Not a day goes by that Red Sox fans don’t discuss the shortstop position in Boston.
Since the departure of the beloved (until the end) Nomar Garciaparra the ‘6’ position on the diamond has been a revolving door from fan favorites in Pokey Reese and Orlando Cabrera to public enemy’s like Edgar Renteria.
Our hope is that one day the Cuban phenom, Jose Iglesias will dazzle us with his slick wizardry and the endless and revolving door at shortstop will stop its continuous spinning.
For now though, the door continues its slow revolution and we are most likely in the final turn for Marco Scutaro. When Scutaro joined us last season we hardly expected needing him to leadoff in the potent Red Sox offense. But after the Adrian Beltre/Jacoby Ellsbury collision behind third base, a new leadoff hitter is exactly what he became.
Scutaro filled the roll nicely, if not uneventfully. We talked last year about how he was unheralded for his 2010 performance. His consistency and reliability proved to be immensely important to a team whose players spent more time in doctor’s offices than baseball fields.
There’s no question that Scutaro was worth the $5 million the Red Sox paid him in 2010. According to Fangraphs, he was worth 20.7 RAR and 2.3 WAR valued at over $8 million. He has one year left on his deal with a team option for 2012. You’d have to imagine though that the Red Sox would buy him out and either Iglesias or Jed Lowrie would take over full-time.
The Lowrie/Scutaro discussion has been churning on all offseason and it will remain to be seen how Lowrie is worked into rotation. My guess is that he will be used in a similar role to that of Ty Wiggington’s career where he may see more than 350 ABs from multiple positions.
Could Lowrie win the job outright? Sure. But let’s just assume for now that Scutaro is the guy at shortstop and look at it from there.
Scutaro will be 35 years old this season and like any good veteran – the longer you can keep your plate skills intact, the easier it is to stay in a lineup. A good walk to strikeout ratio prolongs a career even when the other skills (power and speed) begin to fade.
Scutaro has never been known for power as evidenced by his career totals. But he does have league-average speed and with a really good EYE, it makes him a positive value for the organization.
Historical Stats:
AB R HR RBI SB BA OBA SLG OPS Eye
2008 517 76 7 60 7 267 340 356 696 0.88
2009 574 100 12 60 14 282 380 409 789 1.2
2010 632 92 11 56 5 275 331 388 719 0.75
In 2009, Scutaro had his ‘career year’ in Toronto. Boston swooped in to sign the free agent from the Blue Jays, and despite the naysayers, followed it up very nice in Boston when thrust into the leadoff role.
His base plate skills were in line with his career numbers after posting a 0.75 EYE. His 1.20 EYE in 2009 was fueled by a 14 percent walk rate in Toronto and although he couldn’t match that in Boston, he still kept the contact rate at 89%.
Scutaro is definitely a ho-hum type player that is sort of an afterthought in these parts. He has served well so far in the bridge to 2012. While liked well-enough, you aren’t going to see any #16 jerseys. (That reminds me; do you remember when David Wells and Renteria swapped jersey numbers and people who had purchased Renteria shirts were mad? In hindsight, neither jersey should have been purchased. I still can’t believe how mad Renteria was.)
Assuming Ellsbury is healthy, Scutaro’s value is going to drop considerably. From a production standpoint, his value has been tied largely to having a ton of plate appearances and accumulating counting stats.
Given his plate stability and the fact that he trots himself out to work every day, I would expect a year similar to his 2008 line provided he can still get 500 ABs. If Lowrie is really healthy and shows again that he is who we saw in the second half then Scutaro’s line could reflect that of 2007 when he was just a utility infielder with 350 ABs.
Regardless of what happens though, Scutaro will have been worth the two-year deal and will have done an admirable job nailing the wooden planks that lead us to 2012.