The Red Sox have just agreed to sign Marco Scutaro on a two year deal. The Sox are expected to confirm the deal if he passes his medical later today.
The main result to come from the Scutaro deal is that Dustin Pedroia will not have to move to shortstop. It had been rumoured in recent days that Pedroia, a Gold Glove winning 2nd baseman, would be moving across the infield to shortstop. A Pedroia move would probably have been detrimental to his fielding abilties.
Theo Epstein (Boston's General Manager) has signed Scutaro to $5m a year two year deal. With the Red Sox only having Jed Lowrie available currently at shortstop as an option, the Scutaro signing was definitely needed. Lowrie who had a poor season in '09 having averaged just .147. That coupled with a career of .258 means that Lowrie is likely to move down to the minors now that Scutaro has arrived at Fenway.
Marco Scutaro had the best year of his career last with the Toronto Blue Jays. He averaged .282 with slugging percentage of .409. Scutaro is also an excellent fielder who is extremely versatile as he can play SS 2B and 3B or in the outfield.
One still wonders whether Scutaro was Boston's first choice at shortstop. It looks as if Epstein was unable to create the blockbuster trade for the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez.
If Scutaro can perform as well as he did in 2009 then he has the opportunity to become the Red Sox's best shortstop since Nomar Garciaparra left in 2004. Its a difficult task to match but Scutaro has the ability and the opportunity.
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