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Now we have a younger centerfielder with an all-star potential in Jacoby Ellsbury. We are loaded at every position. Do we really need Coco Crisp? Do you think we could get something in return to upgrade a position like catcher or second base? I am not crazy about bringing back Alex Cora. Varitek's time is running out. Schilling and Wakefield may finally show their age.

Well, the best chance at getting back a good catching prospect disappeared when the Rangers traded for Josh Hamilton. Second base? I assume you mean as off-the-bench depth since that Pedroia kid

im sure other teams are so willing to take our trash off our hands

I think it's unfair to be calling Crisp trash. At the very least he's a hell of a defensive center fielder and in the past he has shown he can hit. Maybe it's a Boston thing, I don't know.

Someone will be willing to take Crisp off our hands. Crisp is hardly trash. I agree. He was heavely relied upon after johnny be bad left, and fell well short of expectations. Yet, i see this as a good thing. I see Crisp being a excellent utility outfileder to give Manny those awfully needed days off in Left every now and then. Also, when Drew isnt supplying, which is usually always in the reg season, it woul be a good idea to shake things up to see if maybe Crisp may spark the club for a few games.

Thats just me. He is paid very handsomely for someone to take on that utility outfileders role, but it may be what Crisp needs to produce when called upon.

?

Kielty is the perfect 4th OF for this team because he can play all three positions and is willing to accept a back-up role. Coco's entire value is going to be tied into his defense so when he is playing an inning or two in LF in a tight game and the occasional day in LF for Manny, which negates his defensive value playing at Fenway.

Who's playing CF for Sandy Eggo? $10 he ends up there like every one of our trades. mahalo
~Chach~

Matt Antonelli/Jim Edmonds.

Crisp can just be the very best 4th OF in baseball. His defense is so underrated. Ortiz is the only position player I would say was definitively more valuable overall last year. If other team don't want to admit this and they would much rather choose to go after inferior players like Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones, OK, we'll keep him and he'll be the best 4th OF in baseball. No biggie. You don't trade him just because you have Jacoby Ellsbury.

Bleeding Green wrote:Crisp can just be the very best 4th OF in baseball. His defense is so underrated. Ortiz is the only position player I would say was definitively more valuable overall last year. If other team don't want to admit this and they would much rather choose to go after inferior players like Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones, OK, we'll keep him and he'll be the best 4th OF in baseball. No biggie. You don't trade him just because you have Jacoby Ellsbury.

+1

Bleeding Green wrote:Crisp can just be the very best 4th OF in baseball. His defense is so underrated. Ortiz is the only position player I would say was definitively more valuable overall last year. If other team don't want to admit this and they would much rather choose to go after inferior players like Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones, OK, we'll keep him and he'll be the best 4th OF in baseball. No biggie. You don't trade him just because you have Jacoby Ellsbury.

And being a 4th OF and playing twice a week nullifies that. If he plays LF, sure it's an upgrade over Manny but the short porch really restricts the impact his superior range can have and there is no serious difference between the two. CF he is outstanding and his range plays well at Fenway but his noodle arm knocks him down a notch. So you are left with good LF/excellent CF/well above average F as your 4th OF. Alright, that's nice and all but he still can't hit worth a lick. Kielty hit poorly last season but it was a tiny sample size. He has hit lefties pretty hard the last three seasons so he makes the perfect back-up RF to spell Drew against tough lefties. Coco is going to hit horrible no matter who is pitching, he won't get regular work because he's the 4th OF and we don't have an extreme platoon situation like we did with Trot, and his defense is going to be on the field for 20 innings a week if we are lucky.

So in the end, you get a great defensive 4th OF, a horrible pinch hitter, a good pinch runner making a cool $5 million. You can find that anywhere. It is a complete inefficient use of resources to have Crisp rotting on the bench when there are teams out there in serious need for a good CF, which Crisp is. His value is tied into his defense so much that unless he is starting and out there playing defense 140 times a year, he has little value over someone like Kielty who at least offers one positive with the bat. You have a good defensive CF and RF in Ellsbury and Drew, the only defensive hole he could fill would be LF and 81 of those games are played with the wall 4 feet behind the third baseman. He has to be moved because it makes no sense for him to rot on the bench.

If we could land an Antonelli then I would happy as a pig in ****. Edmonds, not so much. mahalo
~Chach~

There are about 4400 defensive OF innings to go around. Last year Crisp, Ramirez and Drew combined for 3272. That's 1100 defensive innings for the remaining backups to get. There is so much value to be had there.

Drew missed a few games to injuries, Crisp missed a few weeks, and Manny missed an entire month. If there is an injury, yeah then maybe Coco's defense might be something to gain but Drew is a good defensive RF who bat, while it struggled last season, is still considerably better than Coco and actually has an arm. If Manny gets hurt then Crisp could play a good LF but the Wall minimizes the total value of his range. I'm willing to bet that there won't be 1100 innings to go around for back-ups in 08. mahalo
~Chach~

Why not? Manny has played 130 games the last two seasons. Ellsbury has never played 140 games in a season before (how will he hold up as the season winds down this year?). Drew has averaged ~120 games a season for his career. Last year there wasn't an elite defensive OF to sub into games so late-game subs weren't used as much. This year, with Crisp available to sub you can do that a lot more.

Flexibility is key.

Propose a trade involving Crisp that makes the Red Sox better.

We will be stuck with him this year unless a team gets a injury. Otherwise he can play any of the three spots in the field if we come across an injury ourself. Were not going to get much for him right now.