Small market teams are teams too

Even before Johnny Damon turned Benedict Arnold, I heard the rumblings. Murmurs around Bean-Town about potential replacements for Damon, should he choose to leave. Corey Patterson, Joey Gathright, Jeremy Reed. Coco Crisp.

Coco Crisp?! Surely this must be a figment of some Sox fan’s wishful thinking. But the more sources I heard the Crisp rumor from, the more I thought it was a possibility. Furthermore, I heard that Bronson Arroyo or Matt Clement would be going the other way.

First of all, this is ridiculous. The Indians have eight starting pitchers and Coco won’t be eligible for free agency for another three years. He’s just entering his prime, plays excellent defense, and has proven himself for two full years at the plate.

While I scoffed at the silliness of the deal from the Indians’ point of view, I was amazed at how it was treated in Boston. A lot of Bostonians used the same points I made above as rationale why this trade would happen: Coco’s entering his prime, has proven he can hit, won’t be a free agent for awhile, and could likely handle center field for the Sox. They failed to realize that it was these exact points that would prevent this trade from occurring.

Many people in big-market cities where the team is consistently good view other, smaller cities simply as farm teams for the big cities. They are right to a small extent---Florida sold off all of their players this off-season (although they made a lot of smart baseball moves…more on this another time). However, Florida is the exception, not the rule---they are facing extenuating circumstances regarding their ballpark. Big-city fans look at a smaller-market team and simply pick off the players they want from that team. Then, they find the players they like least from their own team and decide that’s who will be traded (hence Clement or Arroyo for Crisp).

The only way the Indians will deal Crisp to the Red Sox is if they get blown away by the value they are receiving…in other words, if the Red Sox offer Andy Marte. Other than that, Cleveland has absolutely no reason to trade Crisp, no matter how well he might fit at Fenway. The Indians are not here to serve other teams; rather, they will use their players to beat other teams.