Aviles Enjoying Right Field; Scutaro Trade Rumour Comes And Goes

Mike Aviles was playing right field for Ponce Leones in Puerto Rico this winter ... and loving it.

While he had not played the outfield since he was a college sophomore, he says he adapted quickly.

I also surprised myself at how much I actually like it. I actually really love it. ... Being a lifelong infielder, the first game or two, my first reaction was coming in. As an infielder, you're taught to charge the ball all the time whereas as an outfielder you're not really charging the ball every single time. You kind of go back before you go in. It's one of those things where you get the repetition. The more repetition I got, the better I got at it.

The outfield at the Red Sox's new spring training park in Fort Myers is similar to Fenway's, giving Aviles some idea of what he'll be dealing with up north. Aviles hit .317/.340/.436 with the Red Sox last year and has a .299/.344/.470 against left-handers in his career.

Troy Renck of the Denver Post reported yesterday that the Rockies were "close to acquiring" Marco Scutaro. Not more than an hour later, Renck tweeted that while a trade was discussed, "it appears now [it] won't happen." ... Boston GM Ben Cherington stated: "Nothing to report." ... (How the day might have gone.)

Cherington likes the Red Sox starting rotation, though he does not yet know which five pitchers will be in it. He does admit that "we have more questions right now than Tampa Bay and New York" but adds Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz are "motivated" for the upcoming season. Woo-hoo. ... Catcher Ryan Lavarnway is the subject of a few articles.

Also: Bill James offers "a totally, utterly, insanely completist list" of the Top 100 pitching duels of 2011.