Odds and Sods

Coco Crisp has been trade bait since he lost his starting CF job to Jacoby Ellsbury mid-way through the 2007 playoffs.  He has reportedly garnered serious interest from both the Mets and Cubs, as well as fleeting fancy from the Reds, Rangers, White Sox and Pirates.  The question is why?

He has some useful skills.  He switch-hits.  He can run.  He is an adept outfielder.  He is named after a breakfast cereal.  He is cool enough to rock a Fu Manchu without the stache.

However, he has one slight problem with his game.  He’s not a very good hitter.  He had a .712 OPS last season, which was 54th out of 57 everyday outfielders in MLB last season.  And that was not a fluke.  He only played in a 105 games for the Sox in ‘06, but he posted an even lower .705 OPS.  If he had enough at bats to qualify, that would have placed him 57th out of 59 outfielders.

The only outfielder you could make a case for being worse the past two seasons is Juan Pierre, and he plays at Dodger Stadium (one of the best pitchers parks) while Crisp plays at Fenway Park (one of the best hitters parks).  He has been feasting off the fact that he hit .300 for the Indians in 2005.

With the numbers Crisp put up the past two seasons, it is hard to picture him penciled into an everyday lineup for any team this season.  He would thus be relegated to a fill-in or backup role on the bench, which is approximately where he stood in Boston.
Coco is a fan-favorite and a great clubhouse and media guy.  Unfortunately, he cannot hit a baseball.  Theo should cash out on him now, before risking that another team actually looks up his numbers up on Baseball-Reference.

With headline scribes salivating, Bartolo Colon has found a home with the Boston Red Sox, preliminarily agreeing to a minor league deal.

Colon, 34, has won twenty games twice. He also earned the AL Cy Young Award in 2005 with the Angels, going 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA.

Persistent problems in Colon’s shoulder, however, have plagued him since he partially tore his rotator cuff in the 2005 playoffs. Colon performed dismally in his 28 starts the last two seasons, including a putrid (6-8 6.38 ERA) performance last season.

Omar Minaya initially sniffed around Colon, but the Mets backed off due to injury concerns.

Boston won’t expect the dominant starter of his youth, but Colon gives the club an additional option should the Sox face a further injury crisis. Given neither a price nor a binding commitment, it is not a bad bit of business from Epstein & Co.

The New York Mets and Minnesota Twins have agreed to a tentative deal to trade pitcher Johan Santana, according to multiple sources.

The proposed deal would send Santana to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitching prospects Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra.  It is contingent upon Santana passing a physical and upon the Mets negotiating a contract extension with the pitcher.

Santana has reportedly been seeking a 6 to 7 year deal at more than $20 million per season.  The Mets, however, may wish to keep it to 5 years, potentially by offering a higher annual salary.  Santana is due $13.25 million in 2008.

Should it go through, the deal is an obvious coup for the Mets.  They get arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball, making the easier transition from the American League to the National League.  By acquiring an ace, they fulfilled the massive whole at the top of their rotation, instantly making them World Series favorites in the National League.  And, oh yeah, they gave up neither their best prospect Fernando Martinez nor their best young pitcher Mike Pelfry to acquire him.  Omar Minaya should be pleased.

The greater question is why the Twins would agree to this deal.  Theoretically, they should have been able to extort a King’s ransom from either the Mets, the Yankees, or the Red Sox.  At least one would expect them to pick up one A-level prospect in the deal.  Fans somewhat satiated with visions of John Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Phil Hughes dancing through their heads now sit incredulous with mouth agape.

The Twins could very well end up with nothing from this deal.  Carlos Gomez has great speed and is a great defender, but his bat is hardly major league ready and he hits for no power.  He’s no sure thing and he is the centerpiece of the deal!

Deolis Guerra is 18 years old with a lot of potential, but he remains at least three years away from contributing.  Phil Humber and Kevin Mulvey are major league ready, though neither really gets those salivary glands flowing.

This is better than a package centered around John Lester and Coco Crisp how?   Would they not have been better off keeping Santana, trying to compete next season by pairing him with a healthy Liriano, and then taking the compensatory draft picks?  Could they not have held onto him until the trading deadline and gotten a deal at least this good?

One has to ask what the rationale was for making this trade.  The only perceivable one is that the Twins wanted to ship Santana out of the American League, and rejected better offers from the Yankees and Red Sox.  Which would be unquestionable idiocy, since the Yankees and Red Sox would be good anyway and are not in the Twins division.   They would also at most have to face him in two of their 162 regular season games.   Worry about making the best deal for your own team first.

The Twins traded the best pitcher in baseball for essentially nothing.  They performed the equivalent of trading in a Ferrari for a standard-model Mustang, two Honda Civics, and a gutted Impala primed for potential pimping.  It was their turn in Naughty Santa and they opted to open a box rather than steal the iPod.  Is abject failure a fireable offense?

The New York Mets traded two minor leaguers to the Cubs for 26 year-old outfielder Angel Pagan.

Pagan, a former fourth round pick, had a .745 OPS for the Cubs last season with 4 HR and 21 RBI in 148 AB.

The Cubs received outfielder Corey Coles, 25, who hit .296 at Double A - Binghamton last season and Ryan Myers a 22 year-old reliever. Myers had 13 saves and a 2.14 ERA in 33 appearances at A Savannah. He struck out 48 in 42 innings.

This trade is not particularly significant, but the opportunity for that kind of word-play was just too tantalizing to pass up.

The Indian Summer is over.  It’s forty degrees here in Boston.  It’s getting dark at 4:30.  The cup of tea is now for warmth rather than caffeine and pretension.  The holiday flights are booked.  It’s time for the Hot Stove!  It’s NOOOvember!  Bring out Steve Phillips!

The Yankees have been moving quickly to find a replacement for “You Know Who” at third base.  One rumor has the Yanks sending Johnny Damon and cash to the White Sox in exchange for Joe Crede.  Another has the bombers sending a package headlined by Phil Hughes to the Marlins for young slugger Miguel Cabrera.  What seems fairly certain is that someone far sexier than Wilson Betemit will be Derek Jeter’s wingman next season.

The King of the Contract Year, Jorge Posada, looks set to cash in on his wonderful 2007 season (.338 20HR 90 RBI).  The Yankees have had discussions about a 3 year $40 million extension.  The Mets may try to trump that by tacking on a fourth year.  Some would say it is lunacy to give a huge extension to a 37 year-old catcher.  By some, that would be anyone with a modicum of common sense.

Kevin Millar could be cowboying up at first base for the Texas Rangers next season, perhaps aiding his continuing quest to come to terms with the fact that he is no longer a member of the Boston Red Sox.  If only they could shift that foul line fifteen feet to the left…

The Devil Rays, given the paucity of pitching available, may investigate the market for fiery (in both arm strength and temperament) left-hander Scott Kazmir.  If the Twins decided to keep Santana, the market for Kazmir could skyrocket.  This would bring the Devil Rays exactly what they need to compete in the AL East, more young unproven prospects.