Why the Sox Should be Cuckoo for Coco Crisp

Perhaps Pogo said it best; "We have met the enemy, and it is us !"

As spring training unfolds in balmy Ft. Meyers, a cloud is forming on the horizon; a cloud in the form of a killer shark! Er, wait a minute, wrong rant; sorry.

But if there is one symbol that highlights just how spoiled citizens in the Red Sox Nation have become, it might as well be a shark. Fans are gobbling up all things Red Sox quicker than a Great White in a seal migration. But the shark in this story is Covelli Loyce Crisp. 

The Red Sox fancy themselves as a friendly organization to player and fan alike. And why not? This mutual admiration society is churning out more syrup than a waffle house. The fans make Gods of the players, and the players, for their part, bask in the adulation.

Mike Lowell and Curt Schilling both opted for less money when they signed on to play this year. Players around the league envy the playoff atmosphere that oozes out of Fenway Park on game night. Enter the shark.

Covelli—you know him as Coco—is swimming upstream in Ft. Meyers, and the whisper campaign is fast enveloping Crisp for basically taking the stance that though residing in the adult romper room known as Fenway is nice, he would, you know, like to play. And if he can't play every day, he'd like to go somewhere that he could.

Good for Coco! And rightfully so! What does the man have to do? He is a career .280 hitter with some speed and a kickin' glove. The man is 28. This is the prime time in a ballplayer's career: time to make hay. Rank the starting center fielders across baseball, and you won't find five better defensively in the bunch.

Few dispute this. But in Boston, there is an almost nauseating spread of Ellsbury-itis going on, and all at the expense of Crisp. Don't get me wrong. Jacoby is the real deal. His performance down the stretch and in the postseason last year was phenominal. But therein lies the problem.

One of the main reasons for Ellsbury's success, was because he was lightning in a bottle. He had limited exposure, and teams didn't have a book on him. That's a long way from trotting out to center every single night, and maintaining a professional pace. With the so many kids rushing through the Red Sox system, especially on the mound, this is not the time for on-the-job-training in center field.

Coco Crisp has been there and done that. As his injury history demonstrates, center field is a physically demanding position. Nevertheless, he deserves to start, and he needs the organization to get behind him. For a man who saved many a game running down fly balls last year, it is disappointing to see the club running him down in the newspapers this week.

Ellsbury will likely have a long and fruitful carrer ahead of him. But it won't happen overnight. In the meantime, he'd do well to learn from Crisp. The hunch here is that once Coco gets going, fans will appreciate his offense as well. Or have they become too spoiled by Ellsbury to notice?