Dustin Pedroia, winner of the 2008 American League Most Valuable Player and second base Gold Glove, recently told the Boston Red Sox that he would willingly move to shortstop according to an mlb.com report. Boston asked Pedroia to consider the switch after choosing to decline the option of incumbent shortstop Alex Gonzalez.
Pedroia though is a key cog in the Red Sox's offense. He bats second, has a career line of .307/.370/.455, and has more doubles than anyone other then Baltimore's Brian Roberts since the start of the 2007 season.
That last statistic indicates that Pedroia has the chance to develop more power, which would bump him from the ranks of the best offensive second basemen in the league, to the ranks of the best hitters anywhere in the league.
Since Pedroia also plays fantastic defense around the keystone sack (witness his Gold Glove), and the 9.8 fielding runs above average he posted in 2009, (according to fangraphs.com), the Sox might ultimately decide that moving him across the infield is not worth the risk.
If they do, Theo Epstein will have to look elsewhere to solve Boston's shortstop dilemma this winter. Presumably, since Boston intends either to re-sign Jason Bay or to sign Matt Holliday, have actively looked into trades for slugging first basemen Adrian Gonzalez and Miguel Cabrera, Epstein would be in search of a defense-oriented, cost-effective option to fill that slot.
Enter the Chicago Cubs, who have thus far spent their off-season doing little more than fawning over top prospect Starlin Castro, a shortstop.
Their incumbent shortstop, Ryan Theriot, has been asked to consider a move in the other direction across the middle infield, despite playing above-average defense at his current spot for three straight seasons. Theriot, despite a drop-off last season from a career year in 2008, has a career line of .288/.356/.369 to go along with plus speed and a solid glove at the crucial defensive position.
Entering arbitration for the first time this winter, Theriot stands to make something close to $2 million in 2010, a very manageable number. If Boston is willing to part with a pair of mid-level prospects and especially if they included Jed Lowrie in a deal to provide Chicago a stop gap until the arrival of a big-league ready Castro, the trade could work out on both sides.
Theriot and Pedroia would make a smooth double play tandem, if a diminutive one, and Chicago would gain further strength in its farm system without surrendering any indispensable pieces for a 2010 run at the NL Central Division title, which would be their third in four seasons.
For Boston, Theriot would slide in as a neatly utile "second lead-off hitter," batting ninth and getting on base in front of Jacoby Ellsbury and Pedroia. He began to pull the ball more in 2009, which hurt his numbers somewhat at Wrigley Field, but could be perfect if he was suddenly taking aim at the middle of Fenway Park's Green Monster.
The deal could cost Boston a solid pitching prospect, but if Epstein and Hendry get it done, it could position both teams well for 2010 and beyond.
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