Comments on: Scutaro Joins Boston

By: JoeR43

JoeR43 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:44:51 +0000

I know, I don’t get why people can’t grasp a player’s ability to adjust their approach and get better as a result.

Say Vlad Guerrero decides at 39 that he’s going to cut down his strike zone after a bad age 38 year, and sees a rise in his numbers. Is that beyond reason? No.

Not to mention Scutaro’s been a plus-walker in the minor leagues.

The only statistic that was a real deviation in 2009 was his walk rate.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:42:20 +0000

yes, luckily there is no chance anyone on the Sox gets injured or does worse than last year.

By: nightchef

nightchef — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:56:57 +0000

Comparing career UZRs may be a little misleading, since prior to 2008 most of Scutaro’s innings at SS came in the context of playing as a part-time utility guy. Anybody’s going to get better playing the same position every day–as Scutaro’s 2008 and 2009 showed.

Lugo, meanwhile, was indeed a respectable defensive shortstop once upon a time, but not for the past couple of years. Clearly there has been some kind of physical problem involved, and his range has shrunk drastically. And he never had particularly good hands, arm, or footwork. If Scutaro is a league-average defender that makes him a significant defensive upgrade over the 2008-09 Lugo.

BTW, I don’t understand what you mean by saying that “Settling on Scutaro will only lead to further problems at SS in the near future.” What further problems are you referring to?

By: walkoffblast

walkoffblast — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:47:02 +0000

If Scutaro plays shortstop and has a -5 bat and is -5 in the field he will still be a 2 WAR player.

By: DocOne

DocOne — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:33:22 +0000

Sox transplant in AZ here. Without getting into advanced metric this and advanced metric that, Im thrilled to have a league average SS. No, Scoots not Hanley, but Jeebus H. Crizzle people, we were a 95 win team with high school level production last year. Add 2-3 wins with him plus *hopefully* Holliday in left, and what do you get? 100 or more wins that’s what. Plus with the Spanks 4 or 5 career years last year coming back to reality and we win the East.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:33:57 +0000

Don’t expect a hot start to curtail Boston media. J.D. Drew started off on a tear here and people are STILL calling him a bum over a less than stellar 2007, despite being one of the game’s top right fielders the last two seasons.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:22:54 +0000

What makes Scutaro a better fielder? For his career, Lugo’s UZR/150 at SS is 1.5, while Scutaro’s is -2.9. Before coming to Boston, Lugo was actually a pretty solid SS, according to UZR/150, posting figures of 1.9, 17.5 and 4.8 in three full seasons from 2003 to 2007. Again, Lugo moved from turf ro Fenway, so maybe that had something to do with his defensive decline.

Marco Scutaro may have been an average player in 2008-2009, but those years (one on offense and one on defense) are out of line with the rest of his career, which considering his age, doesn’t bode well for 2010-2011. The Red Sox could have and should have done better. Settling on Scutaro will only lead to further problems at SS in the near future.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:16:04 +0000

Even if you assume WAR is the definitive evaluator, Scutaro has only been over 2 in two seasons (his last two). In 2008, his defense was an outlier with the rest of his career, while in 2009 his offense was the outlier. Now, maybe Scutaro will outperform again, but at ages 34 and 35, I don’t think that’s a good bet.

Common in these comments has been the idea that Scutaro is an above average defensive SS, but he is actually below average for his career. Also worth noting is he will be moving from artifical turf to what many feel is one of the worst infields in baseball, so it will be interesting to see what impact that has on his fielding.

By: Wade Boggs

Wade Boggs — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:00:16 +0000

Watching Scutaro a lot this year, it seemed to me he grinded out a lot of ABs, fouled off a lot of pitches and worked the count really well which goes well with the Sox overall goal of raising pitch counts to get the starters out early and try to gut the weaker mid-relief guys that most teams have.

If Scoots can be a “tough out” and play average SS, the Sox will most likely be content as he bats in the 9-hole.

I’m guessing Matt Holliday or John Lackey or someone will be signed and it won’t be a 1st rounder given up for Scutaro.

By: Torgen

Torgen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:50:21 +0000

The Jays could be going somewhere in 2010 if they didn’t have this attitude that they aren’t going anywhere in 2010. Their pythag and WAR say they should have been in the 84 win range last year with 0WAR from CF and RF (either of which could be significantly improved by Mike Cameron), sub-0 WAR from Overbay’s platoonmate Millar, and Marcum on the DL all year. And considering Anthopoulos personally negotiated with Eliopoulos and failed to sign him, let’s not count our chickens before they hatch on the draft front.