Red Sox express interest in Adam Everett

WEEI.com’s Alex Speier reports that Boston has contacted Adam Everett to “to express some preliminary interest,” which makes sense given that this year’s crop of free-agent agent shortstops is so underwhelming that the Red Sox have considered asking Dustin Pedroia to switch positions. Everett is one of the worst hitters in baseball, but he’s long been an elite defensive shortstop, was originally taken by the Red Sox in the first round of the 1998 draft, and will come far cheaper than fellow free agents like Marco Scutaro, Miguel Tejada, and Orlando Cabrera. Scutaro is the cream of the shortstop crop, but would require a multi-year deal and giving up next year’s first-round pick, while Tejada and Cabrera may not even be capable of handling shortstop defensively at this point. Ultimate Zone Rating had Everett as 8.9 runs above average defensively in 116 games for the Tigers this season and per 150 games he’s rated 18.3 runs above average for his entire career. Everett turns 33 years old soon, so counting on that same extraordinary defense is no sure thing, but even a slight decline would leave him as one of the better defenders in the league. Red Sox fans may have a tough time seeing it, but Everett is fairly similar to Alex Gonzalez in overall value. Everett is a career .245/.297/.351 hitter with excellent defense. Gonzalez is a career .247/.294/.395 hitter with very good defense. While it may not sound appealing, a .650 OPS combined with great defense would make Everett close to an average all-around shortstop. And unlike the prominent free-agent options Everett is also cheap enough that signing him to a one-year deal wouldn’t preclude the Red Sox from handing the job back to Jed Lowrie at some point. Everett is certainly no one’s idea of a No. 1 target and the Red Sox already traded him away for Carl Everett back in 1999, but as fallbacks go he’s palatable and cheap.