Coco on his way to Kansas City...

Red Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp has been traded to the Kansas City Royals for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez according to MLB sources. Everyone assumed the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury meant the Sox would trade Crisp by the trade deadline this past season, thankfully that did not happen as Crisp played a vital role this season. When Ellsbury failed to live up to the hype Crisp was there to play, and he eventually took the starting job in the ALCS.

So what are the Sox getting in return? Ramirez is 27 years old and throws in the low 90's with a lights out curve and a good splitter. Last year with the Royals his era was 2.64 and he struck out 70 in 71.2 innings and only allowed two home runs the entire season, holding right handed hitters to a .153 average.

The question has been posed are the Sox looking to move Justin Masterson back into the starting rotation, or is Hernandez taking Mike Timlin's place who presumably is retiring. I think it's too early to say either way, but I do like this trade.

Lastly I'll say that Coco Crisp could have sat on the bench and complained all season about how he wasn't getting respect, but he did not. Coco showed a lot of class and respect for Francona and the organization by accepting his role as 4th outfielder never making playing time an issue.

Overall Crisp never turned into the lead off hitter the Sox thought they were getting from Cleveland, but I wish him well in Kansas City nonetheless, he was a class act.

ITM notes:

Unnamed sources, always the best kind, say that the Red Sox are in the race for former Blue Jay pitcher AJ Burnett. Of course no specifics about what kind of deal is actually on the table, the Yankees were reportedly offering 4 years $100 million.

Burnett definitely has the talent to be a good pitcher, however he's always had health issues and has only made more then 30 starts twice in his career, both contract years I believe.