I Don't Know Davey...

Rumour has it that the motivation for trading shortstop Marco Scutaro to the Rockies this weekend was to free up money to sign one of several free agents. One of the free agents the Red Sox are supposedly interested in signing is Cody Ross. Now Ross is not an awful player, but this is not exactly the kind of move I have in mind when I think of the Boston Red Sox.


Ross is a player that does some things well. He has a little bit of power (although not a lot for a corner outfielder), and appears to be a decent baserunner, despite not stealing many bases. Defensively he is average at best, and while he may have exhibited some less quantifiable qualities in the Giants World Series run in 2010 (like clutch hitting), there is a reason he is still available on January 23. Ross is also 31 years old and would be moving into the toughest division in baseball. Acquiring Ross also doesn’t account for the question of whether or not Mike Aviles and Nick Punto can replace Scutaro (especially his defence) at short.

Something about the Red Sox moving Scutaro to acquire a player like Cody Ross doesn’t seem right. Time and time again we’ve seen that it makes the most sense to spend money on the players at the very top of the free agent market. Organizations tend to make the most mistakes when they give contracts to veteran players that were never elite talents. Cody Ross could be this year’s Jose Guillen. Maybe I’m misreading the situation and the Sox are really going after Roy Oswalt, a pitcher that could greatly improve their rotation if he can stay healthy enough to make 16 plus starts. While acquiring a good number two starting pitcher (like Oswalt or Edwin Jackson) would still leave somewhat of a hole at shortstop, it makes a little more sense than signing a corner outfielder with limited abilities. If they are intent on replacing Scutaro with Ross, this is a move in a direction that I’m not used to seeing the Red Sox go in, and not one that is going to help them leapfrog the Rays and Yankees in the ultra competitive AL East.