Though this only comes as news to those who spent the past two days doing something constructive, the Globe’s Chris Snow lays out the Coco Crisp trade in greater detail.
The Red Sox, according to a source with knowledge of the deal, have reached agreement in principle with the Indians on a complex six-player deal centered upon 26-year-old Coco Crisp that also will bring to town a quality setup man in 28-year-old David Riske and young catcher Josh Bard.
Boston will ship top prospect Andy Marte, reliever Guillermo Mota, and catcher Kelly Shoppach (above) to Cleveland. The deal is contingent upon physicals. The only player in the deal with a known and recent injury issue is Mota, who missed a month last season with the Marlins because of inflammation in his throwing elbow.
It’s possible Mota’s medical records could raise enough concern that the deal would be killed or reworked. However, consummating the deal has required more than 75 phone calls between the clubs in the last month, and it’s likely, given the time and energy committed, that if a problem were to be detected during a physical, the teams would try to revise the package of players.
Furthermore, the Indians don’t have an-house successor to Crisp and are believed to have been working on a deal for the Phillies’ fourth outfielder, Jason Michaels. If that were to fall through, or if the Indians were unable to get a left fielder to replace Crisp in a concurrent deal, that also could put in peril the Crisp deal, given that Cleveland then would have a gaping hole in his absence.