Red Sox Exercise Marco Scutaro's $6 Million Team Option

Marco Scutaro will be back with the Red Sox for 2012, as the team has announced today that they will exercise the shortstop's $6 million option to keep him out of free agency.

The move comes as no surprise, really. The Red Sox have struggled for years to find consistency at the shortstop position, and while Marco Scutaro isn't top-tier, he's been reliable for the team these past two years. His 2010 season was a bit rough thanks to playing through injury with much of the rest of the team already on the disabled list, and his 2011 campaign didn't start off terribly well either as he lost the starting job to Jed Lowrie within the first month of play.

Still, Scutaro was there to take over when Lowrie started to fall apart, and when September came along he was one of the few players who not only carried their weight, but excelled under pressure. Scutaro would hit .329/.382/.423 in the second half, resulting in a strong overall campaign that left this move a no-brainer.