The Curse of Nomahhhh

As promised this entry will be shorter than the last. I intentionally didn't touch on the shortstop position in my first post because I felt like it needed more than just a little blurb, and the last post was long enough as it was. The infamous 'Curse of Bambino' left the Red Sox without a World Series title for a heartbreaking 86 years. The 'Curse of Nomar' has left us without a competent defensive shortstop that can also hit well enough to play on a championship caliber team. Orlando Cabrera, Nomar's immediate successor, was the closest thing to a quality well rounded shortstop the Sox have had. Cabrera, by all accounts, was not a great teammate and Theo was not about to deal with another malcontent shortstop, a la Nomar for the final year plus of his contract. Cabrera was also looking for a long term contract and with blue chip prospect, Hanley Ramirez, waiting in the wings and better options in the free agent market, Theo wasn't looking to lock down a lesser shortstop for more than a year or two. As we all know Theo went out and signed Edgar Renteria to a 4 year $40 million deal. Renteria was known as an offensive oriented shortstop but with the ability to play at least average defense. A reported wrist injury sapped Renteria's bat speed and reported back and leg issues played a factor in his abysmal fielding (how much of a factor isn't known because the extent of the injuries were never completely disclosed). Rente-wreck, as the fans and media mockingly referred to him, was traded to the Atlanta Braves for prospect Andy Marte after just one season with the Red Sox.

On October 31st, 2005 Theo Epstein ended contract talks with the Boston Red Sox, later citing his displeasure when information of the negotiations was leaked to the media, and escaped the media at Fenway Park by hiding in a gorilla costume. This single event set off a chain reaction that made its presence felt over the next couple years, including another World Series in 2007 and a stretch of some of the worst shortstop play Sox fans have ever seen. Less than a month later, the GM by committee; Jed Hoyer, Ben Cherington, and Larry Luccino completed a trade for Josh Beckett and the soon to be 2007 World Series MVP, Mike Lowell, by sending Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez to the Florida Marlins. This blockbuster trade was made against the advice of Theo, who remained on as a consultant to the team, and left the Red Sox without a shortstop for the present of future. On January 24th, 2006 Larry Luccino and John Henry announced Theo's return as GM and his new responsibilities as Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations (essentially eliminating Luccino's influence in Baseball Operations).

A weak shortstop free agent class left little options for the 2006 season. Shortly after returning to his post as GM Theo signed Alex Gonzalez, an offensively challenged defensive wizard, to a 1 year contract. Gonzalez's defensive play in his only year with the Red Sox should've earned him a gold glove, but the voters gave the honor to defensively challenged Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter. From 2007 - 2009 Red Sox fans had to suffer through the offensive and defensive ineptitude of Julio Lugo. The Lugo signing will probably go down as one of Theo's worst as a GM.

Going into the 2010 season Theo made 2 signings that would finally put an end to the revolving door at shortstop. The second signing (don't worry I'll get to the first one) was of free agent Marco Scutaro, who has just had a career year offensively with the Toronto Blue Jays. Scutaro epitomized one of Theo's cardinal beliefs for building a championship contender; be at least league average at every position. Scutaro is league average every facet of the game and his 2 year deal became a bridge to the future of the position.

The future of the shortstop position was solidified in September 2009 when the Red Sox signed Jose Iglesias, a 19 year old defensive magician who had recently defected from Cuba. Iglesias is a defense first short stop with enough of a bat to be a #8 or #9 hitter in the Sox line-up. To say Iglesias is a good defender doesn't do his talent justice, both Dustin Pedroia and Alex Rodriguez have said he is (present tense as in right now as a 21 year old) one of the best defensive shortstops they've ever seen. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a professional talent evaluator so I'll sum up Iglesias' defensive wizardry with the words of people far more qualified than I: "Watching Jose Iglesias take infield practice is like baseball porn." -ESPN's Keith Law via twitter, an anonymous scout described Iglesias' pre-game workouts to Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein as "the equivalent  of a live-action instructional video of everything a shortstop should do.", finally this is a link to a brief scouting report, with some video, done by MLB network MLB Top 50 Prospects: Jose Iglesias.

Since the glory days of Nomar Garciaparra, the Red Sox have not been able to find the shortstop that fits their team offensively and more importantly defensively. With the long term roster built the way it is Jose Iglesias looks to be a mainstay at the bottom of the line up, and more importantly in the field, at shortstop, where he should have no problem racking up multiple Gold Glove awards for years to come.