Chavo, I think you can look at "this exercise" as either rating it according to current circumstances or rating it relative to potential future outcomes. Depends on one's perspective. The thread, after all, does ask us to rate this acquisition now.

Thinking prospectively, to me the more open question, rather than the loss of the draft pick, is how Scutaro performs -- does he bomb under the circumstances of advancing age, his true ability level relative to his 2009 performance, and/or the Boston environment, does he thrive, or somewhere in between? To rate the acquisition now, you also have to make some advance judgment about that, and we've seen some comments which suggest that people are taking their performance expectations into account.

Finally, even if we consider the likelihood of another type A acquisition, not all type A's are created equal. Do we look at the Scutaro acquisition differently if (1) the Sox sign Holliday as the second type A, or (2) Bay goes elsewhere, the Yankees jump on Holliday, and the Sox end up signing one of the Atlanta relievers as another type A? In the latter circumstance the Sox would have given up two high draft picks to sign Scutaro and a RP. Would such an outcome change the viewpoints in this forum regarding BOTH acquisitions?