Over the weekend, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians reached an agreement that would send 26-year-old outfielder Crisp, and possibly a minor leaguer, to the Sox in exchange for top third base prospect Andy Marte and relief pitcher Guillermo Mota. The deal was contingent upon the Indians completing a trade for an outfielder to replace Crisp, which was accomplished when they apparently settled on sending reliever Arthur Rhodes, or even Mota, to Philadelphia for Jason Michaels.Chris Snow, Globe:
The Red Sox, according to a source with knowledge of the deal, have reached agreement in principle with the Indians on a complex six-player deal centered upon 26-year-old Coco Crisp that also will bring to town a quality setup man in 28-year-old David Riske and young catcher Josh Bard. Boston will ship top prospect Andy Marte, reliever Guillermo Mota, and catcher Kelly Shoppach to Cleveland.(Kudos to Snow for also mentioning The Hardball Times, which named Crisp "best defensive left fielder".)
What makes no sense to me is the idea that Cleveland (who tried to trade for Marte last year) would turn around and send Mota to Philadelphia for Jason Michaels. (Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports believes Cleveland will send Arthur Rhodes to the Phillies for Michaels.)
This could just be the Cleveland press reporting silly things, but if Snow's scenario is true, why wouldn't Boston simply trade Mota for Michaels? Is the talent difference between Crisp and Michaels worth Marte? Unlikely. Boston couldn't plug the hole in center by offering one of their starters (Arroyo or Wells), and now they're forced to lose Marte.
Eric Wilbur notes that "While a few Red Sox fans are criticizing the potential deal [as reported by Snow] ... even more Indians fans are doing the same."
Meanwhile, Crisp is working out and "[doing] whatever my wife wants me to do."
3 comments:
Jason Michaels shouldn't even be involved in this conversation. He is a complete bum. Living near Philly and hearing what their fans have to say about him...I know we don't want him.
Yeah, giving up Marte hurts. Getting Crisp is still probably the best move in all the CF talk this offseason.
Sean, I don't think you're giving Coco his due. There aren't a lot of OFs that have his combination of batting average, speed, and developing power. He posted an OPS+ of 119 last year. I was surprised by what I saw when I compared some other ourfielders from 2005.
Coco Crisp .300/.345/.465 OPS+ 119
Carl Crawford .301/.331/.469 OPS+ 111
Carlos Beltran .266/.330/.414 OPS+ 95
Ichiro Suzuki .303/.350/.436 OPS+ 109
Of course, Crisp doesn't hold a candle to these guys defensively. From what I've heard, he's below average to average as a CF. But he can handle the stick, and he's still improving. And if he can just hold down the position for a couple of years until Jacoby Ellsbury is ready, we should be set.
Marte still has the far higher ceiling, but the fact is, this is the need right now. I don't see any other options right now in CF.
It seems to be done.
Hard to know what we've given up, but good to know we got someone pretty good in CF.
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