More Crisp/Boston rumors

[BoofBonser26]

The Coco Crisp trade rumors have flared up again.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2301457

I really can't see this making any sense for the Tribe.

[BoofBonser26]

Still not a done deal, but now MLB.com has an article:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060122&content_id=1299179&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Here's their version:

CLE to BOS
Coco Crisp

BOS to CLE
Andy Marte
Guillermo Mota

CLE to PHI
Rhodes or Bentancourt

PHI to CLE
Jason Michaels


I suppose I'm happier with the Boston part of this deal IF Marte's good enough to solve the 3B problem. What does anyone know about him?

Mota would replace the reliever lost to the Phillies to get Michaels. He'd be a huge downgrade from Crisp (never even been an everyday player).

This looks like Classic Shapiro-a trade we all hate him for now, will love him for in the future. At least I hope.

Because Crisp is in his prime...

[TOPPS]

Yeah this possible trade has already made me mad. About Marte well he is a highly regarded prospect. According to Sports Weekly he is the top hitting prospect for the Red Sox. They said this about him "power is the top component of his offensive game and, though he will probably never develop into a consistant .300 hitter. Marte has steadily improved his selectivity at the plate. he's a good defender with a strong arm and, most of all, at 22." He sounds good but to be honest with everyone i dont agree with the deal. The Sizemore and Crisp at the top of the order is the best in the league.

[cavalier1968]

Marte

Hey Boof,

I with ya, Coco is a nice player and perhaps hitting his peak right now.......

I heard about Marte for about a year now......the Brave were VERY high on him but traded him, so.......here is a snipped of him in 2004.......

http://www.bravesbeat.com/bravesjournal/archives/2004/08/who_is_andy_mar.html

Broadly speaking, Marte has "classical" third-baseman skills of the Mathews/Schmidt type. He's not going to be a .300 hitter, at least not normally. He's hitting .275 this year in Greenville, hit .285 last year, and .281 in 2002. (To compare, Mathews' career BA was .271, his career high .306, and he hit .300 three times in his career. Schmidt hit .316 once but his next-best year was .293.)

What Andy brings to the table, already at his young age, is power. Despite missing a lot of time -- about 100 plate appearances worth -- with his ankle injury he still leads the team in homers with 18, and he's second in doubles with 24. His isolated power (a number of statistical analysts are pushing this as a good indicator for minor leaguers these days) is .279. (That's actually down a little, but still impressive. JD Drew's isolated power is .276.)

Fielding? While still rather raw, he has promise there as well. Baseball America rates him the best defensive third baseman in the Southern League, with the best infield arm. He's made 13 errors this year, which certainly isn't a ridiculously high number.

So what we have in the making is a slugging third baseman with a good glove. Mathews and Schmidt represent the best of this class; other retired members would be Darrell Evans, Graig Nettles, Gary Gaetti, Ron Santo, etc. What will eventually decide how good a major leaguer Marte becomes is his walk rate. He's got a pretty good one in the minors so far, but it's not outstanding, and there's been a tendency for Braves prospects to lose some of their walks when they reach the majors. (Rafael Furcal is probably the most spectacular example, but also Marcus Giles, Andruw Jones among the top players; Adam LaRoche and Nick Green have suffered similar fates this year.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I like Coco, hes not perfect, He should walk more........and perhaps steal more...he did bat 300 last year.........Marte seems to be a rare player.....He was the Braves top prospect last year......

CAv

[sschirmer]

I'm not too sure about this deal. I was dead set against it at first, then I got to thinking about Mota in the set-up role. That made me feel a bit better. Now I see the Philly part of this deal, and it just doesn't sound too good again. Being up in Cleveland this weekend, and listening to 850am quite a bit, I have to say, I'm not too sure why they are getting a prospect at this point for a guy who can help them right now. I guess Coco asking for 3mil in arbitration has a lot to do with it, but as close as they came last year, I really would like to see them take the "tomorrow is now" approach.

[pronk48]

Conspiracy against crisp

I have answered numerous people who asked me about the possible trade and everytime i think about it, it pisses me off. Ill be the first to admit crisp was my first favorite new guy when they began rebuilding but i feel there has always been a conspiracy to end his time prematurely in cleveland. I think of when they tried replacing him w Escobar in 04 which failed miserably and then crisp performed awesome when he earned the everyday spot. They never really gave him a set role. It looked like he was the new leadoff hitter until the offense sucked in 05 but it finally looked like he found his spot when Grady took leadoff and Crisp batting 2. I know there might be some pulling from crisp to get out of grady's shadow b/c crisp will be leadoff hitter and center fielder in Boston but the Indians need to get more because trading for Mota then trading a reliever for Micheals is moving them backward. You can ask 'Last of the Indians fans' but I have always supported Shapiro's moves including not resigning Thome and Vizquel and the Colon trade but I fail to see the benefit to Cleveland. GO Tribe 69 days till opening day.

[sschirmer]

Pronk, I totally agree with you on the Michaels front. Noway in Hell that move helps us this year. The only explanation for all this is economics. Coco was a bargain at $365K last year, but at $3mil, Dolan probably doesn't want to keep him around.

[RuthMayBond]

There's already a Coco Crisp promotion scheduled this year

[BoofBonser26]

Here's the thread from the Red Sox forum:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?p=463363&posted=1#post463363

The latest version of the deal I read in the PD has it being Crisp, Bard, and Riske to the BoSox.

I officially hate this trade.

[moebarguy]

This trade really makes no sense at all for the Indians. While Marte is a young prospect at 22, Crisp is already proven at age 26. Crisp is a very good defensive player, and he's an excellent top-of-the-lineup hitter -- not to mention that he's a switch hitter. While Marte has displayed impressive power numbers in the minors, he could very well turn out to be a Russ Branyan type -- HR or K.

[sschirmer]

The more I think about it, the more I believe this trade is driven by economics.

[Last of the Indian fans]

This trade really makes no sense at all for the Indians. While Marte is a young prospect at 22, Crisp is already proven at age 26. Crisp is a very good defensive player, and he's an excellent top-of-the-lineup hitter -- not to mention that he's a switch hitter. While Marte has displayed impressive power numbers in the minors, he could very well turn out to be a Russ Branyan type -- HR or K.

Branyan, could be a god send, from what u guys are saying he could be rob deer. This crisp trade sounds terrible... Saturday the PD reported that jason michaels was arrested for assaulton on a police officer... that would be great to have...

no need to get rid of crisp...

u want to deal focus in on bard and rhodes (i guess betancourt). Rhodes another year older had some problems missed a month of the season, u do have matt miller, graves?, karsay?, sauerbeck, cabrerra, wickman, davis, riske or betancourt depending on who u choose to keep... that is still solid, without mota. I would like to see bard get moved just becuase i am josh bard fan, I think he can be a very good catcher but the organization obviously wants martinez and a veteran behind, (hopefully laker) so i would like to see him get moved just so he can play everyday or in a few years, he is a good defensive catcher and is smart.

hollandsworth, not the answer... (he is no marty cordova)
blake temporary answer (unfortunately)
guitierrez not ready...

Swallow some pride keep crisp, dish bard and find a way to replace blake, because perez/broussard are making the way garko could be great! (just like gatorade, red bull, and vodka)

[BoofBonser26]

Mota failed his physical.

Let the deal die...

[sschirmer]

As mentioned on another thread, they are now looking for other options. I'm getting pissed, I want this deal to die, and die quick.

[runningshoes]

I'm about 13,000 miles away and I can smell the rage.