January 21, 2012

Scutaro Traded To Rockies

The Marco Scutaro trade rumour that came and went yesterday returned as the team dumped salary and sent the shortstop to Colorado for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen.

Mortensen, 26, split last year between AAA and the Rockies. Mortensen had a 3.86 ERA in 95 innings for Colorado. He has also pitched for the Cardinals (2009) and A's (2009-10).

A Sox source told The Globe's Nick Cafardo that the team would platoon Mike Aviles and Nick Punto at shortstop. Gordon Edes has the same info: "Sox believe they can get by w/Punto/Aviles at short until Iglesias is ready" ... That would be 20friggin13, at best, would it not? I need a drink.

Punto started a whopping six games at shortstop last year and 31 games in 2010. Aviles has not played the position regularly since 2009.

23 comments:

allan said...

keithlaw: "Trading away all your shortstops is the new market inefficiency. I can't believe no one thought of it sooner."

allan said...

Jerry Crasnick @jcrasnick54s:
The Scutaro trade frees up some $$ for #RedSox to make an "aggressive bid" for Roy Oswalt, said a baseball source

***

bring it on.

9casey said...

Is there a salary cap , i was not told about... Or are they just afraid to pay a luxury tax.... They werent afraid to pay John Lackey or Carl Crawford, but they are afraid to pay a luxury tax, who are we the friggin Royals?

9casey said...

There has to be somithg bigger happening then Roy Oswalt, at least I hope....

allan said...

Red Sox have intensified their pursuit of Roy Oswalt

allan said...

who are we the friggin Royals?

(nods quietly in agreement)

allan said...

Bard avoids arbitration, signs for $1.625.

laura k said...

WTF is going on. WTF.

hrstrat57 said...

scut was sawx best player down the stretch last year by far and was solid and reliable all year.

There has to be a big play coming....again Han Ram for Beckett and grab Oswalt?

accudart said...

I sure hope they have another ss heading to us. I would like Oswalt for one year @ 7 million or so but not without a SS.

Jim said...

Edes mentions in his column that the next shortstop to appear in 50 games for the Sox will be the 10th to do so since they traded Nomar. Ay yi yi.

allan said...

Edes mentions in his column that the next shortstop to appear in 50 games for the Sox will be the 10th to do so since they traded Nomar.

9 shortstops playing 50+ games in 8 years (counting 2004). I wonder how some other teams stack up to that.

9casey said...

And that leads us back to OC, and Theos hate for him. He could have easily been there for 4 years and productive...

Jim said...

"wonder how some other teams stack up?"
Yeah, good point. Given the 8-hole in the NL, injuries etc, there may be a lot of 1 or 2 inning guys around. Certainly seems to be more Nick Punto types than all-stars.
Context is always good.

Kathryn said...

This makes no sense. If you want Oswalt, sign him for a year. You don't need to give up Scutaro to do that. There better be some blockbuster move in the works.

who are we the friggin Royals?
Love it!

allan said...

They really want to stay under the cap, it appears, and are trying to finagle the roster to do so. It seems odd to nickle and dime the team when talking about a payroll of $160-170 million, but I also admit to glazing over a bit when I read the nuts and bolts.

Anonymous said...

Wait, Scutaro already had that "career year," right?

Not to worry. Management is just following Allan's lead here.

Actually, I would like to see some sabermetrics on whether "career years" really influence championship outcomes. I really don't know.

laura k said...

"He could have easily been there for 4 years and productive..."

9C, you're predicting *four years* down the road of what might have been?? Time to move on, eh.

9casey said...

I am not predicting anything i am using my 20/20 hindsight.

They traded away Nomar and handed the keys to Orlando he helped us quite a bit in winning the fist world series in 86 year.

I am just saying i think somone didn't like him and that is why they didn't sign him.

But I will move on...

I would just like, especially the way last season ended, to go into this season thinking we have a solid team and right now with 3 starters, no rf'er , and Nick Punto playing short, I dont think we are really that solid...

And the front is trying to scrape up enough nickels to sign a fourth starter. It's comical..

allan said...

Speier: Making Sense Of The Scutaro Trade

allan said...

Guys Playing Shortstop Since 2004

Red Sox - 24
Yankees - 15

Robert said...

What a dumb move.Scutaro was more valuble then you think. It's hard to find a SS that can hit like him. I don't know who to blame on this. Is it Cherington, taking a sabermetric point of view (spend as little as you can when constucting a roster,and unearth minor league FA's or untested prospects), Luchino,being cheap, or Henry being cheap We know he has the money to have a 225 million payroll,if he was serious about winning. OMG, what terrible job they have done this winter.

allan said...

What a dumb move.Scutaro was more valuble then you think. It's hard to find a SS that can hit like him.

No move can be judged in a vacuum. We do not know the Sox's upcoming moves (or non-moves). (Shortstops also need to have range and be able to throw.)

taking a sabermetric point of view (spend as little as you can when constucting a roster,and unearth minor league FA's or untested prospects)

That is not even close to what "sabermetric" means. It's actually light years away from it. Plus what you have outlined is not what the Red Sox are doing, in any event.

We know he has the money to have a 225 million payroll,if he was serious about winning.

Spending money = winning? Hmmm, you might want to have a chat with my friend "history" regarding that point. (You do know the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and 2007 and were one win away from a 3rd trip to the WS in 2008, don't you?)

Also, with the rules of the new CBA, going over the cap even a little bit could cost the Sox tens of millions of dollars over the next few seasons. That is why even the MFY have been making noises since last fall about cutting payroll to get under the cap.

OMG, what terrible job they have done this winter.

I'd say they have pretty much gone sideways so far, and since they were headed towards a 100-win season before a shitty September - they still won 90 games and led all of MLB in runs, OBP, and SLG - I'm not all that concerned about the season.