The San Francisco Giants are a successful baseball team, having rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers to assume first place in the NL West division. Those same Giants, though, have given 81 starts at shortstop to Brandon Crawford, 61 starts at second base to Ryan Theriot, and 30 starts at second base to Manny Burriss. Plus, at third base, there's the matter of Pablo Sandoval getting hurt. Basically, the Giants have been a good team that could use some quality infield depth.
Marco Scutaro Trade: Giants Nab Infielder
Marco Scutaro is heading from the Rockies to the Giants, and infielder Charlie Culberson is heading from the Giants’ system to the Rockies. Also, there is cash.
Enter quality infield depth. Friday night, a move has been made:
BREAKING: @SFGiants acquire INF Marco Scutaro and cash considerations from @Rockies for INF Charlie Culberson. #tradedeadline
— MLB (@MLB) July 28, 2012
Scutaro meant nothing to the Rockies anymore, as he's set to become a free agent in the fall, so he was an obvious trade candidate. Off he goes, with his .324 OBP and his 75 OPS+. Those are not very good numbers, but in the three seasons previous they were .356 and 102. The Giants have a pretty good idea what they're getting in Marco Scutaro, and he'll be able to help at second, short, and third. Immediately, he'll help at third with Sandoval temporarily sidelined, but Crawford has a .287 OBP and Burriss has a .221 slugging percentage. Scutaro will find his playing time, is what I'm saying.
And Culberson? He’s 23, and right-handed, and he has six games of major-league experience. In triple-A he’s batted .236/.281/.396 while handling second base. He’s ... he’s not really much, at least statistically. His career minor-league OPS is .688. He was drafted 51st overall in 2007, so at one point he had considerable talent, but I guess you could say he’s a project. He’s the sort of prospect you get back for two months of an old Marco Scutaro.
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