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The Red Sox’ trade of Marco Scutaro, re-revisited 10.16.12 at 12:04 pm ET
By Alex Speier

Marco Scutaro assumed center stage in unlikely fashion in the NLCS on Monday night. In Game 2 of the series between the Cardinals and Giants, with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the first inning, Scutaro got crushed by Cards outfielder Matt Holliday behind second base, as he attempted to complete a double-play. The MLB.com video below, replaying the slide from the vantage point of the national TV broadcast and the San Francisco and St. Louis radio broadcasts, represents an interesting exercise in the Rashomon Effect of subjectivity and the power of recollection:

Giants manager Bruce Bochy made his feelings clear on the play.

“I really think they got away with an illegal slide there,” Bochy told reporters. “That rule was changed a while back. And he really didn’t hit dirt until he was past the bag. Marco was behind the bag and got smoked. It’s a shame somebody got hurt because of this. And that’s more of a roadblock. That rule was changed. And again, we’re hoping he comes out of this okay. He got hit pretty good. And that’s a big guy running.”

Ethics and morality aside, Scutaro got back up after being crumpled by Holliday and remained in the game for the next five innings, delivering the game-breaking hit, a two-run, two-out single in the bottom of the fourth that plated a third tally when Holliday booted the ball in left for an error. Scutaro’s hit turned a 2-1 contest into a 5-1 game. However, Scutaro had to leave with a sore left hip. X-rays were negative, but his status for Game 3 remains to be seen.

Scutaro’s availability going forward will be of considerable significance, considering that he’s been a pivotal member of the Giants lineup since San Francisco acquired him in a trade with the Rockies for 23-year-old Charlie Culberson, a fringe prospect who is a good defender at second base but who has struggled at the plate. From Colorado’s end, the deal was motivated chiefly by a desire to remove Scutaro’s salary (the Giants assumed roughly $1.5 million of the remaining $2 million on his 2012 salary) from the team’s books.

The deal paid off in remarkable fashion for the Giants. After Scutaro hit .271 with a .324 OBP, .361 slugging mark and .684 OPS with the Rockies (particularly unimpressive numbers given his residence in Coors Field), he hit .362 with a .385 OBP, .473 slugging mark and .859 OPS in 61 games. He helped the Giants pull away in the NL West, as San Francisco was tied for the best record in the National League from the time of Scutaro’s arrival.

That performance, in turn, makes it natural to think back to the decision by the Red Sox to trade Scutaro to the Rockies in January. The Sox were motivated to make the deal in order to free payroll (Scutaro represented a $7.67 million luxury tax hit in 2012), money that they used immediately to sign Cody Ross to a one-year, $3 million deal.

Even after his performance in San Francisco, it’s hard to say that the Sox miscalculated with Scutaro when they sent him to the Rockies for Clayton Mortensen. He ended the year with a strong .306/.348/.405/.753 line thanks to his surge in San Francisco, but his diminishing defensive range and arm strength resulted in him spending about three-quarters of his time on the field at second base — a position that the Sox had covered with Dustin Pedroia. Scutaro did play some short for the Rockies, but only when Troy Tulowitzki landed on the DL to force Colorado into such an infield alignment. Scutaro also played 15 games at third base in San Francisco — a position where he would have been behind Kevin Youkilis and then Will Middlebrooks on the depth chart for most of the year.

Defensively, the Sox upgraded at shortstop by going from Scutaro to Mike Aviles and then Jose Iglesias, at least as measured by John Dewan’s runs saved system, which had Scutaro being one run better than an average shortstop in 2011. Aviles, meanwhile, graded as 14 runs above average in 2012 according to Dewan’s system (fifth best in the AL), while Iglesias, in his limited time in the majors, saved seven runs.

That said, shortstop represented a position of offensive deficiency for the Sox. The team’s shortstops combined to hit .241 (ninth in the American League) with a .278 OBP (11th), .365 slugging mark (10th) and .642 OPS (11th). In particular, the absence of Scutaro’s ability to work counts and get on base at an above-average clip played a role in the unraveling of the Sox’ time-honored formula of grinding at-bats that helped force opposing teams into their bullpens early and often.

Would the Sox have been better off sacrificing defense and power for a player with better on-base skills? Perhaps, though the performance of Ross (.267/.326/.481/.807 with 22 homers in 130 games) and Mortensen (3.21 ERA in 42 innings) suggests that the Sox got more overall impact on their roster by trading Scutaro — who, like Ross, will be a free agent this winter — than they would have had by keeping him, particularly if there were questions about his ability to stick at short.

All the same, Scutaro’s performance on Game 2 offered a reminder of what Scutaro was with the Red Sox — a player who managed to stay on the field and contribute even when fighting through injuries, a respected member of the clubhouse and someone who was a steady, reliable contributor in Boston, just as he has been in San Francisco.

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  • Ipse Amicus

    And always a good clutch hitter.  

  • Bos34567

    Also, he did hit down the stretch in 2011, unlike the rest.

  • Brent Lafond

     We ended up with Mortenson in the trade a good RP he has turned out to be for us whos younger an cheap. We also ended up Cody Ross because of the money we saved so we ended up with two players basically for Scutaro who didnt have much value for us an was no longer a fit. Great move, small but great move.

  • Stevefromwaltham

    “The Sox were motivated to make the deal in order to free payroll (Scutaro represented a $7.67 million luxury tax hit in 2012), money that they used immediately to sign Cody Ross to a one-year, $3 million deal.”

    The Red Sox told their fans though that the money was being used to sign a pitcher.  No pitcher was signed.

  • http://twitter.com/JesseHarvin Jesse Harvin

    Scutaro has always been a good player. I dont disagree with the trade but I think they should have gotten a little more in a trade.

  • Noons2004

    I have been a Sox season ticket holder since 1975 and I wasn’t very happy that they decided to trade their starting shortstop in order to save $$$.  Liked Scutaro right from the start….played hard..
    etc…I don’t care what anybody says….Aviles is a good back-up…..but the fact is that a team with a $170 million dollar payroll traded their starting shortstop in order to save $$$.

  • stumpsr

    There wasn’t a whole lot of complaining when they traded him. He was always seen as a second tier shortstop while he was in Boston.

  • Red Sox 25 (retire Tony C’s #)

    Rather than beat the “dead sox”, why not focus on the possibilities for next year. Analyze what trades may be possible. Can the Sox get Alex Gordon from KC? Justin Mortenson from Cleveland? How about the talked about Ellsbury to Texas rumor? Who do they have that other teams may want? Are they expendable/ What would be the return? What could next year’s opening day roster look like? 

    Otherwise why not revisit the Sparky Lyle for Danny Cater trade? Get it! it is all in the past. exactly where it should stay! 

  • Howie

    Scutaro was never good enough to be a Red Sox.  Aviles is much better, and barely cuts it.  Iglesias will never make it.  Ciriaco is a maybe.

  • Elaine_Apthorp

    I think the point that Mr. Speier is gently making here IS a valuable one. What made the Sox offense so successful in the 2003-2009 period–and helped them win even when soldiering through the shakier back ends of their pitching rotations–was the lineup’s ability to work counts and driving the opponents’ starters off the moundfrom sheer fatigue by the sixth inning. We can definitely afford to carry a COUPLE of the Salty/Cody Ross type of batters in the mix—free-swinging power hitters who will not have high OBPs and will pop up, ground out, or strike out quickly whenever they’re not blasting glorious moonshots over the Monstah—but in the past couple of years, due to injuries and assorted other exigencies and temptations, we’ve been plugging in more and more of that type of hitter, with the consequence that we’re giving away an increasing number of at-bats and quick innings and we’re not chasing the opponents’ starters until it’s late enough for them to trot out the biggest guns in their bullpen. As the Sox brain trust (with the emperor of OBP and OPS himself, Bill James,chipping in with presumably a lot of input) surveys the options this winter, I trust they will be keeping that consideration front and center. I will not be surprised to find them picking up seemingly marginal players on the cheap who turn out to be tenacious grinders of the Youkilis/Pedroia variety. A team with a whole lot of that type of guy doesn’t initially knock your socks off with famous names (e.g., had you ever heard of Bill Mueller until. . .), and the grinding approach makes for lonnnng games; but it drives opposing pitchers and defenses absolutely batty. Wins a pile of games, too.

    Old Scoot was a tough, noble, old-school dirt dawg for the Sox, as he has been for every club that’s been savvy enough to pick him up, and I wish him a ring with the Giants, for he deserves it. It made perfect sense to trade him this past winter–a win/win for the Sox and for Scoot.  But as Alex’s retrospective suggests, if Marco Scutaro’s arm wasn’t shot from all the abuse it’s taken over the years, he’d still be patrolling at short in the Fens. And chipping in, at-bat by at-bat, to grind those opposing pitchers to the sixth-inning showers. 

  • R_barry

    How else we’re the Red Sox gonna pay for there 100 year long anniversary party.?
    They got rid of Scutaro to free up party Cash $$.

  • Greg *Henderson, NV

    Scut was a mistake made by the Red Sox because he was the best SS the Sox had for some time. I was upset when Scut was traded. He was the only good player that played in September 2011 and that said a lot.  It would be nice to get him back in the Red Sox uniform again. Aviles did a good job taking it over but someone on the Red Sox team thought Iglesias was the better SS. Iglesias is a very good defender but his bat was not even in the picture in any game. I think he ended the season with .019 or something horrible like that; basically, as good as a pitchers bat or worse.

  • Robert

    They could have afforded Scutaro. Even though Mortensen showed some promise,it wasn’t worth what Scut brings to the team. Ross has nothing to do with it. If they couldn’t pony up 3 mill to get Ross, while keeping Scutaro, they should sell the team. If Henry wasn’t busy spending billions on a soccer team in Liverpool, it could have been done. Either way, it could have been done. Scutaro was one of Theo’s better signings. They should offer a decent package to SF to get him back.

  • Capecodrt

    Brent,you couldn’t really believe that this team sacrificed Scutaro,because they couldn’t afford Ross’s salary…could you?

  • Jim R

    No offense, but did you read the article?

  • Boris

    It was about chemistry. He is too tough to fit in with the current bunch of yawkey babies.

  • It_is_I

    Did Scutaro and Valentine have a history (Mets,  briefly) that may have led to the Sox giving him away to the Rockies?    Just sayin’

  • Noons2004

    I’m over the Sparky Lyle for Danny Cater trade….but I’m still ticked off that they traded John Tudor for Mike Easler……I said at the time and I say it today…..you never EVER trade a good starting pitcher for a DH!!!

  • Noons2004

    Are you kidding me???  Your can’t be watching the games if you think Aviles is a better player than Scutaro.
    I like Aviles but he is what he is.  A back-up shortstop!!!

  • Noons2004

    I did read the article.  I understand that they wanted to save some $$$.  I just didn’t think shortstop was the place to do it.  I’m not saying that he is a great player or a great shortstop.  I’m saying that he’s a good player
    at an important position.  He played hard and was probably their best player last September.  And he’s a
    better player than Aviles.  I like Aviles.  I just like him as a back-up!!!

  • Noons2004

    Don’t know anything about that…..that’s interesting.  That would get me more angry if true.

  • Noons2004

    Maybe you didn’t hear a whole lot of complaining but I sure did……and still do!!!

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