CLEVELAND -- Show a little faith, Tribe fans.
That's general manager Mark Shapiro's plea in the wake of a rather unpopular move that sent outfielder Coco Crisp to the Red Sox on Friday night.
"Bear with me, hang in there and trust we have a very bright future in '06 and beyond," was Shapiro's message to fans during a conference call with reporters Saturday morning.
The call represented Shapiro's first public comments on the long-speculated and finally completed deals that sent Crisp, David Riske and Josh Bard to the Red Sox for reliever Guillermo Mota, third base prospect Andy Marte, catching prospect Kelly Shoppach, a player to be named later and cash, and Arthur Rhodes to the Phillies for outfielder Jason Michaels.
When news of the deals first leaked in Boston newspapers last weekend, fans here were venomous in their calls to local sports talk radio stations.
Many saw the trade of the enigmatic Crisp for a package littered with prospects as more of a rebuilding move than a trade that would push the Indians into the playoffs this coming season.
Shapiro said he doesn't see it that way at all.
"I would hope that we've built up some trust through our decisions over the last three years," Shapiro said. "There have been a lot of other times we've made decisions people have been frustrated by, but we were a very good team last year, and we're going to be a very good team this year."
The Indians, according to Shapiro, never deliberately set out to trade Crisp, though teams certainly came through with some tempting offers over the last few months.
What put the Red Sox over the edge was the inclusion of Marte, generally regarded as one of the game's top prospects, and Mota, whom Shapiro feels can be the Tribe's eighth-inning setup man.
"We had some very attractive prospect deals [offered for Crisp], but none we would have ever traded him for," Shapiro said. "And certainly none that fit our short- and long-term plan the way this one does."
In the short term, Marte heads to Triple-A Buffalo, and Aaron Boone continues to get the start at third base.
But Shapiro said he feels the 22-year-old Marte, who hit .275 with 20 home runs and 74 RBIs for Triple-A Richmond in the Braves' farm system last season, will be big-league ready in the near future -- most likely by the end of the season.
"His defense is Major League-ready," Shapiro said of Marte. "We'd still like to see him develop a more effective two-strike approach. He is not Major League-ready now, but he's very near Major League-ready."
The deal with Boston nearly fell apart when Mota reported to Cleveland for a physical Tuesday, and the Indians voiced some concerns to the Red Sox about the status of the right-hander's arm.
Boston sweetened the pot by including extra cash and a player to be named later as insurance for Mota, who missed significant time at the end of last season with a weak shoulder.
The Indians think Mota, if healthy, will be a fine replacement for Rhodes in the eighth inning.
"We've always liked Mota," Shapiro said. "There was some cause for concern in the medical and with last year's issues, so we took pre-emptive action and did some restructuring in the trade to mitigate some of our risk."
Shapiro said the Red Sox were reluctant to part with Shoppach, and that several teams are interested in acquiring the 25-year-old catcher, who hit .253 with 26 home runs and 75 RBIs for Triple-A Pawtucket last year.
"He's one of the best catching prospects in the Minor Leagues, and he led the International League in throwing out [44 percent of his] runners last year," Shapiro said. "If he's on our big-league club this year, he can give us great comfort in resting [Victor Martinez] or playing Vic at first base."
The Indians expect Shoppach to compete with Einar Diaz in Spring Training for the backup catcher's job. Shapiro also hinted that Shoppach could be dealt to another club.
"He has been sought after, and if there's not a fit for him here, [trading Shoppach is] a possibility as well," Shapiro said.
The Indians had internal discussions about making the deal with the Phillies, regardless of how the Crisp trade talks panned out, in order to have Michaels in line for the right field job. Ultimately though, the club would not have dealt Rhodes away without getting a veteran reliever in return.
But with both deals done, the left field job is now Michaels' to lose, Shapiro said. The 29-year-old Michaels, who had a .399 on-base percentage while platooning in center field with Kenny Lofton last season, is also expected to take Crisp's spot in the No. 2 hole in the batting order.
Shapiro addressed Michaels' July fight with a Philadelphia policeman, which recently earned him six months of probation and 100 hours of community service.
"To say we did background checks on this guy would be an understatement," Shapiro said. "We found, unequivocally, he's a great teammate and a great guy in clubhouse. We looked at the incident and the police report, and it's my understanding there was not a very good case [against Michaels]. The prosecution did not move forward. It was an isolated incident, and one he feels bad about. We've very comfortable about this pickup."
Shapiro is equally comfortable losing Crisp, who has always been deemed as a more natural center fielder than left fielder.
"One of the parts of this equation, which can't be looked at by any one facet, is that Coco and [Grady Sizemore] have similar skill sets and a similar primary position," Shapiro said. "We're certainly excited about Grady in center field. That makes [Crisp's] value to another team greater than his value to us, and we like him a lot."
Shapiro said he pushed to ensure he was getting a fair value in return for the popular Crisp, and the Red Sox pushed equally hard in their pursuit.
"It was," Shapiro said, "too much to turn down."
Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
<SCRIPT src="/scripts/webtools.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
