• I have to agree with former major league general manager Jim Bowden’s assessment (as cited on ESPN Boston) that the trading of Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies is a precursor to something else. Sure, the club got back another much potential bullpen arm to look at in the person of Clay Mortensen, but it is hard to imagine that Nick Punto and Mike Aviles are going to be the answer at shortstop. Part of me thinks that there is enough firepower in the overall Sox lineup to be able to afford to carry defensive wizard José Iglesias no matter how little he hits. But a bigger part of me thinks this year's final answer is not yet even part of the organization …
• Now that the Tigers have reeled in Prince Fielder, am I the only one who thinks signing Jason Varitek could be their next order of business? He likely would not be very expensive, and he would bring the same savvy, if not the overall performance, that was lost when starter Victor Martinez went down. Assuming, of course, that Varitek is more interested in playing another year than he is in retiring as a member of the Red Sox …
• And speaking of players with lengthy tenure at Fenway Park: it is interesting how little mention is being made of the apparent non-return of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. There was a nice piece in Florida Today this week about the good work he is doing in his hometown on the Space Coast. But there seem to be no discernible lamentations that his time with the Sox may well be at its end. If that turns out to be true, I hope they at least give him a Day at some point during the season – all the guy ever wanted to do was contribute, and contribute he did for a good long time. So it would be a shame if his career here went unremarked upon.
• Finally, I really like the way Sox GM Ben Cherington has collected so many moving parts for evaluation during spring training. I'm not sure I buy the whole “we must stay under the luxury tax" argument that is being bandied about by various reporters and talkradio miscreants as the reason behind it, but I do believe that the odds of finding a keeper or three increase proportionately with the number of bodies around to choose from. My bottom line is that I like any strategy that gives the club more options rather than fewer, and if the front office can put a championship team on the field without breaking the bank, then I'm OK with it.
Comments