Crisp walked 44 times in ‘05

Kind of ironic that a guy named after a breakfast cereal will be setting the table for Big Papi and Manny. But Coco Crisp will need to do a little better than the 44 walks he had in 2005 to get the job done.

The 44 walks marked a career high for Crisp, as did his 81 strikeouts. Those numbers sound more like a replacement for Mark Bellhorn than Johnny Damon. Still CC should be one most interesting players to follow in 2005 for a number of reasons.

The most obvious of those is lineup. Crisp put up some pretty nice numbers last year (16 HR, 69 RBI, .300 BA) in a lineup lacking much thunder. It’s a different story this year. In addition to Ortiz and Ramirez, he will have a .300 hitter following him in Mark Loretta. So CC will see a lot of strikes in the leadoff spot.

Now, that may or may not lead to more walks, but should reduce the number of strikeouts because nobody will be pitching around Coco Crisp this year.

23 SBs for Gonzalez

New Red Sox shortstop Alex Gonzalez comes with the good glove-no stick reputation. Might as well as add ‘no run’ to that as Gonzalez possesses a mere 23 career stolen bases in eight major league seasons, including a scary five in 2005.

Granted, that’s not why the Boston Red Sox picked him up. You can’t steal first and his career batting average of .245 and on-base percentage of .292 might somewhat explain his Red Sox-like SB numbers. Still you would not expect your starting shortstop to have the same number of career steals as your starting catcher (Jason Varitek also has 23).

That puts a lot of pressure on Gonzalez to live up to his reputation in the field. There, he’s committed 16 errors a year in each of the past three seasons. That’s Nomar or Renteria by the All-Star break, folks.

Still, it makes you wonder how patient Red Sox nation will be with a guy who offers so little offense. Red Sox fans loved Pokey. Guess it’s only a matter of time to see whether Sox fans share that sentiment for Gonzo.

Let it Snow at 1B?

New free agent acquisition J.T. Snow brings with him a rep as a slick fielding first baseman. Along with his six Gold Gloves, Snow also gives Red Sox fans a legitimate debate topic as to who should get the most playing time at first: Kevin Youkilis or Snow?

Despite the Moneyball wonks’ love of Youkilis’ on-base percentage, he’s still an unproven commodity at the major league level over a full season. Then you have Snow whose last season with more than 500 ABs was in 2000. His offensive numbers since becoming a part-time player have been modest at best: 4 HR, 40 RBI, .275 BA in 05. This is no John Olerud, folks.

The cause for concern here is that in a lefty-righty platoon, the lefty gets most of the at-bats. Snow’s defense will make amends for a lot of his woes at the plate. Will that be enough for Sox fans? Or will we be hearing “Youk” cries on those days a right-hander takes the mound?

Like every other controversy with our beloved Boston Red Sox, this one will play itself out. But during the hot stove time of year, you really have to wonder how often it will “Snow” in 2006.

Riske walked 15 in 05

New Boston Red Sox Middle Reliever David Riske walked a career low 15 batters in 2005—down from 41 in 2004. For 58 appearances and 72 innings pitched, that’s not so bad.

Interesting to note that the improved control resulted in fewer strikeouts (48) than past seasons, but more importantly less hits (55). As the bridge guy to Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke, Riske could be one of those unsung players who make the difference between the team being a contender and a pretender.

Fortunately for Riske, he came to the Red Sox in the Coco Krisp deal. Automatically that makes him second in the pecking order for dumb Jerry Trupiano comments during radio broadcasts. Still, expect to hear at least one “Riske reward” comment from the “way back” broadcaster each time David Riske enters a game this season.