Red Sox Beacon: (Former) Sox Free Agents: David Eckstein

Eckstein always reminds me of this goofy kid I knew that would skin his knees on purpose…just so he could make his delicioso Scab Sandwich (Italian loaf + mayo + picked-off scabs).

David Eckstein never played for the actual Red Sox, but he was a Sox farmhand before the Angels got a hold of him. We, as Red Sox fans, are reminded every time David Eckstein does something significant in the postseason (which has not happened for a few seasons now) that he used to be Boston property, and the Sox are insane for letting the scrappiest player that ever did scrap go. This is ridiculous for a few reasons that are not worth getting into for the purposes of this piece, but let’s leave it at this: Eckstein has had a solid career and won two World Series while making a few million dollars, and the Red Sox have had Nomar Garciaparra, Dustin Pedroia and two of their own World Series over the same stretch.

Eckstein has spent the past two seasons as a second baseman–which is the position he probably should have played all along, as it better suits his arm–for the San Diego Padres. Depending on who you ask, Eckstein was worth roughly 2-3 wins in that time frame, at a cost of just $2 million. It’s a bargain for the Padres, for sure–as we have said a few times on this site, a win on the free agent market costs around $5M, and the Padres picked up somewhere between $10-15M worth of production out of Eckstein for far less. By the same token though, the production he gave them was the kind you should be able to get out of thin air (or for the kind of money they spent on him), and isn’t what you would necessarily want to have as your starting second baseman.