Coco And Jacoby...The Present And The Future

Good morning on this cloudy and cold pre-dawn Tuesday. Imagine, there are only four days, counting today, left in this leap year month. And then comes March, a month that can float like a butterfly or sting like a bee, to use a favorite phrase of the one and only Mohammed Ali. But first things first. I spied an article penned by the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman. It's all about Coco and Jacoby, Crisp and Ellsbury. The young and the VERY young, the defensive phenom and the soon to be All Star. Please read a little of this, and then I'll be back with a comment...

"It does not require much detective work to figure out that there is virtually no trade market for Coco Crisp right now.
In other words, for Crisp’s sake, Jacoby Ellsbury sure picked a bad time to become a breakout phenom, the one slated to be the Red Sox’ center fielder for years to come.
The Red Sox would like everyone to be accommodated but the clues point toward Crisp staying put.
“It’s a terrible market to trade Coco,” said one general manager yesterday. “There were like eight to 10 free agents on the market and some are still out there, so it’s never been easy. At this stage, teams probably would prefer to pay only instead of having to give up talent for someone like Crisp.”

Peter here. I hope you weren't expecting someone else! Silverman's piece made a lot of sense to me. I'll link the entire article...just click on the title of this post. And yes, a trade will be tough, and it's obviously not because of Coco's ability. He can catch the ball as well as any centerfielder, heck, as well as any OUTFIELDER in the game. And every club knows that. His offensive ability is a little more suspect, but given a season's worth of good health, that could change. By now we ALL know of Jacoby Ellsbury's unlimited potential. The stars are the limit for him. His future is destined to be played out while he wears the Boston uniform, and nothing could be finer. It is Coco's insistance that he NOT be the fourth outfielder, used in case of an injury (no-not this year!!) or in certain game circumstances which are to be determined, that has the Red Sox looking. Looking for what, they're not certain. But an outfielder who can play centerfield and NOT be bothered by his number four status would be ideal. Kenny Lofton comes to mind. But I think Coco would be the best fourth outfielder in all of baseball. I bet we ALL do. I guess I could say that this is a good problem for Boston, and it's just about the only thing that's a roster problem for the 2008 world champions. The Boston Red Sox are almost totally intact from their World Series 2008 season, and all things point to another successful campaign. They will always be number one in my heart. And in my soul, too!

Click on the title of this post for the entire Silverman article, and have a great Tuesday while we watch February melt into March. And don't forget to click on the title of this post for the entire Boston Herald article.

Oh, I forgot to write something yesterday... the day that SHOULD have been George Harrison's 65th birthday. Scroll down...it's there now. And as always, be safe, BE WELL. FOREVER. I'd love to read your comments, and I will respond to each and every one of them. That's a promise. I KEEP MY PROMISES, and yet another one is this-I will try my best, God willing, to have at least one post for every baseball game day in this so far so sweet 2008. Off days? I'll be here too. And it's all for you, my Constant Readers. You are quite simply the best. Period.