It’s saddening to see now former Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp being traded to the Kansas City Royals. Come on, what starter will he flail his fists at in the AL Central? Boof Bonser?

In all seriousness, with Boston trading Crisp to the Royals for set-up man Ramon Ramirez, or “Ram Ram” as he can now be affectionately known by Red Sox Nation, both teams have improved their rosters for the 2009 season. Read more »

Sure, Boston Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp’s three-game homer streak has come in hitter’s havens and with a nicked up Manny Ramirez limited in the outfield and unable to DH (national league parks). But, even when the power slows and Ramirez returns to health, Crisp should still be playing, and producing, every day.

Manager Terry Francona will gladly place Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury side-by-side in the outfield, especially with Crisp providing an offensive spark. He can play either left or center, which means Manny could stay in the DH role and Crisp could stay in the lineup. Remember, David Ortiz will be out of the DH mix for at least a few weeks with a torn tendon in his wrist. Read more »

Finding stolen base help on the waiver wire is a common mission among fantasy owners, but never an easy one to accomplish. Not only are most owners out for the same thing, speedsters generally hurt the team’s cause in at least one other category. Finding a mix between stolen bases and any kind of power or run production is always the ideal scenario.

Middle infielders are a good place to start because second basemen and shortstops lack the big power numbers. In deep leagues, other managers are starting questionable players in their middle infield slots, meaning that your light-hitting, speedy shortstop can be covered up easily. Read more »

At the core, I don’t believe that the Tampa Bay Rays did anything wrong when they threw down with the Boston Red Sox on June 5 and ignited a new rivalry. The Rays had a justifiable beef with Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp, who drew the ire of manager Joe Maddon with a dirty slide on Akinori Iwamura the previous night. But, I do disagree with how the young Rays went about exacting their revenge.

First of all, I have a hard time believing that Maddon was free and clear of payback plans. He had the biggest problem with Crisp’s actions, and his jawing at the outfielder from the dugout set a bad example for his young team. Who knows what happened behind closed doors between the June 4 game and the June 5 brawl, but Maddon, either directly or indirectly, was responsible for the blowup. Read more »

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, already bogged down by a balky left knee, was diagnosed with a partially torn tendon in his left wrist, according to the David Ginsburg of the Associated Press.

Ortiz had gotten back into form after starting the year hitting .111 (7-for-63) with one home run and four RBIs over his first 15 games. He’s hit .312 with 12 homers and 39 RBIs in 32 games since, elevating his season line to .252-13-43. He exited Saturday’s game in the ninth inning, missed Sunday and had an MRI on Monday. Read more »

Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury has just about put veteran backup Coco Crisp in his rearview mirror for good. He is in the same form now as when he burst onto the scene in 2007, igniting the Red Sox offense with an array of skills and carving out a huge piece of the team’s outfield time share.

First point in his favor over Crisp, Ellsbury is quickly becoming an adept leadoff man for the Sox. Look no further than his 12 walks and just four strikeouts in 43 at-bats to gauge that progress. For comparison’s sake, he had just eight walks and 15 strikeouts in 116 at-bats in his debut last season. The production results have been much the same; Ellsbury has scored 15 runs over the last 11 games, and Boston has been victorious 10 times over that stretch. Read more »