Who does everyone think won the recent Red Sox-Indians trade? It was Coco Crisp-Josh Bard-David Riske for Andy Marte-Guillermo Mota-Kelly Shoppach-$1 million.
I think the Red Sox got the better of the deal, hands down. Not only for this season, but going forward. I just don't see it for Marte - but he has to be better than Aaron Boone. Who plays leftfield for Cleveland? Plus, Riske is a better pitcher than Mota.
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here's why Indians got the better of things, IMO:
:: Crisp. He's not a guy you want playing at a power position (LF) which is the only place he'd be playing in CLE until Grady Sizemore retires (in 2015 or so). Also, his stats are a bit misleading (a high BA that doesn't correspond to a high OBP; he doesn't actually steal many bases. He is actually just Johnny Damon except without a lot of BB. An adequate guy. Can be/has been replaced with platoon of Hollandsworth/Michaels/Dubois. Not exactly roster-spot-thrifty, but whatever.
:: Marte. Even if it turns out he's just a slightly-above league avg 3B, we have like four good OFs coming up in next three years. We had exactly Zero good 3B coming from anywhere, except now we have Marte, MRI issues aside (Atlanta giving up on him does worry me), who looks promising, and is under the Indians' control until like 2010.
:: Mota for Riske. Mota might be damaged, but I'd rather have him on the IR than have Riske sitting on the bullpen bench in anything like a pressure situation. The guy gives up WAY too many HR, which Fenway will only exacerbate, and to top it off, he's like the causcasoid BK Kim. Dude cannot deal with pressure. Same goes
:: Shoppach: I'd rather have a Mirabelli-style backup C, a guy with some power and an arm for gunning down runners, than Josh Bard, whose salient baseball talent is being slightly better than most AAA catchers.
:: Money. We saved it. Obviously this has nothing to do with Boston.
:: Faith in Shapiro. The guy hasn't made maybe two bad trades since becoming GM (Wily Taveras, Matt Lawton for Rhodes). His only really bad move was giving Matt Lawton 20m$ which is why we dealt Lawton last year. He's still the guy who signed Millwood last year and got the AL ERA king season out of him. When a guy lowballs Scott Boras, you know he's pretty slick.
word to allah
the seminal criticism in the above posted: Riske surrendered 22 HR in like 120 IP the last two years -- there's no real use for a 7/8/9th inning specialist who can't be trusted with any lead smaller than 3 runs.
Also, vid the point that even if Marte turns into Coco Crisp at the major league level, it's a W for Shapiro because we had no 3B, whereas we do have beaucoup OFs (and essentially generated one for nothing in Michaels). I view this trade as a major improvement for the Tribe, and merely lateral movement for Boston and Philly.
and yes, I am desparately seeking to talk myself into this belief, even though its origins are genuine.
I am thrilled we are getting Crisp, now if only the Red Sox would pick up Oil Can from Brockton and we'd have something going here. I'll be writing further thoughts on a campus white board any day now...
I am decidedly unhappy with picking up Riske. I had him on my fantasy squad and suffered through meltdown after meltdown. Just as I spewed hatred toward Kim, hatred which was challenged in the hallowed offices of the Maroon by Benjamin Franklin Adams, fourth son of Adam only to have been completely warranted, so too do I send nothing but hate toward Riske.
But I like people named after cereal.
looks like its just pete and myself on the indians bandwagon here. while i partially voted for the indians because that means they will have one less veteran on a team that is going to be contending with the world champion chicago white sox, i still am not that sold on coco crisp. the only reason i might think the sox got the better end are his home/road splits. he actually hit better on the road (.323 v. .275) than at home but he only .200 at fenway (2/10 though).
i think marte could be a good player and the indians put themselves in a good position for the future while not really killing their present.
fox sports wrote about this as well
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5290064
here is my problem... even if the indians have a bunch of young OFs on the way, we now have wholes at BOTH CORNER OUTFIELD spots this year. If anyone regresses from last year - although crisp was probably the player most likely to do so - then the indians may have a horrible offense.
the Hollandsworth/Michaels platoon should more or less replace Coco. Also, Michaels can spell Blake in right. I think PECOTA likes Blake to bounce back slightly from last year's disaster anyway. Gutierrez is maybe a half-season away, so if Blake seriously tanks, we'll have F-Guti in Cleveland by years end anyway. They're only holes in the OF pos if you ignore the fact that we have above-average offensive production from SS, C and CF. And now we have a good-hitting backup C to eventually move V-Mart to 1B and extend his career. And I think he hits fine for a 1b. dude hit #$(& .370 in the second half of last year.
i thought pete was exagerating about martinez's second half ba but apparently he hit .380 after the break with an ops of 1.027. didn't he get traded in the league for a bag of balls last year? someone either dropped him or traded him away.
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