The Wonderful bloggers at at Purplerow and Bad Alttiude seem to think that Coco Crisp is an ideal target for our Center Field Woes. I don’t belive this is the best option for the Rockies. Lets look at some numbers:
First our own centerfielders:
Cory Sullivan: .267/.321/.402 – .729 OPS
Choo Freeman: .237/.298/.341 – .629 OPS
Jeff Salazar: .283/.409/.415 – .824 OPS – Low Sample Size
Ryan Spilborghs .287/.337/.431 – .773 OPS
And a look at Coco Crisp
.264/.317/.385 – .702 OPS
even if this was an offyear for Crips, his career numbers come to:
.282/.329/.416 – .745 OPS
When you factor in defence Crisp was at the bottom of the list in terms of CF. So basically Crips is Cory Sullivan with worse defense.
Here is my proposed solution:
Jeff Baker, he ripped it up in the minor leagues and in the Month of September. It was once thought that because of his athetic ability he would be moved to 2b, so I think he clearly could be average at CF, als you can always keep Sullivan or Salazar around for a late inning replacement. Consider the following lineup.
1) Carroll 2b
2) Baker CF
3) Atkins 3b
4) Holliday LF
5) Helton 1b
6) Hawpe RF
7) Ianetta/Torrealba C
Tulo SS
Anouther reason I wouldn’t want to trade for Crisp is because we would probably have to give up a decent prospect to do so. On the Rockies Fanhome board, the discussion was brought up aboud trading Morales for Crips, and while as a Rockies fan that seems to be too much, given how many teams are looking to fill a hole at CF, Morales might be the reasonable asking price. This just isn’t the market to trade for a guy lik Crisp, instead move Baker to CF, and get max value for a guy like Sulivan.
Thoughts? Ideas? Leave a comment.
