The Red Sox have picked up their $6 million team option on shortstop Marco Scutaro, locking him up for 2012.
Long story short, this one was pretty much a no-brainer.
While Marco Scutaro's first year with the Red Sox was a bit of a disappointment off of his career year in 2009, he was hampered all season long by injuries that he had to play through due to the health issues the rest of the team was suffering through during their ill-fated 2010 campaign. 2011 didn't start off particularly well either, with Scutaro losing his job to Jed Lowrie within the first month of the year.
But, as the year wore on, Lowrie wore down, and Marco Scutaro got his second opportunity. From there, it was relatively smooth sailing for the shortstop. Powered in particular by a spectacular September, Scutaro would hit .329/.382/.467 in the second half to finish the season with a strong .299/.358/.423 line and 2.9 WAR.
Scutaro isn't a top-tier shortstop by any means, but the Red Sox have been struggling to find any consistency at the position for years. If Scutaro can give them a third serviceable season, then they'll be happy to have had him--especially given the weak alternatives available for a reasonable price (see: not Jose Reyes).