The Marco Scutaro Trade Revisited?

Kyle Terada – USA Today Sports

You’ll notice the question mark in the title. Presumably you noticed the photo first and then the question mark. Then you realized, like me, that it really won’t ever be possible to revisit this trade without grimacing at the thought of Marco Scutaro being such a key player on the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. I mean, they even made a freaking rain globe in honor of his moment of glory.

A rain globe. That’s a thing. It’s the globe that rains!

Still, what made that trade especially painful at about this time last year was the fact that the Colorado Rockies seemingly got nothing for the veteran infielder. Charlie Culberson didn’t feel like much more than a throw-in player, a fringe utility infielder in a deal that otherwise involved the Rockies essentially paying for Scutaro to play for a division rival.

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

As Lee Corso would say…not so fast, my friends.

Culberson will likely never be able to match the contributions of Scutaro or somehow make this a fair trade, but he is making a strong case this month that he can be a serviceable bench player for the Rockies next season. His athleticism earned him some run in the outfield while with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, and now that is where he is playing exclusively with the big club. Culberson can still plug in somewhere in the infield in a pinch, and that versatility gives him an immediate leg up as a role player.

We just needed to see him hit, and while the sample size is small, this September has shown some promise. Culberson is currently in the midst of a 10 game hitting streak and is batting .452 this month. With a swing that sort of makes him look like Mark Ellis with hair (no offense, Mark), Culberson has even looked good in pinch hitting appearances, batting .319 in 19 such at-bats this season.

When we were still holding onto hope for the Rockies in the dog days of a summer that has since passed, a lack of pop off the bench was a major problem. A lack of much of anything off the bench was a problem, to be frank (no disrespect Jonathan Herrera). So maybe we will never truly have occasion to revisit the Marco Scutaro trade, but we can at least take comfort in knowing that the Rockies did get a decent player in return and one who might play a role on the team moving forward.