Tag Archives: Coco Crisp

November 20, 2008 · 8:10 AM

Happy Trails Coco Crisp

I want you to go back in time in your head (like there’s another way?). Johnny Damon had just signed with the Yankees following the Red Sox 2005 playoff collapse in Chicago. Rent-a-wreck had booted what felt like 100 balls in the infield and the Sox had traded him to Atlanta for Andy Marte. The Sox then flipped Marte to the Indians for Coco Crisp coming off a season where he batted .300 with 16HR, 42 doubles, and 15 stolen bases.

The Sox thought they’d traded for their center fielder of the future. Well he missed pretty much the first two months of the season with a broken finger and never really bounced back. In fact he never batted .300 with the Sox, never hit double digit home runs with the Sox, and the most doubles he hit in a season with the Sox was 28 in 2007. Coco’s 2007 post season was so bad that he lost the starting job to Jacoby Ellsbury in the World Series.

Everyone had Coco traded by May at the latest. Jacoby would carry over his spectacular post season into the regular season. Jacoby would be our starting center fielder and lead off hitter. Who needs Coco? Well when Jacoby hit the skids, it was a good thing that Coco was still with the team. Coco was the best insurance policy this team could have asked for especially in the post season where he batted .417 after Jacoby disappeared in the ALCS.

But we all know it couldn’t last. Coco made it clear after the season was over that if he wasn’t the starter that he wanted to be traded to a place where he would be. So Theo sent him to the bowels of baseball. Kansas City. Now Coco can show off his World Series ring to a team of young guys just hoping they’ll finish out of the cellar in the AL Central.

What I’ll miss most is the flute playing, bat holding of Coco. What’s up with that? Jacoby best be playing Arizona Fall League baseball and at the Athletes’ Performance complex in Arizona. That’s where Youk worked out this past off season and was a beast this season.

What did the Sox get back you ask. A bag of balls? A used pitching machine? A cardboard catcher cut out? Nope. They actually got a decent player in return.

Reading Peter Gammons yesterday and from what I can tell this kid is the real deal. Ramon Ramirez (can he please wear #24 so people that bought Manny shirts can keep wearing them?) throws 93-95 and will likely replace Masterson as a bridge to Papelbon. Meaning that Masterson can return to the rotation and the Sox are probably out of a bidding war with the Yankees for AJ Burnett. Rumor has it the Yankees are set to offer him a four year $80 Million deal. Remember Carl Pavano? I rest my case.

As I said yesterday this is exciting and this is just the beginning. Build us a winner Theo.

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November 6, 2008 · 8:17 AM

Pats Drop the Ball?

So yesterday I wrote that the Pats should go after DeAngelo Hall (locker room cancer be damned) because the fact that the secondary is so depleted. So my Patriots news alert comes up on Wednesday and we find out that the Patriots, in fact, did sign a cornerback.

Yup. Jason Webster.

Who?

Um, he was the highly touted special teams player that the team signed from the Bills this past offseason. So what has he been up to for the last two months? Well, he’s been bagging groceries at Shaw’s and going to the gym (we hope).

I know the team would have to wait for Hall to clear waivers before they could sign him, but anyone in their right mind would want Hall in there over Webster. Hall can return kicks, quite well, and is a Pro Bowl cornerback.

Let’s hope in the next couple news we find out the big news that Hall is coming to New England.

Other News And Notes:

- The Dodgers have offered Manny a contract that would make him the second highest (average salary) paid player in baseball. I’m thinking 3 years at $26 per. No exact figures have been put out there

- The Celtics beat the Thunder (ghea) as predicted in yesterday’s column 96-83

- The Red Sox were rumored to offer OF Coco Crisp for SS Khalil Greene of the Padres. That would make Lowrie available and Lugo (like he already wasn’t) as well

Back tomorrow with a Pats vs. Bills preview.

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July 10, 2008 · 8:24 AM

Take That Twinkies

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One more and that’s a winning streak.

That’s what I said yesterday and sure enough the Sox went out and completed the sweep.

Not only did the Sox sweep the Twins, but they kicked the crap out of their already beat up bullpen. I was listening on the radio and they were up 9-5, I had to get out of the car but it sounded to be all set. Then my cell phone rand shortly after 5 and JC said the game still wasn’t over.

I get in the car about an hour later and find out that they won 18-5. Wow! Talk about bats waking up. After a day off Jason Varitek responded by going 2-4 with an overturned triple play that became an RBI single. Hopefully he’s following Manny’s (3-5, 3RBI’s) lead and is coming out of this terrible slump he’s been stuck in since the beginning of June.

This is the exact type of game that this team needed. One where Kevin Cash comes off the bench and belts a solo home run. When your lead off hitter, Ellsbury, goes 4-6, Youk goes 3-5 with four RBI’s, Little Dusty (17 game hitting streak) is 2-6 with a huge bases clearing double. Everyone was hitting, it was like batting practice.

Even Grandpa Timlin got in on the festivities working a scoreless ninth. It wasn’t a clean ninth, why on Earth would he work clean? But he managed to lower his ERA to 6.46. Tick Tock Grandpa. We got to see Craig Hansen work 2/3 of an inning and he walked one and gave up two hits, but no runs. His ERA is close to Grandpa’s at a 5.68. Just proving the bullpen is shit. Masterson, we can’t wait for you to come help.

So with Coco on the bench and Drew out of the lineup Brandon Moss got another start. He’s done alright batting .274 in limited playing time. Would you feel comfortable with him as your fourth outfielder? At this point I think I would. Trade Coco for some relief help, or even better a shortstop that doesn’t boot the ball and can make the throw to first.

Like I’ve said the next couple of weeks could be interesting on the trade front. I’ve heard first baseman Teixeira from Atlanta, catcher Saltalamacchia from Texas, and pitchers Damaso Marte and Matt Capps (currently on the DL) from Pittsburgh. The one I’m really interested in is shortstop. I honestly have no idea what’s available and would think that the in house alternatives of Cora or Lowrie are probably better than what’s out there.

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July 9, 2008 · 8:12 AM

Home Cooking is Sweet

Last Tuesday there’s no way that the Sox have a result like last night. Down 5-2 in the eighth inning the team would limp to the finish and lose the game.

Jacoby doubles, Pedroia singles, Drew grounds out and scores Jacoby. Then Manny steps up with Pedroia at second and Manny promptly blasts a shot into the Monster Seats. Tied game!

Youkilis then doubled after a Mike Lowell strike out and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Then Brandon Moss, yup the same guy that homered in Japan, singles up the middle and scores Youkie. Sox up 6-5 against a very good bullpen and Papelmania is warming in the pen. A heck of a lot better than Timlin warming, who happened to be ready for mop up before the rally.

Moss then steals second on a crazy, failed pickoff move. So runner on second with two outs, how about a two out clutch hit for a little cushion? How about no. The piece of excrement known as Julio Lugo strikes out to end the inning. Par for the course for Lugo who at this point should stop raping the Red Sox bank and just retire from baseball. He’s useless. You can’t steal first base and since he never gets on base he should be gone.

There was a little drama in the 9th when Nick Punto fouled off a dozen pitches before blooping a would be single to center. A would be single but Coco tried to play hero and dive to catch the ball resulting in a double. A sacrifice bunt put Punto on third with one out. Scary.

Paps struck out pinch hitting Jason Kubel. Two outs, runner at third. Is it going to be Papelbon throwing his golve in the dugout or Sox celebrate? A broken bat grounder to Little Dusty ends the game and the Sox win 6-5. Awesome! One more and that’s a winning streak.

That’s Rich Harden, the second pitcher moved in as many days. After CC Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee, Harden was traded to the Cubs. What kind of moves are the Sox going to make?

Well, if they get their own guys back from injury their pitching staff should take care of itself. They sent Masterson down to Pawtucket to become a reliever. That should help the bullpen but they need more help than just him and should be making a move to shore up the pen. It’ll be interesting to see if Grandpa Timlin is still here in October.

The real interesting move I heard about was reported by Peter Gammons on Sunday night. He said that the Sox are shopping for a shortstop as well. He made reference to the fact that Lugo’s slumping at the plate and in the field has the team worried and at this point realize it was a mistake to bring him in and are working on getting help.

How awesome would that be? First off, Theo would finally have to admit that he fucked up and as much as he has a man crush on Lugo, Lugo was a mistake. Second the chasm that is the bottom of the lineup would fill in a little bit. Even if the guy they get hits the same as Lugo, he certainly has to be better in the field.

The trade deadline is just about three weeks out. Theo best start burning up the phone lines and getting this team some help.

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April 16, 2008 · 3:52 AM

Take That, Tribe

After digging through my closet last night I was able to find a Bruins jersey. It was tucked in the way back behind my home Red Sox jerseys with names and numbers. One is a Nomar, one is a Damon with World Series Patch. For reference sake I didn’t buy either of them, they were gifts by ex-girlfriends who were stupid and didn’t know that there’s no names on home jerseys.

I put on my Bruins jersey (no name or number as turn-over on this team is ridiculous) and went to my buddy’s house who is a hockey nut and sat and watched the Bruins projected on an 84 inch screen. Talk about hockey in Hi-Def.

Anyway, had to leave but came home and caught the end of the game. For a sixty minute game, I say the Bruins played hard the whole time but their offense pissed me off to no end. Remember when Samsonov used to skate into the corner, do his little spin move, then lose the puck to the opposition? Yeah, more frustrating than that! They’d get the puck in the neutral zone and then dump in on the boards and put no pressure on the Habs. Thank God this series should be over Thursday and we can concentrate on more important things like playoff basketball, the NFL Draft, and the Sox.

Speaking of the Sox, for the second night in a row, they made it worth staying up to see. After Monday’s moonshot by Manny we were treated to a pinch hit home run by the captain in the 9th last night.

Youkie added an insurance run, driving in Coco, but I’d like to touch on another player in the line up last night, one Jed Lowrie. In his first major league game, the kid went 1-4 with 3 RBI’s, two of which came on an single with the bases loaded. Good for him.

Now if we could speak to the bigger picture. He played third last night but all indications are that he’s a shortstop/second baseman. He went to Stanford so you know he’s smart; how long before he replaces Lugo at short, full time? Theo’s been very good at intagrating young guys with the vets (Youk, Pedroia, Lester, Ellsbury, Buchholz, Delcarmen, Papelbon). I think that albatross of a contract that Lugo carries (4 years, $36M) makes him untradeable and I probably shouldn’t be picking on the guy after a three hit night and a respectable .280 average but come on.

The bottom line is that for every Brandon Moss/Jed Lowrie type moment there’s always going to be people calling for the back-up. (Remember Rohan Davey? What about Mike Bishop?) I know it makes sense for him to play everyday in Pawtucket opposed to riding the pine in town behind Lugo and Cora (when healthy) but I do think he’ll be the opening day shortstop in 2 years (hopefully, optimistically next year).

I’d like to see Tito give him a night at short while he’s up, just so we get a glimpse at the future. Remember the last time we got a glimpse of the future? That’s right, he started center field for us in the World Series and got us all free tacos.

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