WEEI.com- Major-league sources have confirmed a report that surfaced this morning out of Kansas City that the Red Sox have traded Coco Crisp to the Royals for reliever Ramon Ramirez. An official announcement is expected shortly. Nevertheless, it is quite apparent that the demand for the Red Sox centerfielder is far more robust this year than it was last offseason...That market reality, coupled with a solid year at the plate from Crisp, created a significant increase in demand for the 29-year-old’s services.

I'm going to confess that I'm not the world's foremost authority on the Kansas City bullpen. Or brag about for that matter because the only people who are tend to be Fantasy geeks who cower from sunlight. So I have nothing to go on when it comes to Ramon Ramirez other than his name, which fills me with fear and dread because it cojures up images of Ramon Martinez and Manny Ramirez, and his numbers, which make me think the Sox got a tremendous deal here:2008: 3-2 W-L, 2.64 ERA, 71/7 Inn, 57 H, 31 BB, 70 K.

Holy crap. And he'll 27 years old on Opening Day. Believe me, I loved Coco. But he was expendable. And there's only so much time where you can keep a productive veteran around as your 4th outfielder and ignoring his trade requests before you just create a problem for yourself. Coco did it this year and was denied. But like a pro he sucked it up, played when he was needed, had a great postseason and damn near got us to the World Series. And as big an asset as he's been, when you can get a young kid capable of putting up numbers like this on a gawdawful Royals team, you jump at the chance. Let the Yankees keep overpaying for pitchers on the downside of their careers and trading for the worst hitter in baseball. Theo just got his offseason off to a hell of a good start.