FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Coco Crisp is spending spring training in the same place he languished in the World Series – on the bench.

It’s not that he’s playing poorly. He’s just not healthy enough to play at all and compete with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury for the center field spot he held the past two seasons with the Red Sox.

By default, the job may go to Ellsbury, who dazzled spectators with his team-leading hitting, outstanding fielding and exceptional speed in the Series.

Crisp, just 28 years old, wants to play every day. It may be with another team, although Boston manager Terry Francona has called him the “incumbent.”

But Crisp has been sidelined with a groin injury for 10 days since last playing on March 2. For now, he can only watch Ellsbury and wait until he can play again – or gets traded.

“It’s not like I get stressed out about stuff,” he said. “You do the whole rehab stuff, do what you do, but you have no control over a lot of other things. So frustration? Nah.”

Crisp started the spring well with two singles and a walk in the first exhibition game. He also stole two bases. In the Red Sox third game, he struck out and grounded out in two at bats on March 2.

He hasn’t played since.

Meanwhile, Ellsbury went 5-for-12 with a double and a homer in his last three games after struggling in his first five games, going 1-for-16.

“There’s no real rush,” Crisp said. “The whole thing about the whole competition or whatever, I just wait ’til I’m feeling all right.”

Crisp, a switch-hitter, swung from both sides of the plate Wednesday and feels the injury when he bats right-handed and when he runs, Francona said after Boston’s 12-7 win over the Minnesota Twins.

“This is hitting off the tee,” Francona said. “Everything for him up to this point has been in the training room. … You come down here to play, regardless of what your job status is or what some people think your job status is. When you’re stuck in the training room, it’s not a lot of fun for anybody.”

The next step for Crisp is to meet Thursday with Francona and general manager Theo Epstein to map out a plan for the near future.

Francona isn’t sure if Crisp will travel with the team to Tokyo next Wednesday for two exhibition games against Japanese teams and two regular season games against Oakland on March 25 and 26. He may not even play before the trip.

“We want to give guys every opportunity to be healthy and show what they can do and then we’ll make decisions based on that,” Francona said.

It’s not the first time in his Red Sox career that an injury has bothered Crisp. A broken left index finger in 2006, his first season with Boston, limited him to 105 games and a .264 batting average after he hit .297 and .300 the previous two seasons with Cleveland.

In 145 games last season, he hit just .268 but stole 28 bases and made brilliant catches.

In the postseason, he struggled and was replaced as the starter by Ellsbury in Game 6 of the AL championship series against Cleveland. He entered Game 7 as a defensive replacement as Ellsbury moved to left in place of Manny Ramirez and made the game-ending catch while hitting the wall.

“What he did last year in center field was pretty special,” Francona said, “and Ellsbury is pretty good, too, and he’s going to probably get better.”

Crisp went just 1-for-2 in the World Series sweep of Colorado after entering three of the games for defensive purposes.

He understands why he didn’t start then and doesn’t mind competing for a job. It’s just that he doesn’t remember having to do that much as he was moving through high school and junior college.

“I feel like I was the best player on a lot of my teams,” he said, “but the whole competition thing started when I started playing pro ball.”

That competition was supposed to continue in spring training. Crisp hopes to join it soon.

“I’m more a kind of real chill-type person,” he said. “My life’s not in my hands right now, so to say. I kind of just go with the flow and I just kind of sit back, relax and whatever happens, happens. And then I adjust accordingly.”

AP-ES-03-12-08 2052EDT