Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington made another trade this evening including shortstop Marco Scutaro. The Red Sox are sending Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies for Clayton Mortensen in order to clear up cap space, confirmed by Jim Bowden.
The deal allows Boston to go after more starting pitching help since Scutaro was owed $6 million this upcoming season. The initial reaction from Bowden is that Cherington will use this money to pursue Roy Oswalt.
Adding Oswalt would be an upgrade to a weak starting rotation, but now there is a huge gap at shortstop. The Red Sox traded Jed Lowrie to the Houston Astros to acquire reliever Mark Melancon earlier this offseason.
According to Gordon Edes, Boston feels comfortable using Mike Aviles and Nick Punto at short until prospect Jose Iglesias is ready to be called up. However, Bowden has just reported that Iglesias isn’t close to being ready and that Aviles is the only true option going forward.
Jose Iglesias only hit .235/.289/.269 in Triple-A Pawtucket last season and really needs to improve his offensive skills. His defense is good enough to make it at the major-league level, but his hitting is what’s holding him back.
There will be plenty of questions as to why Cherington felt the need to give up Scutaro in order to go for more starting pitching. Jerry Crasnick asks, if Boston wanted Oswalt so bad, then why would they sign an assortment of players to minor-league deals hoping that one would be their guy?
Scutaro was a solid player for Boston over the last two seasons on both sides of the baseball. In 263 games with the Red Sox, he hit .284/.343/.401 with 151 runs, 18 home runs and 110 RBI.
Another open position is the last thing Boston needs before spring training opens in a few weeks. They are still left with questions on the starting rotation, the outfield and now shortstop.
If Boston doesn’t end up getting Oswalt after dealing Scutaro away, Red Sox Nation will certainly not be happy with the new GM.
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