Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

The Red Sox just announced they have traded center fielder Coco Crisp to the Royals in exchange for right-hander Ramon Ramirez.

Ramirez, 27, spent the entire season with the Royals and posted a 3-2 record with one save and a 2.64 ERA. In 71 2/3 innings of work he recorded 70 strikeouts.

"We believe we've acquired a young controllable reliever who can really help our bullpen," said Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. "He's got a plus-fastball 92-95 MPH and an outstanding power changeup with a pretty good slider. He's very quietly had a tremendous amount of success in the major leagues over the past 2 ½ seasons. We were looking for that type of upgrade at depth with our bullpen."

Crisp, who was part of the outfield rotation in Boston that included Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew and Jason Bay, hit .283 with seven home runs and 41 RBI in 118 games for the Red Sox in 2008.

Overall in three seasons with the Red Sox, Crisp hit .271 with 21 homers and 137 RBI in 368 games.

"He played through injuries while he was with us and he played hard," said Epstein. "He was a big part of us winning a world championship. His efforts here are certainly appreciated and he did it with a lot of class along the way."

 Tags  Coco Crisp Red Sox

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