Coco celebrating better times - Photo by Kelly O'Connor
(Sidenote to MLB…thank you for making this official just as I was taking a lunch break so I didn’t have to wait until tonight to write this!)
So, aside from Free Agents (who I’m not counting just yet), we have our first casualty of the 2008 off-season: Coco Crisp. The Red Sox Hen is not a happy woman, I don’t mind telling you. My niece Madison will be pretty damn bummed as well.
Me? It’s fair to say I’m sad for Coco. It can’t be fun to be traded. It ESPECIALLY can’t be fun to be traded from the Red Sox to the Kansas City Royals.  But I don’t hate this trade.  Ramon Ramirez could very well be a fantastic addition to the bullpen. I’m going to let Alex Speier take it from here:
That development seems to have transpired today, with the Sox bolstering the back-end of their bullpen with a right-hander whose changeup acts like a split-finger fastball, and generates ample swings and misses. Ramirez went 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 71.2 innings this year while holding opposing hitters to a miniscule .222 average.
There are ancillary benefits to the addition of another bullpen arm, particularly one who is not yet arbitration eligible. Ramirez will allow the Sox greater flexibility either in the potential usage of Justin Masterson in 2009 or in using some of their pitching depth in a trade this offseason.
I like shoring up the bullpen and I especially like having the flexibility to use Masterson however they see fit. I’ll definitely miss Coco – hell, in 2008 the guy sucked up wanting to be a full-time player, didn’t pull a Jay Payton on the team and just played his part all season long. He had a good season, probably got more playing time than he anticipated, and no one voted him off the island! I wish Covelli nothing but luck in Kansas City and hope the Royals fans take good care of him!
I wonder how Ramon Ramirez feels about pirates?
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