Sox go out and get Crisp

After an on/off saga that has been going on all week, the Boston Red Sox finally made the deal with the Cleveland Indians which sees them sign Johnny Damon's replacement for CF. 26 year-old Coco Crisp moves to the Sox along with backup catcher Josh Bard and RHRP David Riske. Going the other way are catching prospect Kelly Shoppach, hard throwing reliever Guillermo Mota and stud 3b prospect Andy Marte along with a PTBNL and cash considerations.

On the face of it you'd say that this deal is even, Bard looks nothing more than a backup catcher, Shoppach looks like a good player but was blocked by Varitek in Beantown. Riske looks like a very good reliable reliever and we all know about Mota, very hit and miss so it comes down to Crisp and Marte.

Marte is projected to be a stud third baseman for years to come and whilst he didn't perform well in his call-up to the bigs at the end of last season, he has shown enough in AAA to suggest that a great career is forthcoming.

Crisp on the other hand has impressed for Cleveland already in the bigs and is a good glovesman. He is also a switch hitter who could very much do a job in Boston at the top of the line-up.

What you must consider is that essentially Edgar Renteria was part of this trade as they used the only man they got in that trade in this. So when you look at it as Renteria, Marte, Mota and Shoppach, PTBNL + around $12m for Crisp, Riske and Bard then it doesn't look so good. Crisp will definitely do well in Boston but they may of overpaid for him, personally I'd of preferred the Red Sox front office to go after Jeremy Reed if I were a Boston fan but as it stands for 2006, this trade helps the Red Sox.

I'm sure Neil H will respond.