The Ramirez for Crisp Trade

Ramon Ramirez had the best season of his brief three-year Major League career in 2008. He was 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 71 appearances, so it wasn’t surprising when a contender came calling about him. What was surprising was that Dayton Moore parted with him in exchange for Coco Crisp—especially given the reports that the Royals are “quietly shopping Guillen.”

If the Royals are shopping Jose Guillen (and oh how I hope they are), then our 2009 outfield might look considerably different. Who knows who we might get in exchange for Guillen, but I doubt that it would be another power hitting outfielder who is ready to step in an play. What would be the point for the other team? Instead, I can see it being more good young pitching. So, if Guillen gets moved, our 2009 outfield might consist of David DeJesus in left, Coco Crisp in center, and Mark Teahen in right (assuming he isn’t dealt away, and it sounds like the Cubs are still interested in him). Given the lack of power that these guys display, wouldn’t such an outfield be contrary to what Moore keeps saying he wants out there?

Crisp only got 361 at bats last year in Boston. Let’s project his numbers from last year based on 518 at bats since that’s how many DeJesus got. Here’s how their numbers from last year would look:

	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SB	AVG	OBP
Crisp	518	10	58	50	28	.283	.344
DeJesus	518	12	73	46	11	.307	.366
Teahen	572	15	59	46	4	.255	.313

Does this look like an outfield that is going to scare anybody? I like the idea of DeJesus hitting in the three hole. If he hit there all year, I think he’d have a career year. He can handle the bat, he can drive the ball occasionally, and he simply finds a way to get on base. He’s not the prototypical three hole hitter, but he would be fine there. Crisp would be fine at the top of the lineup as well. Let’s assume that Jacobs would hit fourth. Who hits after him? Billy Butler? Alex Gordon? Teahen? Butler would probably get the nod, but is he going to be enough protection for Jacobs?

Moore still has work to do this offseason and maybe he has something in the works to account for all of this. But looking at the Crisp trade with the information we have right now, it’s a hard one to understand.