The Texas Rangers have admitted all along they need a center fielder. They have admitted all along they would like Texas native Torii Hunter. Now it appears the Rangers may be ready to admit the cost for Hunter is too high.

The Dallas Morning News reported the possibility of a trade that would send reserve catcher Gerald Laird to the Boston Red Sox for Coco Crisp. While Crisp isn't Hunter, he would fill the gap in center and allow the Rangers to deal from strength.

Source: Dallas Morning News

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Ra...F?urn=mlb,52933

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I can see the Rangers wanting this, but do the Red Sox need a reserve catcher?

I'd be happy if they got him, their Line-up still wouldn't be any better lol

Laird isn't enough for Coco.

Ah here come Keep with his Coco obsession.


They are looking to move him so Jococby can play. Which means the Sox would take less to move them then if they weren't planning on moving him.

VORP + FRAA

Coco Crisp - 40
Torii Hunter - 40
Nick Swisher - 38

Would you consider a backup catcher enough to acquire Torii Hunter or Nick Swisher? I didn't think so.

This sucks. I want Marte back.

Are you sayin that Crisp is on the same Level as Torri Hunter...no


Value Over Replacement Player is a stat that can't be proven so don't bring that shit in here.

And since when do we add VROP and FRAA together. Don't be some dumb.

Besides all of that. Its about offenense. They are on the same level there. "Dumb Fuck"

Wow, you're an idiot. I lay out solid evidence that Crisp = Hunter and you just write it right off because of the assumptions you have planted in your mind. FRAA + VORP is the best way to get offensive value + defensive value.

VORP is a stat that can't be proven? How so? I don't think it would be on such sites as Baseball Prospectus if it wasn't legit.

Honestly if you think Coco is as good as Hunter, then you're the idiot. If i were a sox fan then why the hell would i want Coco, who is a decent centerfielder that has proven that he can't play in boston over Jacoby Ellsbury? Let Coco go to texas or some other crappy team and get his game back together

Gerald Laird seems just about right to me.

lol, Coco Crisp's VORP was slightly better than Adam Waingwright (yes the pitcher in a hitting category, ahahah). Josh Phelphs off all people had a higher VORP than him.

Yeah, he can really field, but thats about it. He can't really do a whole lot else now. He has really good range, granted, but what else can he do? He can't throw out runners. He can't hit. So why would a team trade a good piece for someone that can catch a ball in CF, and not much else?

His fielding is like 4/5 of his value and puts him up there with some very big names.

Obviously not as good offensively. But Coco runs circles around Hunter defensively. Open your mind.

Fairly young cost controlled CF in his prime, excellent fielder, pop potential in the bat and excellent speed? There's no shortage of interested teams...

He's making like 5.5M and he'll give you a .270/10 on offense. Defense is important, but are you really prepared to pay 4M for it? I'm not.

Honestly guys, to clear up any confusion, I'd rather have Hunter on my team, I was trying to prove a point that Coco does indeed have value.

I could hit more HR than Coco Crisp.

I don't want him anymore. Why would you, when you see what we have waiting to replace him. Sure, he's not useless, as he'll give your tremendous ranger/defense in center field, but he can't do much more. .270/10 HR's, great defense playing a demanding position isn't bad, and he's not being paid to much, but he's simply not a great player. I wouldn't classify him as garbage, but I seriously don't expect us to get much for him in a trade.

Now Gerald Laird? In 407 at bats this season, he hit .224, with a .278 OBP. In his career (881 at bats), that goes up to a .246 average, and a .297 OBP. He's probably a bit better than those numbers show, but we could get more than that in a deal for Coco. The fact is though, we don't need to get a lot for Coco Crisp.

I don't understand the potential for pop part. The only pop potential he has is for a pop up now. You need to get on base, to use speed, and he doesn't do that enough. All he really can do is field.

Now, there are plenty of field only guys out there (ala Bubba Crosby), who cost absolutely nothing. Now why would a team not only pay him say 4 million to do that, but ALSO give up valuable talent in the process of doing so? Teams are interested, if he comes for basically nothing.

As the article stated, Gerald Laird is the type of player that he is being discussed with. I mean, for as much as an assett he is for his defense, he's a liabilty with the offense. The RedSox should just cut their losses, and dump him, and thats probably what Theo is thinking right now. Or they should use him as a pinch runner, and replace Drew in the OF late in games or something.

That would never happen. He wouldn't be happy in that role, we might as well should just dump him and hope to get something useful.

And replace Drew in the OF late in games? That would be dumb. Coco may be faster, but Drew runs well and covers a ton of ground, and can actually throw well. Coco's arm barely gets by in center, putting it in right field would be a horror show.

He did hit 16 HRs with Cleveland in 2005. In 2006 he was derailed by a finger injury and struggled in 2007 but showed that he could hit very well at times. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get back to being a .300 hitter but I doubt he hits 16 HRs again.

Major Leagye Baseball usese stats that are "legit" that don't propely show accuracy idiot.

Right. hunter is one of the prmire CF in teh game, just as Ichiro. Coco is better than neither of them.

Indeed he does, but not as much as you seem to think. Coco is a Plus defender but not a star like Hunter, Jones, beltran and Ichiro.

His offenseive number are less than stellar, and really thats what matter in this game. You get through the Minors beacuse you can hit, not because you have a .998% Fielding percentage.

Look I know you like Crsip and all, but Gerald Laird for Crisp is a pretty decent deal.

What? VORP is a widely respected stat in the baseball world..it's for real.

I agree, he's not better than Ichiro or Hunter...but what I'm saying is he's close enough that he's worth more than a backup catcher with a career OPS+ of 74.

Maybe so. But I don't really think the Sox care. They want Coco gone and they'd take a back-up for him because they just don't care. On Crisp's page they have a link called "Crisp kills rally 400K", I don't think you would put that on a guys page you weren't upset with.

Crisp has worked out awefull offensively, and thats pretty sad for a guy playing at fenway.


Besdes all of that. You put Laird in Fenway, he is going to put up Crisp's average, and More Home Runs.


Bassically offensively they are the same player. Crsip could BE a back-up.

You might be right...but comparing their careers thus far, Coco is easily superior to Laird offensively. Texas is more of a hitter's park than Boston as well.

I think you make Fenway out to be a much bigger hitter's park than it is though. It's only a slight advantage now.

300 to left field dude. That's tiny.

Fenway is very much a hitters park 315 to left (if even). No Foul ground in the OF, wierd corners and angels. Its a HUGE hitters park and will add numerous points too a right handed hitter average. It may take away a few line-drive Hr's but it add's Pop fly Home run's.

The whole point of his value in those days were that he was going to be better than those numbers, that he was going to be the younger version of Jhonny Damon, and that just hasn't been the case. In 2 years, he's been below par on offense on a team that was loaded. Now Laird doesn't seem all that good, because you can just go out and sign Jose Molina for your backup catcher duties. But I'm just saying Coco's value is pretty low right now, and teams know that Ellsbury is waiting in the wings, which makes it even lower.

Except coco is a switch hitter, who is going to be batting left handed most of the time. In Fenway, he's not going to be able to hit to many homers out in right.

It's really only a hitter's park if you're a right handed dead pull hitter...and our only one is Mike Lowell. CF is fairly deep and RF is one of the hardest RF's to hit one out in baseball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

Was actually well below average for HRs this year.

It is low, because teams don't value defense anymore...but not Gerald Laird low. There's too many teams interested in him for Laird to be the highest offer.

I was talking about Laird.

Manny these days is seems to pull the ball a lot. Fenway has got some gap, and some spacious parts, but overall, it is definatley a offenseive haven for Right handed hitters.