| 25 November 2009
Scuturo has a solid year in 2009 with the Blue Jays, but he posted career numbers in double (35), homers (12), average (.282) and OPS (.789) at age 34... He made just over $1M in 2009, so I could see him signing a 2-year, $4M deal and if Lowrie out plays him over time, the Sox could just make Scuturo the backup infielder and not feel that they are overpaying him for that role.
For comparison, Scuturo had a 1.0 UzR/150 rating in 2009 while playing almost three times as many games (143) at short than ever before. Alex Gonzalez posted a 10.5 UZR/150 rating through 112 games with the Reds and Sox... and hit .284 with a .769 OPS despite hitting .210 with the Reds.
The Sox did not pick up Gonzo's $6M option in the hopes of talking him down to half that amount - I'm guessing. Gonzo probably won't hit .280 through 140+ games n 2010, but Scuturo probably won't either... so which guy would you sign?
As for Escobar... He's older than Penny was and younger than Smoltz was when we gave them a shot... but he's not John Smoltz. He had an great 2007 season with an 18-7 record, a .360 ERA and a 160 Ks for the Halos but missed 90% of last season due to injury and was also hurt for much of 2005. He made $28.5M over three years with the Angels, so I assume he'll be looking for at least $7M in 2010. Personally, I'd rather test my luck with Rich Harden or Erik Bedard at that price.
Extra Bases, Peter Abraham - Abraham says the Tigers are shopping 3B Miguel Cabrera because of they are concerned about his off-field issues... and the Red Sox should be too.
Yahoo!, Mark Miller - Miller says the Red Sox are "putting on a full-court press" to sign SP Roy Halladay during the Winter meetings... That would be nice. WEEI's Full Court confirms this rumor via The Daily News.
CSNNE, Sean McAdam - McAdam has 20 surprising factoids from Bill James' 2010 handbook. Here's one of my favorites:
16. Ramon Ramirez was used on consecutive days 17 times, the most of any reliever. Two set-up free agent relievers who interest the Sox, meanwhile, were among the busiest -- Atlanta's Rafael Soriano was used back-to-back 29 times and Mike Gonzalez was used 28, ranking them tied for second and fourth, respectively, among all major-league relief pitchers.I find this interesting because Ramirez was so good in the first half and this helps explain his struggles down the stretch. Tito was forced to use Ram Ram often while out starters struggled early on, but hopefully Tito will learn from this info and Theo will sign a few more RPs to help keep everyone fresh in 2010.
Also... it was interesting to see that Soriano and Gonzalez put ups solid numbers despite being used on back-to-back days so often - a good sign if the Sox try to sign either player.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
