"Here is the question Boston Red Sox fans should be asking themselves:

Would you trade Marco Scutaro straight up for Roy Oswalt?

My guess is that many of you would say yes. I'm inclined to join you, and soon -- perhaps within days -- it will be clear that Ben Cherington agrees with you.

That was what Saturday night's trade of Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies was all about. Just a couple of days ago, Cherington mentioned that he considered exercising Scutaro's $6 million option for the 2012 season a "significant acquisition," likening the late-October decision to signing a free agent.

Now, a couple of months later, Cherington has decided that money will be better spent elsewhere. He shipped off the 36-year-old Scutaro to a team, the Colorado Rockies, that needed a second baseman, in exchange adding another arm, sinkerballer Clay Mortensen, to the team's inventory of worth-taking-a-flier-on pitchers."