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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