Traded for a good reliever in Ramon Ramirez. Thankfully, we won't see Crisp playing on the southside now. I wonder if this means Cubs will target DeJesus.

Sox could still target DeJesus. I don't think the Royals will move him but there is obviously a good rappore as the Sox and Royals have made numerous deal in recent years.

REPOIRE Rally McBoone/Dougal. LOL.

I think some money must have changed hands from the Red Sox to the Royals...we'll find out later I guess.

I hope you aren't correcting his spelling. It's "rapport."

1. repoire 11 up, 15 down
Stupid people use this word when they mean "rapport".
". . . Given our 'repoire' I know your intention in saying it was not to make me laugh."

So much for my University of Iowa education and six years of teaching. I should have gone to Northwestern, lol.

This ranks up there with uncharted/unchartered waters I think.

mlbtraderumors.com (By the way, Jenksy market just shrunk a little more. Valverde and Wigginton were put on the market by the 'Stros.)

8:48am: According to Brian McRae reporting for Sports Radio 810 in Kansas City, the Royals acquired Coco Crisp from the Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez. I emailed McRae to confirm, and he said, "It's a done deal." The Royals get speed and a capable center fielder, while the Red Sox receive a quality late-game reliever.

Crisp, 29, hit .283/.344/.407 in 409 plate appearances this year. His center field defense saved 26 bases over the average last year, but was two below this year (he did battle groin, hamstring, knee, and foot issues). Crisp will earn $5.75MM in '09 and has an $8MM club option with a $500K buyout for '10.

The Red Sox trim payroll here, as Ramirez is not yet arbitration-eligible. He will not reach free agency until after the 2012 season, so the Red Sox impressively acquired four years of his services. The 27 year-old posted a 2.64 ERA in 71.2 innings this year while whiffing 70. The Royals might have to add a reliever to compensate for his absence. They're also a bit heavy on outfielders at this point.

HEY, we can trade them Boone Logan for Justin Gathright and all of our CF problems are solved...lol. That would be like having Carl Lewis play CF. Cool!

Good move by the Royals, IMO, Crisp fills in nicely there. They'll likely move DeJesus to LF, which is his better position, let him leadoff, and have Crisp bat second while occupying CF.

I think you mean Joey Gathright.

Wow, the Royals are really good at making moves that force them to make other moves. A name change, perhaps? Kansas City Logjams?

Hahaha...I'm on drugs today.

Kevin Bacon Six Degrees of Separation...thinking overwhelming speed...Carl Lewis in CF...Justin Gatlin...Joey Justin Gathright, lol.

Maybe they'll now give us Billy Butler, who will make up for our losing out on Viciedo.

Immobile but the potential to rake.

I still think DeJesus, Teahen and Gathright are likely casualties. The problem is that Guillen is really a DH, masquerading as a RFer. I do think that things are really changing economically in baseball when the Royals can afford to take on Meche, Guillen and now Crisp with the downturn we're in. And the Red Sox are the ones shedding salary here.

Maybe Maier in LF/CF.

Wait, did he sign with someone?

Well, this is a relative yawner.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...as/extra_bases/

Deal confirmed at Boston Globe now.

Interesting note: Some think Justin Masterson's going to the rotation (Buchholz/Wakefield spot) with this move, as Ramirez slides into Masterson's set-up role.

Crisp is a solid player.


We need to get a lead off hitter. I'm not sure who.

Sox could be after DeJesus right now, as that leadoff option who could play CF.

What's he like defensively in CF again?

Think the Red Sox have done pretty well here.

Don't really get what Moore is trying to achieve but acquiring all of these hitters, but maybe he has some sort of plan.

But the Royals is much weaker right now than what it was in 2008, and that should be a big concern for them.

I'm still a big Brian Roberts fan.

DeJesus is above average in the field. I don't see the Royals trading him in the division though. He would look GREAT leading off for us and playing center though...

Assuming a deal doesn't go through, where we get a name Cf with decent speed, i have Anderson slotted in as our leadoff man next year.

You go with your bad self









And that aint happenin'

I know i don't like it much either, but it's totally an Ozzie thing to do. Assuming we've got the guys we've got now. I'm seeing
BA
AJ
Q
Dye
Thome
Konerko
Ramirez
Fields
Nix
Logically, it's a bad move. BA and Aj are not top of the order hitters, but who else goes up there? Ramirez, maybe, but Ozzie seems to like him down. I think we'd be forcing his hand here.

Im sorry, that is the Anti-Ozzie thing to do. Ozzie has a thing for BA on the bench, thats about all.

Yeah, i'm just hoping badly that we get Owens off the roster ASAP.

I've actually read where DeJesus was not that good defensively in CF, hence the move for Crisp, who is better.

I also see them dealing players like Teahen and Shealy before they deal DeJesus and Butler. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see Jose Guillen traded though either.

Who do you see biting on that terrible contract?

The Royals have been rumored to be suitors for Furcal for a while now. If they get him, then can run out this team:

Lineup:
Furcal SS
Aviles 2B
DeJesus LF
Guillen RF
Jacobs 1B
Butler/Kila Ka'al'a'alala'mala'alla'na'al'alla'hue DH
Gordon 3B
Olivo C
Crisp CF

Rotation: Greinke-Meche-Bannister-Davies-Hochevar with other names possibly in the mix, including Cortes

The Royals hurt their bullpen by dealing for Crisp and Jacobs, but they're usually a team that looks to pick up rebounding relievers and deal them around the break for prospects/projects. I could see the Royals looking at one of the injured starters like Freddy and Bartolo plus a couple of the former closers like Cordero as one year reclamation projects.

In all they will continue building something resembling a Major League baseball team. As we know, all it takes is a few well-timed break-out years for them to be legit contenders. If Kyle Davies and a couple of Gordon/Butler/Kila reach their potential then the Royals will be in the thick of the race IMO.

I still expect them to at some point begin trading their prospects for young MLB-proven talent. The only possible untouchables IMO would be Moustakas, who beat the s*** out of the ball in Burlington last year, and our former prospect Daniel Cortes who could be ready as soon as this year. I was actually kind of surprised to not see them in on Matt Holliday. The Royals were my dark horse there.

I'd add Hosmer and Melville to the untouchable list at least for the next two years. This Royals team has a bright future ahead of it. I still see us beating them for the next couple of years, but when Gordon, Hochevar, and Butler finally pull it together they're going to come on strong.

Those two can't be traded yet anyway. I was talking more of guys they might deal this year, but yeah, they've definitely got some keepers in their system, and they have the overall depth to be able to acquire very good players without giving up the very best they've got.

No offense to you specifically Thunderbolt, but people have been saying that about the Royals for years. I think they're improving more by adding some major league talent to the team (Crisp, Meche, even Guillen) rather than just waiting on the young guys. However, I'm still in the "believe it when I see it mode" on the Royals being a legit contender for even a wild card.

Do you know something that has not been reported yet?

Nah, no offense taken. You’re absolutely correct. Wait and see has been the Royals mentality pretty much since Brett left and it seems to of lulled them into complacency. I really do think, however, that they can really make something of their developing offensive core. In the past, they’ve really mangled this, but I think their new Gm Moore, while not a genius does seem to have a decent idea of what he’s doing. What that idea is exactly I don’t know, but he does seem awfully possessive of some of these young kids.

With a team like the Royals, that's exactly what they need to do. They need to be willing to trade their veterans about 2 years or so before they hit FA, so that they don't lose people for draft picks and can save money on those last 2 arb years, and they need to be ridiculously possessive of their kids, until they reach a point where they are literally 1 player away. That's the only way they're going to get out of the basement with those type of salary constraints. Even if their young guys disappoint, until they start hitting arbitration, they're cheap and you have to play them.

I'm just thankful Crisp won't be on the Sox.

He has an .845 career OPS against the Sox. The only team in the AL he's been better against are the LAA.

I didn't want him with the Sox, but I didn't want to have to play him either.

Why did someone say we lost out on Viciedo?

I frequent nearly every MLB Rumor site there is, and I have heard nothing on this kid since his workout. So, I don’t where Caufield is getting this information. I believe it’s just as assumption as last we heard interest was growing throughout the league. And we all know what they say about assumptions…

Sorry, just waking up here in Thailand. Shouldn't have said it in that way...no, I don't have any "insider/Cuban" information on Viciedo. Just speculation like everyone else.

Although if we do trade Dye for Victorino, move Quentin to RF and Viciedo is our new LF/3B platoon, it would be interesting to say the least.

Apparently KW didn't show any interest in Crisp at all. Darn. I had him pegged for bringing in Blake and Crisp at the start of the off-season.

Crisp had a .392 on-base percentage after the All-Star break this past season and played very well in a season in which he and Jacoby Ellsbury exchanged the roles of starter and extra man because of injuries to J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez. He is one of the better defensive center fielders in the game, and his .751 OPS in 2008 and his stellar defensive play are upgrades for the Royals -- whose center fielders had an OPS of .638 this past season.

The Red Sox surveyed what was a surprisingly small market for Crisp -- Cincinnati was the other club with the most interest -- and decided that with Jeremy Affeldt starting out the 2008 free-agent market by signing a two-year, $8 million deal with the Giants, it likely will be easier to find another outfielder than secure a low-cost power reliever. Peter Gammons

The asking price on Crisp has gone down a lot. Didn't Boston want a lot more for him from us a couple of years ago?

There was even talk they wanted Buehrle for Crisp, although that was ridiculous to Sox fans.

yeah I never remember that talk...

Good analysis by the KC Star today:

KC Star Link

I agree. I didn't want Crisp. Royals have changed two of their nine everyday lineup guys. I don't think they've upgraded much with Crisp and Jacobs.

It also depends on what they get back for DeJesus and Teahen....among other things. Also, they might deal Jose Guillen if they can find a taker for that ill-advised contract.

They're going to get better production out of Jacobs than some kind of combination of Gload and Shealy.

The OPS of their starting centerfielders last year was .600. That will go up, undoubtedly, with Crisp.

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...=52975&st=0

I definitely did not remember that. The Red Sox are dumb as hell.