The Slanch Report

When the Red Sox traded for Coco Crisp I was excited, I thought we might be getting a young Johnny Damon, the comparisons were there, clearly that didn’t happen. However, his time with the Red Sox featured some of the greatest plays in the outfield that I’ve seen, as well as this summer when for a time Coco was playing like the best CF in the game. I remember rearranging the roster on MVP ’05 on my Gamecube to throw Coco into the mix and see how he fit in on the Sox. In the first game he got hurt and was lost for the season. I should have seen that as a sign. Instead I restarted. He went on to have a decent video game season, but never met my expectations.

Was a strong middle reliever all that the Sox could get for him? I thought the market for Coco was a bit better, I thought the haul would be a little better, but hey, a strong bullpen arm is always necessary. Initial thoughts make this move seem like a first step to transferring Masterson back to the rotation, I for one hope that is NOT the case. I want to see (like Keith Law) Masterson become a super reliever. Someone who pitches something like 100-120 innings a year, comes in for 2-3 inning stretches at a time. I think he’d be PERFECT in this role and would be inherently MORE valuable than he would be in the rotation because I think his stuff plays better in a limited role, also, it lets him avoid more left handed hitters. Sure, the option now exists for Masterson to switch back, but I think his best role will be in the bullpen for the long term.

As for Ramirez, via the Sons of Sam Horn comes this interesting stat, on pitches out of the strike zone that players swung at, the top three were Mariano Rivera at 36.3%, Jonathan Papelbon was at 34.3% and Ramirez was third with 33.3%. That’s AWESOME. Sure, it’s a very limited, specific stat, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

It’s not sad to see Coco go because we all knew this was coming, I appreciate all he did for the team, most of all for never bitching during the season even though everyone knew he wanted to be the starter. He was a man about it all and I appreciate that. Plus, he had the best punch avoiding incident in recent baseball memory, (even if it was stupid to have charged the mound in the first place.)

So long Covelli.

Hello Ramon!