Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald and Buster Olney of ESPN are hearing the same thing: that Coco Crisp is available in trade talks. In fact, Crisp was offered to the White Sox for a starting pitcher. The Sox have six of ’em, so it’s anybody’s guess. Maybe a buy low attempt on the fatigued Mark Buehrle? Nah.
Crisp is hitting just .269/.322/.389 since returning from a broken finger and kidney stones on May 28th. His OBP is not down because he’s drawing fewer walks – in fact, his walk rate has remained remarkably steady for years. It’s down because Crisp’s OBP is normally driven by a .300 average and the hits aren’t quite there this season. That’s the problem with an OBP reliant on base hits. The culprit may be a reduction in Crisp’s contact rate. Normally he puts the bat on the ball 86% of the time but this year he’s down to 83%.
Even an average center fielder should post a .335 OBP and .425 SLG, and normally Crisp tops that. He’s still just 26. Defensively, Crisp is one of the game’s best as a left fielder. In center field, not so much.
The Red Sox seemingly wanted to keep Crisp around, signing him to a three year contract extension in April. However, they did trade Bronson Arroyo after signing him to a contract extension.
