Among the many other subplots swirling at the start of Spring Training '07 (Schilling's contract, Dice Clay's abilities, the extent of Lester's cancer recovery, J.D. Drew, whether or not Matt Clement will be able to throw a ball without his arm falling off - and whether anyone really cares - and all of the other things Robin's already mentioned) is the (hopefully) imminent return of Coco Crisp to form after last year's disastrous campaign. Crisp, who turned out to be the first casualty of the Year of the Walking Dead needed surgery in September to repair his finger and comes to Spring Training wondering whether or not he'll get back on track after his monster start last Spring.Does Crisp think he's ready? Of course he does - but then again, he's a ballplayer; it's his job to talk up his abilities. I'm convinced more teams would have a stat-head focus if so much of the business wasn't made up of people who've spent their whole careers talking up their skills. In any case, two points in Captain Crunch's (Crunch! Like Crisp! It's funny, right?) favor:
- He admits his finger is still stiff when he wakes up in the mornings, but works itself out by the time he has to play. I'm not sure if this sort of honesty impresses me, or makes me nervous. At least he's telling the truth.
- Now that the Sox have a real lead-off hitter, the foolish Coco-Bats-First experiment is over. The Herald has him batting second, Robin has him batting eighth, but I don't really care one way or another - just as long as he doesn't do any more head-first slides into third.
Posts
