Tuesday, January 29, 2008
COCO NO GO GO
Apparently Johan Santana is headed to the Mets. It is great to get him out of the A.L. and away from the MFY. All parties involved made the economically prudent decision (my guess is that the Twins were never going to take on salary). As for the Sox, now is not the time to sell low on Coco.
"I have no problem with that," Francona said yesterday before the Boston Baseball Writers dinner. "I told Theo [ Epstein] that early on. I know the players might not be the most thrilled, but I have no problem with that. I think that would be just fine. If you had an outfield of [J.D.] Drew, Crisp, Ellsbury, and Manny [Ramírez], pretty impressive.
The Sox should not deal Coco for two reasons:
1) His value can’t be any lower right now after a terrible year at the plate and most contending clubs have filled their centerfield voids. Even though Coco was great in the field, hitters usually don’t fall off the table in their mid-to-late 20’s without some kind of reason. I’m bullish on Coco.
2) Manny will likely need some time off. The most opportune situation would be on the road against RHSP. Away from the small leftfield at Fenway, Manny is a big liability behind a primarily a fly ball staff. Ellsbury is a significant upgrade on the road. It would not offset the decline at the plate, but Manny having some MBManny time or DHing, thereby giving Ortiz, Youk or Lowell a blow can work out well over the marathon.
Apparently Johan Santana is headed to the Mets. It is great to get him out of the A.L. and away from the MFY. All parties involved made the economically prudent decision (my guess is that the Twins were never going to take on salary). As for the Sox, now is not the time to sell low on Coco.
"I have no problem with that," Francona said yesterday before the Boston Baseball Writers dinner. "I told Theo [ Epstein] that early on. I know the players might not be the most thrilled, but I have no problem with that. I think that would be just fine. If you had an outfield of [J.D.] Drew, Crisp, Ellsbury, and Manny [Ramírez], pretty impressive.
The Sox should not deal Coco for two reasons:
1) His value can’t be any lower right now after a terrible year at the plate and most contending clubs have filled their centerfield voids. Even though Coco was great in the field, hitters usually don’t fall off the table in their mid-to-late 20’s without some kind of reason. I’m bullish on Coco.
2) Manny will likely need some time off. The most opportune situation would be on the road against RHSP. Away from the small leftfield at Fenway, Manny is a big liability behind a primarily a fly ball staff. Ellsbury is a significant upgrade on the road. It would not offset the decline at the plate, but Manny having some MBManny time or DHing, thereby giving Ortiz, Youk or Lowell a blow can work out well over the marathon.
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