[Zen653]

I was listening to WEEI on the drive home and heard an interesting discussion about the future of the CF position. Apparently, the Red Sox are down on Coco Crisp and do not think that he'll contribute adequately to the team. They don't like his arm, they don't like his low on-base percentage, and now there are questions about his attitude. Last year, he largely received a free pass because of the injury to his finger. This year, many predict that the gloves will come off.

Crisp himself is probably feeling the pressure. He made some curious remarks to the Boston Globe, where he echoed part of Keith Foulke's sentiments about the Boston fan base. He said that he doesn't care about what the fans think of him, that he's just going to play his game and let the chips fall where they may. Some of the WEEI personalities speculate that this could mean he's too soft for Boston. It certainly doesn't help that he's having a poor spring training and complaining about a shoulder injury of dubious origins. He's also saying that the finger still bothers him.

One of the panelists on The Big Show suggested that the Red Sox might trade Crisp during the season if it becomes clear that he doesn't fit into the chemistry of this team. A specific suggestion was trading him to the Minnesota Twins. Now I had never thought about this before but I think I really like the idea. The Twins will be without Franciso Liriano for much of the year and they're in a division that goes four teams deep. If they're out of it by July, they'll probably look to move Torii Hunter who is a pending free agent. Crisp would be an attractive option as a replacement for Hunter because he's signed long-term (through 2010 or 2011 I believe) at a relatively low AAV ($5 million.) Given (a) Hunter's Gold Glove-caliber defense (perhaps the best CF in the American League), (b) his affection for David Ortiz and the city of Boston (he said the Red Sox would be his first choice if he can't stay in Minnesota), (c) his very solid offensive skills (good average, nice homerun totals), and (d) his looming free agent status (under contract only through the 2007 season), I would like to see the Red Sox trade Crisp for Hunter, regardless as to Crisp's performance. The Red Sox would be adding a championship-starved blue chip player for August, September and hopefully October, and they could then offer him arbitration at the end of season. If he accepted arbitration, the Red Sox would have one of the better outfielders in the league under contract for another year. More likely, he'd bolt for a team willing to give him a long-term contract in the Johnny Damon price range (if not higher.) If he left at the end of the year, it wouldn't be the end of the world. The Red Sox would pick up a compensatory draft pick and could then let Ellsbury and Wily Mo compete for the 2008 CF job, with Murphy and Moss as outside candidates. Alternatively, the Red Sox could bring in a different free agent - perhaps Ichiro Suzuki, who is said to be friendly with Matsuzaka and interested in Boston. Or maybe they could decide that Hunter is the right long-term fit.

The point is that the Red Sox would be in an excellent position if they traded Coco Crisp for Torii Hunter. The 2007 team would improve, and arguably the 2008 team as well. Plus who knows what kind of prospect we'd net for losing Hunter after 2-3 months. Ideally, I'd want to make this deal as soon as possible. I just don't think it happens if Minnesota stays in the race. The Twins might still harbor hopes of post-season glory. I expect them to deal Hunter only if they're 8+ games out of a playoff spot come July 31st. From Minnesota's perspective, Crisp and a second-tier pitching prospect (Pauley, Alvarez) would be a better haul than a mere draft pick. And we all know that the Twins have no intentions of retaining Hunter beyond 2007.