If Coco smacked Jacoby over the head with his bat, as it looks like he's about to do in this photo, it would solve our problem. I'm not suggesting that he should because he would probably be charged with assault and then we would be center fielder-less but it would temporarily solve the issue of who gets to play. Unfortunately for my poorly thought out scheme, Coco is a really good guy and the two of them get along famously so he would not be a party to it.
It's not that I don't like Jacoby (with this posting he'll take the lead for the most posts in this little acre of cyberspace), or that I condone violence as a way of solving problems, it's just that I really enjoy watching Coco Crisp play baseball. And it seems like a huge leap of faith to just give the job to a kid who happened to get hot right at the right time.
Will Ellsbury be an offensive improvement over Crisp? Probably. Crisp has really struggled offensively since coming here from Cleveland. He used to be able to hit, though. He's been banged up a lot since the trade which might explain the lack of hitting. But when he showed up in Florida today, he looked bigger to me. It might be sign that he's finally found his bat again.
Will Ellsbury be a defensive improvement over Crisp? Nope. Crisp is practically a magnet out there. He was nearly perfect-he was charged with one error last season. He had the highest range factor at center field for the entire league. Will Ellsbury be able to match what Crisp can do in center field? I don't know. And while there's little doubt that Ellsbury is a good center fielder, it'd be a hard row to hoe.
It's definately a pickle. If they haven't already made their decision as to who gets to start, it'll come down to who is hitting better (hence my oh-so-clever title.) And that remains to be seen. How much of a hot streak was Ellsbury on? Has the lost bat of Coco Crisp been located over the off season?
If I was in charge (and Red Sox fans the world over should be glad that I'm not in charge-I'd be prone to making some pretty suspect decisions based on irrelevant things like quality of smile, hair style, and how good of a story the player has) I'd have Crisp as the starter for the first couple of months, let him build up some trade value, then allow him to choose which team he wanted to go to (because I am nice and I would want him to still like me at the end of the day) and get the best I could from that team trade-wise. But unless Ellsbury turned out to be a flash-in-the-pan, I would trade Crisp even though I like him a lot.
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