Investing in Defense

Waiting to hear from the Big Snob -- I mean, um, Roy Oswalt -- is at least distracting us from noticing that the Sox have no official shortstop.

Which means we have to look at the Man Most Likely, Mr. Nick Punto.

I googled "Nick Punto defense" and found --

Over the Monster:

Punto is a fine defensive shortstop. Baseball Prospectus's Fielding Runs Above Average lists him as being worth about a win on defense over the last few years, despite not playing full time over those seasons. Baseball-Reference's defensive wins above replacement say the same thing, and UZR goes as far to say as he's been worth two wins over the same stretch. None of those metrics are gospel -- we haven't figured defense out to that degree -- but it's probably a good sign when the numbers agree with the conventional wisdom surrounding Punto's glove work.

And something obscure called WEEI:

Punto, 34, represents an above-average defensive third baseman and shortstop who will give the Sox a strong glove either for the late innings or in case shortstop Marco Scutaro or third baseman Kevin Youkilis is injured.

They say (too often) that defense wins championships, so we'll see.