The Red Sox today exercised their 2012 option on shortstop Marco Scutaro.
The 36-year-old isn’t getting any younger, but he was one of the few Boston players who looked decent down the stretch. He finished the year with a .299 batting average (second-best among AL shortstops), a .423 slugging percentage and a .358 on-base percentage.
The deal was a no-brainer for new GM Ben Cherington. Scutaro’s third year with the Sox will cost the team $6 million, but they would have owed him a $1.5 million buyout if they’d let him go. For a team that’s had no post-Nomar luck at the position, that’s chump change.
