Making News Off the Field

Not the Sox. That was apparent today, when positional players arrived and started the following dominoes on their falling path:

1) Coco Crisp would rather be traded than sit on the bench
2) Manny not only wouldn't be late, he wouldn't be the last man in on assignment day
3) Big Papi is happy to hold court with the press (shock!)
4) Terry Francona likes to powder his press conferences with one-liners (double-shock!)
5) Mike Timlin and Justin Masterson don't engender as much attention as Ortiz or Francona (triple-shock!), and
6) Curt Schilling doesn't actually issue broad proclamations each morning


Note the "each morning" as opposed to "most mornings". Exactly how Schilling is supposed to keep himself relevant on a daily basis while he sits on the DL may be the most intriguing preliminary question entering the season. Seriously, if you have an idea about how he's going to pull off that boondoggle, WMYM wants to know.

As much as all those stories were intriguing, there were two that clearly took prevalence. The first was Crisp's declaration that if he doesn't win the starting center fielders spot - and it says here that he won't - he'd like to take his bags to Logan, please. Considering Crisp's personality and penchant for hard-nosed plays - see broken fingers and continued bare-handed batting - that shouldn't be too shocking, which is also an indication that Theo Epstein might want to get the Rangers, White Sox et al back on the ringer.

As much as the Herald's Steve Buckley is often one of the Hub's biggest blowhards, it's pretty hard to argue with his assertion that the center field "audition" is actually over before it begins. Let's see, are the Sox more likely to protect an asset they balked at using as a chip to land the best pitcher in baseball, or are they more likely to protect a sub-.280 hitter at Fenway? Not only is that decision a no-brainer, it makes Crisp's announcement on Wednesday a true head-scratcher. If you're Coco Crisp, why would you make your intentions known ahead of time, driving down your trade demand. Why not open up training camp on a tear, make yourself valuable and then use the World Series title and spring training start as a springboard? Seems logical, right?

Furthermore, if Crisp decreases his trade value steeply enough, isn't it possible that the Sox would just hold on to him out of spite? That might leave Bobby Kielty unprotected, but the red-head signed a minor league deal, so the Sox could keep him on the shelf until Crisp was sufficiently stewed up. Not exactly an ideal crock pot to be in.

So, while WMYM continues to puzzle over Coco's headstrong entrance and ManRam's sudden emergence as Wonder Woman to Varitek's Captain America (actually, we're not puzzled over that at all. It's all about money getting picked up in the final option years of his contract), there's contentment in glancing at the pitching starts for upcoming Spring Training games, including a fascinating second-game combo of stud sinkerballer Justin Masterson, slider-phenom Craig Hansen, David Pauley and a handful of other young pitchers. If you can recover from the cornucopia of prospect beef quickly enough, you'll find Julian Tavarez in the middle of a Japanese sandwich of Dice-K and Hideki Okajima. For what it's worth, here's the complete opening starts, courtesy Extra Bases.

Now, for the daily Schilling update: There is none. Phew! Thank God. Big Schill needs to give it a rest once in awhile, just don't tell him that.

Cameron covers the Red Sox on his blog, Who Made You Mirabelli?Leave a Comment

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