clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Herald: Physicals to Make Deal Final

By Randy Booth

Jeff Horrigan says today that the only thing stopping Coco Crisp and Alex Gonzalez from holding up a Boston uniform is a physical.

OK, we hear it is almost final, but what is final? As I reported earlier, we've heard the standard Andy Marte, Guillermo Mota, Kelly Shoppach for Crisp, David Riske, and Josh Bard trade. But then I've also read at the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Riske won't be involved, and that they also are looking at snatching Manny Delcarmen.

What's the verdict?

The only locks to be involved in this trade seem to be Crisp, Marte, and Mota. I think that's enough to get the deal done, but adding Delcarmen or Shoppach is just ridiculous. And, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, we'd get "two players from the low minors."

So, basically, Manny D. for two low-level minor leaguers? Where's the sanity? Delcarmen hucks the ball at 95 and has a nasty curveball. So that deserves Jim and Jack Nevah-Gonna-Make-Ittothe-Bigleegs? To me, it looks like we're getting majorly screwed if this trade goes down like the CPD says it will.

And Riske? He may have lost a step last season, according to Marc Normandin from Beyond the Box Score:

His success in 2005 was entirely thanks to his Batting Average on Balls in Play, which in turn is due to Cleveland's defensive prowess. He seems to have fixed his wildness from 2004, but it may have come at the expense of his strikeout rates, as they dropped considerably as well. He gives up far too many home runs to be an effective pitcher without a great deal of help from plain old luck and defense, and when his BABIP regresses to the mean due to Fenway's park effects (say, to .305 or so rather than the .215 figure he posted in 2005) then you can expect his hits per nine to jump a few full points, as well as his ERA. Moving Guillermo Mota and avoiding Riske is the best situation a Red Sox fan can hope for, since it limits the number of pitchers who may implode in 2006 on the active roster.

Marc also notes Fenway's park effects, also adding to Riske's struggle that he may see in Boston.

What are we getting? Who knows. We may not know until next week, either.

More From Over the Monster