.

"I was moving too fast, probably."

"I've taken a few days off because my wrist flared up a little bit. Just taking a little precaution and waiting back," he said. "Probably over-working it a little bit and it flared up on me. I just have to cut back a little bit.

"I just felt like I was on my way, but then I had a little setback. I guess this kind of stuff happens. Just got to keep moving on."

"The bunting didn't help it. Doing all the activities didn't make it better, but bunting was the final thing that took it over the edge. ... It was pretty much myself trying to push it a little bit. Probably shouldn't have done as much as I was doing. But it was feeling so good at first I thought I could just keep going and keep going. Now I know what kind of pace I have to do things at. Once the inflammation goes down I know not to try and push it."

Looking back, it all seemed too good to be true, and for good reason -- because it was.

This is a reminder. Not only is it a reminder regarding the importance of patience, but it should also nudge us into remembering where Crawford hits in the lineup could be the least of the Red Sox' worries.

As Ortiz said, the wrist is what you use for everything in the world of baseball. And what you have is a frail wrist attached to a player who is overly-motivated by one of baseball's strongest work ethics, along with a burning desire to correct the wrongs of his first impression in Boston. It is not a good combination, which shouldn't be hard to realize when closely analyzing the images of the past few weeks.

Many got excited when Crawford started hitting with two hands off a tee. But what many didn't witness was the outfielder shaking his hand and wrist after each round. Sure, the soreness was part of the recovery. It always is. But this isn't fighting through a sprained ankle or some other sort of scar tissue. This is one of the most important parts of a baseball player's body, and if it isn't totally right that player will have little chance to succeed. Just ask Ortiz.

"When I got back it wasn't the same feeling you normally have," said Ortiz, who missed almost two months in '08 with his wrist injury. "Even at the beginning of the following season I was having issues until my body realized it was all good, let it go.

"Nobody can be your guide but you in a situation like that. I already told him about making sure he's pain-free before he comes back and swing. But after that he is the one who has to decide if he has pain or not. Not too much I can do about. I wish I could."

The Red Sox, from players to medical staff, have all been diligent in reminding Crawford the importance of patience. For example, the following is from Adrian Gonzalez, who missed some of spring training while coming back from shoulder surgery:

"The main focus should always be that when you're coming back, you're coming back to play every day. You're not coming back to have setbacks. The only advice I always give CC when I talk to him is to make sure he comes back 100 percent. You're going to have setbacks, that's normal. Nobody goes through a pain-free, zero-swelling, zero-inflammation rehab because you're pushing yourself. You're going to have setbacks. It's going to happen. 

"From the get-go I heard it's going to be 50-50 whether he was going to be able to start. Personally, I want him to be 100 percent when he steps on the field. I don't know when that is. I'm not training staff or anything, but when he gets on the field he needs to be 100 percent."

Good advice. But perhaps trickier than many have anticipated.

Crawford jumped the gun, and, even with this reminder, it will be a monumental task for him not to repeat the miscue. Inactivity isn't his thing, and neither is not getting his redemption tour in full swing. The problem that he has to realize is that if this latest bump in the road isn't factored in, that second season with the Red Sox could very well be all too similar to the first.

If that wrist isn't fully healed -- and there's no reason to believe it can't be in the coming months -- there will be no power surge, no flurry of hits followed by sprints around the bases or rekindled confidence. It will not be a fun season for Crawford, or the Red Sox.

April 15. May 1. June 1. It doesn't matter. The Red Sox can survive without Crawford if he needs that long to make that wrist sound. Nobody is going to suggest the combination of Ryan Sweeney and Cody Ross, flanking Jacoby Ellsbury, offers the same dynamic of a healthy Crawford. (Even after the pair each had five RBI in their first game in a Red Sox uniform.) There is a reason Crawford makes $142 million, and it's not solely because the Sox unleashed the financial hounds in the free agent market. It's because this guy can be a difference-maker.

The reality is that Sweeney and Ross can be fort-holders, but not 162-game difference-makers.

The Rays' felt Crawford's absence in '08, when a team which finished 32 games over .500 went 26-17 while the outfielder was nursing a finger injury. Or how about the fact the Red Sox were 53-32 when Crawford had at least one hit, 12-4 when he stole at least one base, and 35-14 during games he scored at least one run?

The being ready for Opening Day talk is all well and good, but it should be stopped. There should be only one goal for Crawford when it comes to talking about this injury, and that is simply getting to the day where his wrist doesn't hurt when he plays baseball. Because if there is any other focus, things will get a whole lot dicier than the image that was portrayed Saturday.

"Everybody is different," said Ortiz. "When I got my wrist injury and I got back I felt like I wasn't going to be able to swing the bat. But at some point it becomes for the mental element than the injury itself."