Are You Sold On Scutaro?

November 9th, 2009 | by Darryl Johnston |

Are You Sold On Scutaro?

Marco Scutaro

Because I’m not.

The rumor mill is churning folks, and it says that the Sox may look towards ex-Blue Jay Marco Scutaro to plug the turnstile that is the shortstop position in Boston.

Are you sold on him? I’m not. Last year was a breakthrough year for the career utility infielder. This smells like a Dan Duquette circa 1997 potential signing. I had this guy on my fantasy baseball team all last year and even I didn’t believe in him.

I guess the one nice thing about Scutaro is that he is already accustomed to the AL East and playing in major venues like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, but his entire career numbers scream ‘outlier’ in 2009. His weighted Runs Above the Average player (wRAA) was negative his entire career. Suddenly, you are going to tell me he just be paid as a +14 player? I just don’t buy it. I’m no sabr-genius by any stretch but I can look at a graph and see an anomaly pretty easily. 34-year olds don’t suddenly ‘get good.’

I could live with Scutaro at the bottom of the order, but if it is truly going to take a three-year deal to sign him at nearly $20mm, that sounds like a bad cell phone contract.

I used to be a fan of Jed Lowrie, but not so much anymore. I suppose the Red Sox can just re-sign Alex Gonzalez and play out another year without a true long-term solution. Just please don’t think that Scutaro is anything more than what he was.

To modify a Denny Green quote, “He is who you think he is.”

Don’t put yourself on the hook.

Darryl Johnston is the Red Sox correspondent for Fanball.com. He has many years of sports writing under his championship belts. Email him – redsoxdj@gmail.com