UConn Huskies men’s basketball recruit Durand Scott has spurned the Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers and has decided to attend the University of Miami.

Coco Crisp just held a conference call with reporters talking about his trade from the Boston Red Sox to the Kansas City Royals for Ramon Ramirez. Here is what Coco had to say courtesy of Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

On the trade: “My agent told me that there was a possible trade in the works within this week. All that waiting and anticipating to see where you go or even whether it happens kind of keeps you on edge. When I finally got the news that I was going to Kansas City, I was excited,” said Crisp. “It kind of woke me up. It was kind of early around here, about 7 in the morning. I wasn’t fully awake yet.”

On his time in Boston: “It was a learning experience, definitely. That’s first and foremost how I’d classify it,” said Crisp. “On the field and off the field, it helped me grow.The one negative thing aspect that came out of the whole thing was that I was plagued by nagging injuries pretty much the whole time I was there, except a month here and a month there and towards the end of (the 2008) season…It’s been an up and down ride. Most of the time, I’ve enjoyed myself over there, even though it was difficult.”

On him and Ellsbury playing everyday now: “Ellsbury is a young guy who is coming to that day and age where he needs the opportunity to play everyday for everybody to know exactly what he can bring to the table,” said Crisp. “We didn’t get a full idea of what he was capable of. You can kind of tell, but I think this year coming up, with him playing everyday, hopefully he’ll have a great season and be able to show everybody that he’s going to be in the big leagues for a very long as a premier player in the big leagues.

“It’s nice for me to move aside and get out of the way, and for the Red Sox to allow this to happen by trading me and allowing me the opportunity to come to a team where I now have the opportunity to play everyday instead of being a filler guy—even though I got a lot of playing time last year due to other guys going down and being injured,” said Crisp. “I’m getting an opportunity to show everybody exactly what I’m capable of. I’m happy for that opportunity.”

Coco will definitely be missed here and I’m sure he’ll get a rousing ovation when the Royals come to town July 9-12 for a 4-game set.

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There has a been a rumor going around this morning that started on a Kansas City radio station that the Boston Red Sox were set to trade Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

According to Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe, the rumor has now been confirmed as the Red Sox will announce the trade at noon today.

Update:

The trade is official now. The Red Sox receive Ramon Ramirez from the Royals in exchange for Coco Crisp.

For the Red Sox, it’s a salary dump as Coco was set to receive $5.75 million in 2009 and has an $8 million option with a $500K buyout in 2010. Ramirez isn’t even arbitration-eligible yet and will be under the control of the Red Sox for 4 seasons.

The move hands Jacoby Ellsbury the starting center field position and a chance to play on an every day basis. Last season, he shared center field with Coco and also played the other outfield positions, giving Coco a chance to showcase his skills.

In 118 games last season, Crisp hit .283 with 7 home runs, 41 RBI and 20 stolen bases. His OBP was .344.

Ramirez appeared in 71 games last season and finished with 2.64 ERA striking out 70 in 71.2 innings.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a take from a Major League scout on Ramirez.

“Throws 92-95 with a heavy, late-life fastball . . . Gets away with mistakes over the middle of the plate because his fastball has so much late life . . . second-best arm in that bullpen (to Joakim Soria) . . . Likes to challenge hitters . . . Definitely a setup man with potential to be a closer down the road . . . Plus fastball, plus slider, has a splitter or something that resembles a splitter . . . Average command . . . Deceptive delivery makes it hard for righthanded hitters to pick up his fastball . . . Hitters can’t pick up his arm slot on the backside . . . Needs to tweak his off-speed pitches . . . Can throw his slider too hard . . . Very athletic. Fields his position well . . . Has an above-average 1.22 [second] release point [from the breaking of his hands to catchers mitt] on his slide step, 1.3 from the windup . . . Works fast.”

With the Red Sox acquiring Ramirez for the back end of their bullpen, it could mean that the Red Sox will be moving Justin Masterson back into the starting rotation. It could also mean that they could trade some pitching to the Rangers for catching. Of course that’s all speculation right now.

The Boston Celtics minus suspended star Kevin Garnett downed the New York Knicks 110-101 Tuesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston MA.

Garnett who was unable to play because of the one suspension for an altercation on Saturday in Milwaukee with Andrew Bogut was hardly missed as other players stepped up in absence.  Brian Scalabrine started in his place it was Scal’s 28th start as a member of the Celtics and he contributed 8 points and 3 rebounds in nearly 21 minutes.  Kendrick Perkins was the one who really stepped up as he played his best game of the year notching 16 points and grabbing 8 boards in the win.

After a tough first quarter in which New York led through out, Boston climbed back in the game with a solid second quarter to take a 56-47 lead into the break.  It was lead the Celtics were able to maintain through out the second half despite a few runs by the Knicks to get close.

In addition to Perk, the Green (10-2) were led by Paul Pierce who had 22 points, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo each added 15 and Leon Powe had 14 points in the win.

The Knicks (6-5), who appear to be buying into new coach Mike D’Antoni’s system and are much improved, were paced by Wilson Chandler who had 23 points, Zach Randolph put up 18 points and Chris Duhon added 15 in a losing effort.

The Celtics host Allen Iverson, Richard Hamilton and the Pistons on Thursday night.