The Globe this morning is reporting that Boston will get David Riske and Josh Bard along with Coco Crisp, while the Tribe will get Kelly Shoppach in addition to Guillermo Mota and Andy Marte. I have to say, this even further confounds. Riske represents a slight upgrade over Mota but Shoppach is a far more promising player than Bard. Bard is what he is now, a guy that will be 28 on Opening Day who sports a career OPS+ of 77. So the Indians and Red Sox compared Marte and Crisp and apparently determined that Boston needed to sweeten the deal? I don’t get it.

Well I suppose it is time to let it go. The Red Sox are dealing Andy Marte. What this doubtless does is improve the team’s chances for the 2006 season, so that’s exciting. And it is tough to quibble too much since Crisp should be just about as good as Johnny Damon was last year and he is only 26.

The Globe also reports that the Sox are close to a deal for Marlins shortstop, Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a nifty glovesman with some pop, though his on-base numbers fail to overwhelm. At a reasonable price I like the deal because I am a believer that if you collect enough bodies in an uncertain situation, something is more likely to work. Remember, David Ortiz was acquired as insurance for Jeremy Giambi and Kevin Millar in 2003. So now the Sox have Alex Cora, Alex Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia to potentially play shortstop, a combination that I think is likely to allow them to get more out of the position than they did in 2005.