Carl Crawford hasn’t played since he strained an oblique muscle April 27 and still hasn’t resumed baseball activites in more than two weeks since. (Associated Press photo)

I asked a stupid question today, which isn’t unusual. The stupid question elicited an interesting answer, which is also not unusual. It’s one of the great paradoxes of my profession.

Anyway, the stupid question was this: Is Carl Crawford coming back here at some point?

Yes, Don Mattingly said, Carl Crawford will not finish his Dodgers career working out in Arizona, where he lives.

Blame the question on Josh Hamilton. Seriously.

Hamilton was banished to his home state of Texas by the Angels in spring training. We asked why, and we asked when he might be back, and the Angels’ company line was so piercing and convincing that we had little reason not to believe it was true, until it was not.

The Dodgers’ company line regarding Crawford has been fairly simple to this point. In short, Crawford lives in Arizona, the Dodgers have a facility in Arizona (where they train every spring) and there’s no reason why Crawford can’t do his submaximal non-baseball workouts there.

Mattingly added some context to that Friday.

“It’s more of a work setting,” Mattingly said. “Some people aren’t comfortable with it but it would probably be the best place for everybody on the DL in general.”

Players who have rehabbed injuries at Camelback Ranch–Glendale all paint a similar picture of what goes on: Very little. It’s a quiet, focused environment. Trainers, baseball fields, a weight room and players rehabbing their injuries, and not much else.

Crawford, who strained an oblique muscle April 27, hasn’t resumed baseball activities since.

Once he’s cleared to do so, Mattingly said, “he can be a part of what we’re doing out here.”