The acquisition of Mark Kotsay allows the Red Sox two luxuries: one, it keeps them from rushing the immensely valuable J.D. Drew back from a nagging herniated disc injury too soon , preventing a possible re-aggravation of the injury during a more crucial time at the end of September, and, two, allows Coco Crisp to once again before more of a fourth outfielder than everyday starter, moving Ellsbury to center field and Kotsay to right field on a full-time basis until Drew returns. Kotsay provides many welcomed traits: strong defense in CF that will translate favorably to a corner outfield position, above average speed, and a more potent doubles/power bat than Coco Crisp, with the defensive downgrade marginal at best.
Once again, the proactive Theo Epstein addressed a need immediately instead of sitting back and waiting for injured players to recover before it
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Craig Hansen managed to give up 4 runs tonight without getting a single out. He walked in both the tying and the winning runs in the 8th inning.
told you he sucked
Kotsay’s wife is very hot, but I still think that Lester’s girlfriend takes the cake
On the other hand, Brandon Moss keeps improving, and went 2 for 4 last night, and has played some stellar defense. Let’s hope Kotsay sees this as a good opportunity to get a ring, insure a good final contract somewhere, enhance his statistics in a friendly park . . . and does a Jason Bay. Great for the stretch run.
I hate how people don’t give coco a lot of credit…jacoby ellsbury isn’t ll that good( 1 for 6 last night) oh yeah and coco 3 for 5. stop hating on coc once jacoby starts getting back to his better hitting maybe i’ll change my opinion but for now coco and jacoby are pretty much even in everything except stolen bases. as a boston sports fan you need to reconize what EVERY player has done and coc has done a lot, Jacoby yeah he was good in the playoffs but he’s cooled down and he really isn’t all that great definetely not rookie of the year quality.
Zach, I feel you on the proactive nature of Theo Epstein’s wheelings and dealings down the stretch! Theo has not been given enough credit for acquiring Jason Bay, David Ross, Paul Byrd and Mark Kotsay. This very well may be Epstein’s best collection of pennant drive pick ups since taking over as the teams GM 5 years ago. Lastly we must also thank the Yankees for having the stones not to block the recent waiver-wire deals via the Sox Front Office and at the same time let us thank them for their continued stupidity involving all late season moves or shall I say non-moves (This will be the last time I condone thanking the Yankees for anything!!)
The reason that the Yankees didn’t block the moves is because they couldn’t. The injuries that necessitated making deals happened after the players had already cleared waivers, so unless the Yankees had some ability to see into the future they had no ability to block the trades.
Bob, I understand your point on the Yankees lack of foresight. In my opinion successful General Managers should always be projecting the future to keep themselves and their respective teams one step ahead of the competition…
Its being reported its not a throwaway prospect but Luis Sumoza who has been excellent for Lowell this season. Terrible value for 5 weeks of Kotsay. Sumoza was hitting .300 with 11 homeruns in 189 at bats with Lowell. I guess the silver lining is Sumoza is rule 5 eligible at the end of next year so he would likely be claimed as he would not be ready for the 40 man roster at the end of next year. Either way, not good asset management…Sumoza could have been packaged for something much better in my opinion.
meh, i disagree I think the deal is fine. Bet the Braves wish they still had Devine.
I’m with Evan, who knows Kotsay could stick around for another year as the 4th outfielder
I’m not devastated and I like getting Kotsay enough. It just seems like if they are willing to move a guy like Sumoza (who I was very high on, maybe the Sox are not) I just wish he was packaged for a reliever at the deadline versus getting Kotsay…who has a slight ops advantage to Coco and far less range/speed (although the superior arm strength). Either way, I hope Kotsay does well and we can evaluate in 5 weeks and again in 3-4 years on Sumoza.
By the way, Boras is trying to say the Pirates Pedro Alvarez signing happend after the 8/15 draft signing deadline and trying to null/void the deal. Boras is an ass.
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/archive/2008/08/27/union-to-file-grievance-regarding-alvarez.aspx
Predictably, however, Mr. Boras refused to engage in any negotiations at all until shortly before the August 15 deadline and even then an agreement was reached only after Pedro took control of the negotiations.
The Pirates are confident that the contract reached with Pedro Alvarez was agreed to and submitted to Major League Baseball in a timely fashion and properly accepted by Major League Baseball. In fact, the contract between the Kansas City Royals and Eric Hosmer, another Boras client, was submitted to the Office of the Commissioner after our contract with Pedro was submitted. Mr. Boras is apparently satisfied with the $6 million bonus that he secured for Mr. Hosmer and has not challenged the validity of that contract. Mr. Boras has been informed that if he pursues a claim that our contract with Pedro was not timely he puts Eric Hosmer’s contract with Kansas City in jeopardy.
I guess I just want to punch Nick Carfardo in the face for giving the impression that it was for a middling pitching prospect and then having it turn out to be Sumoza.
OK JaredK. Let it go. We get it. You don’t like the fact that we gave up Sumoza.
I had take out last night, paid $4.25 and had pretty crappy Samosa. Even with the price differential I’ll take my chances with Kotsay.
Seemed like a relevant forum to discuss it.
It is a relevant forum, I’m just not sure we should have said no to Sumoza. He’s 20, right? And he seems to either be a yay or nay type prospect. Maybe he won’t turn out well… maybe he’ll be the next Engel Beltre. Can we say with any certainty?
I would rather trade Sumoza for Kotsay than a reliever for the simple reason that trading for relief never ever works
I respect that and have tempered my initial response which is why I mentioned my dismay with the report of a mid-level pitching prospect. I was just a little surprised it took that much to land a guy like Kotsay. Sumoza is just one of the few raw power prospects we have and was looking forward (although still skeptical) to see how he developed next year in Greenville. He is definitely a hit or miss guy and has swing/walk issues but again something we don’t have much of in our system. Either way, good deal for Atlanta and hopefully Kotsay contributes.
I approve Mr. Epstein.
Once again Theo shows his management skills … I have always liked the way he deals with his roster during the season … as questionable as his offseason moves can be sometimes he has confidence in the roster he builds and sticks with them … and yet he has a knack for knowing just when a move needs to be made to patch a temporary problem or to re-energize the team midseason … Say what you will about him as a GM … Its small moves like this one that keep a team moving forward and towards the main goal … winning a championship
Amber, Coco has done a great job for the Sox this year, with his incredible defense, and runnng the bases in ways which delivers that extra run. Instead of carrying a grudge, he has become a team-mate with Ells. But his hitting is way off his career average of .280BA, .738OPS, and with the loss of power hitters Manny, JD & Mike, for the home stretch we really need more pop than Coco is providing.
Ells is hitting marginally better than Coco, but he is also a leader in several categories, like runs scored, and should steal 50 – 60 bases, doubling Coco’s output. We can hope Ells finds his swing again, but he continues to outperform Coco.
Because of Coco’s age (28) and defensive skills, he will have higher trade value next year than Mark Kotsay and will probably move on anyway to be a starter. He is our loss. But we can be very glad to have Kotsay’s bat right now, to try and replace JD’s, in the same way Lowrie replaced Mike’s and J.Bay replaced Manny’s. Even so, without Dustin & Pedroia we would not now be in contention. Theo has done well, and the goal is the WS. With JD on the DL, Coco simply reverts to the 4th OF role that he has played so well all season long, and with 9/1 coming he will continue to contribute on the expanded roster.
Ya’ll got a helluva deal !!! Kotsay is a class act who is a great defensive outfielder and a gap hitter w/ surprising pop. also, he’s a leader in the clubhouse !!