UZR really liked De Aza's defense last year. Dude put up a 2.8 fangraphs WAR in 54 games. Sure, a lot of that was BABIP, but that's impressive.

 

He has good speed and from what I've seen, pretty good range. I'm really looking forward to seeing him and Viciedo play every day next season.

Guys, we're cutting payroll.

Aoki's posting fee only cost $2.5 mill. Far less than most thought it would be. I still think it would make sense for the sox to have had interest. Besides DeAza, the sox have few other options for leadoff. They don't even have a #2 hitter. Ichiro lite isn't bad. Esp. if the sox aren't in complete rebuild mode.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/yaku...chika-aoki.html

There's no place for him to play.

Brew Crew got the winning bid

See disaster known as 2011 Minnesota Twins (particularly SS/2B) for why this would have been a bad move.

It remains to be seen. It's pretty clear the sox lack top of the order hitters. DeAza is the sox only leadoff guy or #2 type hitter. And he's very unproven. The sox need to add guys who can get on base at a decent clip. With no real options in the minors, taking a flyer on a guy like Aoki wouldn't have been the worst move, IMO.

 

The sox do seem to recognize this, with the drafting of Mitchell and Walker. But a lot more needs to be done, as far as adding position player prospects who can hit for high avg. and take a walk.