In defense of Scutaro's defense

Your newest Boston Red Sox - Marco Scutaro

So earlier today, the Red Sox announced that they signed shortstop Marco Scutaro, most recently of the Toronto Blue Jays and formerly of the Oakland Athletics and New York Mets, to a two-year, $11 million contract, with an option for the third year. While the response was mixed on Boston's chief sports radio station, WEEI, I'm generally in favor of the signing for a couple reason.

- The years and money are surprisingly low to me. If Chone Figgins is (rumored to be) getting four years and $32 million, then the Red Sox are making out like bandits if they only have to guaranteed two years to Scutaro. Yeah, he's a little bit older, but he also plays an up-the-middle position that is hard to fill.

I view Scutaro's most recent season as a bit of a fluke, and out of line with his past production. However, it's only about 20 points of batting average and 20 to 30 points of on-base, which lead to a bit of an uptick in his slugging. His numbers this year - 282 / 379 / 409 - are not ridiculously out of line with his career numbers - 265 / 337 / 384. And if he does crap the bed, the financial investment in him is small enough that it won't kill the Red Sox to dump him in a trade or flat-out release him, a la Julio Lugo.

- The comparison that was rampant on sports radio this afternoon was Scutaro vs. Alex Gonzalez. The fact that this comparison was even coming up shows that statisticians still have plenty of work to do with sample size and defense.

I don't know why, but there is a lingering assertion that Gonzalez is a better defender than Scutaro. Maybe it's because he played for the Red Sox, and made some slick plays here and there. However, his career rate (click here for a definition) at shortstop is 97, three runs below average. His only above-average years were not in Red Sox uniforms. He has committed 155 errors at shortstop in 1,206 games, an average of about one per 7.7 games.

Scutaro has a smaller sample size at short vs. Gonzalez, but bests him in these defensive categories. He has 40 errors in 415 games, an average of one per 10.4 games. His career rate at shortstop is 107, seven runs ABOVE average, and 10 runs better than Gonzalez's career. In 2009, Scutaro's rate was 108, while Gonzalez was 98 in Cincy and 93 in Boston. Gonzalez missed all of 2008 after having surgery to repair a fractured knee; this might have affected his play permanently.

Hopefully this thwarts some of the "Gonzalez is a better fielder!!!" crap floating around out there. And when it comes to offense, Scutaro is the clearly better player, since A-Gonz is so horrible. His career line at the plate is 247 / 294 / 395; his only asset is a bit of pop.

- With all of that being said, I'm not under any illusion that this "fixes" the Red Sox problem at shortstop. Scutaro finished sixth in VORP (click here for an explanation), but his total of 39.9 was clearly below the superstar levels of Hanley Ramirez (79.9) and Derek Jeter (72.8), and closer to the "average" shortstop level of Rafael Furcal (18.6), Brendan Ryan (17.7) and Ryan Theriot (17.4).

Unless he suddenly goes in the tank, Scutaro should be a good solution at shortstop for the next two years, and he'll give the Red Sox time to evaluate whether Jed Lowrie can be the answer in the future, and provides a good defensive option for third base and second base if Mike Lowell or Dustin Pedroia are out for a stretch of time.

The Scutaro photo is from this nifty blog; I used it mostly because it was a "wide" photo, which is better for displaying on these posts.

Pickin' Pigskin with Bob and Steve and Kristin: Week 13, Part 1 and Standings

Okay, I might put up with her being on the show...

NY Jets over Buffalo (3, at Toronto)

Bob: NY Jets -3

How can Buffalo fans watch this game? This is like watching your girlfriend on The Real World. Yeah, it's cool that your girlfriend is on TV and was endorsed as hot since she was put on TV, but you do realize that she's going to end up hooking up with some douchebag in the hot tub, right? Pretty soon, we're going to get to hear you cry via phone when your girlfriend calls you to break the news. Ditto for Buffalo fans. It will be cool to watch your team play this week, but you realize the NFL probably has designs to move your franchise to Toronto. So while you're watching your team, you are getting a preview of the future where the Bills will hook up with some Canadian floozy.

I'm actually of two minds on this. It will be horrible when Buffalo, which has so much history with the Bills, loses their NFL franchise. They have an extreme emotional attachment to their team and have had some rough experiences (wide right). I don't want to see the news clips that are the equivalent of the old, fat men in Baltimore crying when they lost the Colts that we saw on ESPN's 30 for 30. But the city probably can't support an NFL franchise anymore. The worst case scenario is a Hartford Whalers / Baltimore Colts scenario where the team toys with leaving for a few years, keeps giving the fans false hope that they might stay, and then bolts fairly abruptly. I would rather see the Band-Aid ripped off then see Buffalo fans given the equivalent of blue balls by a team that is almost definitely leaving.

Steve: Toronto +3

Well, first off, your response gives me an excuse to run a picture for the Hartford Whalers, and to also link to their rally song, "Brass Bonanza," on YouTube. I said in a previous post that if the Whalers had stuck around for longer, I might have been a fan of them instead of the Bruins, and I stick by it now. They are technically closer to my house, and I normally identify a bit more with lovable losers, as opposed to a team with championship prestige like the Bruins. (Football example: I root for the Bengals over the Patriots whenever they play.)

Now, with the preceding statement, you would think I would like the Bills to stay in Buffalo. However, you're wrong. It's not so much that I hate the city of Buffalo, which I've never visited, as much as I love Toronto, which I have visited. It's just a gorgeous city with a great zoo and passionate sports fans. Hey, if they want a National Football League team, then I'm for it. It would be better if they didn't have to eventually steal the Bills to do it, but unfortunately, thems the breaks in professional sports.

By the way, I do find it odd that the super-capitalist and super-Republican commentators on WEEI's The Big Show and Dennis and Callahan are quick to bitch about socialized health care and other anti-market things... but then endorse things like the NFL salary cap and want to eliminate the Yankees' payroll advantage. Uh, excuse me? Uh baking soda? Do you want free market economics or not?

Kristin: XXXXXXX -+3

Kristin's text here... Or at least, it will be when / if I get it. She hasn't sent in a pick as of 7 p.m. I'll update this if she does.

-----

Well, I shouldn't have bragged last week about getting closer to the leaders, since I lost several games this week. Sigh! I should have known better than to pick against the Washington power couple's local team. Curse you Hansons!!!

Kristin: 8-6 (89-84, first overall)
Bob: 8-6 (88-85, second overall, one game back)
Steve: 6-8 (85-88, third overall, four games back)

In fantasy football news, my team is backing into the playoffs. We've lost three of our last four, I believe, lost Dwayne Bowe and Ronnie Brown for most of the season, and I've been reduced to scrounging between Kevin Faulk and Robert Mitchum as free agents. So basically, unless Tom Brady throws for 500 yards and six touchdowns, I most likely will not advance in the playoffs, which start next week. This week, we have an Indianapolis Colts' end season special, in that whether my team wins or loses, it has absolutely no effect on the standings. Good times, good times.

The picture of the ridiculously hot girl from The Real World is here, along with a pretty length question and answer with her.