Friday, December 4, 2009

Two notable rival moves

by Larry Koestler

So much for Dustin Pedroia moving to shortstop. The Red Sox have signed Marco Scutaro -- coming off a career year in 2009 -- to a two-year deal with an option. This isn't terribly surprising given the revolving door that is playing shortstop for Boston, although it seems highly unlikely that Scutaro -- who prior to 2009 had never posted an above-average season -- will get anywhere near a 111 OPS+ again. While the Red Sox needed an upgrade, signing the 33-year-old Scutaro while at the height of his value smacks of desperation -- I guess Boston isn't sold on Jed Lowrie?

As I mentioned in Mike's piece about the Red Sox, I remain baffled that the Red Sox didn't bother re-signing Orlando "Almost as annoying as Chone Figgins" Cabrera after winning it all with him in 2004. I imagine he was probably looking for too much money for a career 86 OPS+ player, but he still seems to get a big hit against the Yankees in every single at-bat and has also outproduced every Boston shortstop since his departure except for Edgar Renteria in 2005. In any event, looking forward to another misguided shortstop signing blowing up in Theo's face. The curse of Nomar, perhaps? Though it's clearly not much of a curse given the collection of two World Series trophies since his departure.

In slightly more astute free agent signing news, the Phillies have brought Placido Polanco back into the fold, and plan to move the ertswhile second baseman to third, which was easily the team's weakest offensive spot on the diamond. Polanco's career .335 wOBA replaced Pedro Feliz's .305, making the strongest lineup in the National League even deeper. At this point, let's hope the rumors of Roy Halladay to the Phillies remain just that.
at 10:00 AM
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4 comments:

  1. I laughed at this signing at first too. Career year or not, he is still pretty much the same offensive player that Julio Lugo is and is almost certain not to repeat what he did this year

    on the other hand, he is still an improvement over every shortstop the Sox have had in the past few years, they simply traded their 28th pick for Atlanta's 20th, and this is not the 4/36 deal that Lugo got, but a 2/10 with a mutual option for a third year. That's not a bad deal at all--they aren't overpaying, and who knows? maybe Fenway will boost his production the way it does for Pedroia. If it does, then he just might repeat 2009 and they got a huge bargain and if it doesn't, they still aren't overpaying
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  2. Damn, Blogger ate my original comment.

    I agree with that sentiment, and from the Red Sox's vantage point, it was probably the best and most cost-effective available option.

    I also forgot about the fact that donning a Red Sox uniform has a habit of turning even the most average of hitters into Babe Ruth.
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  3. The real risk Scutaro poses is his age. Just like the Yanks, the Sox need to get younger and more athletic. Scutaro won't do that.

    Its a sensible move for a team that struggles to get production of any kind from SS.
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  4. The Sox made this signing to acquire a stop-gap veteran to hold down the position until SS prospect Jose Iglesias is ready to make the jump. As for Orlando Cabrera, there were always murmurs in the Boston media (especially WEEI) that there were too many "off the field" issues with him and that he was particularly mean to some of the ageless Fenway attendants. Their divorce was all about personality, not skills (see Derek Lowe).
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