Free agent Marco Scutaro, a prime candidate to fill the Boston Red Sox's shortstop void in 2010, worked out in Florida earlier this week for one of the team's top talent evaluators, two baseball sources told ESPN.com.
Scutaro held a workout near his home in Miami on Tuesday for Allard Baird, special assistant to Boston general manager Theo Epstein, the sources said. It's believed the workout helped alleviate some concerns the Red Sox had over a heel injury that sidelined Scutaro for the final two weeks of the 2009 season.
Scutaro also told a Venezuelan newspaper that the Red Sox have requested his medical records. Although it's uncertain if Boston has made an offer to Scutaro, the two recent developments are a sign the Red Sox might be moving in that direction.
"The people of Boston called again and asked for my medical report, and [we] are working on it," Scutaro told Diario Panorama. "I have to go to a doctor to confirm that I am OK about the injury I had at the end of the season."
Epstein, citing club policy, declined to comment.
Scutaro, 34, hit .284 with a .379 on-base percentage and 100 runs scored for the Toronto Blue Jays last season, but he was bothered for several weeks by a case of plantar fasciitis in his right heel.
The Blue Jays offered Scutaro salary arbitration earlier this week to ensure themselves of draft-pick compensation if he signs elsewhere. Since Toronto has already signed Alex Gonzalez and John McDonald, Scutaro will have to settle for playing left field and third base if he accepts the arbitration offer.
The Red Sox appear to have three options at shortstop: they can trade for an established shortstop and keep Dustin Pedroia at second base; they can move Pedroia to shortstop and acquire a second baseman; or they can sign Scutaro or another shortstop through free agency.
Pedroia, a former All-America shortstop at Arizona State, told ESPN.com's Peter Gammons earlier this week that he would gladly return to the position.
"They've put it out there and I've told them I'm all for it," Pedroia said. "I can do it. I can't wait for Tito [Terry Francona] to call me and ask, 'Can you do it?' I can do it. I really want to do it."
WEEI.com reported that the Red Sox have also expressed an interest in free-agent second baseman Orlando Hudson. The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't offer Hudson salary arbitration this week, so if another team signs him this winter, it will not have to surrender a draft pick as compensation.
Jerry Crasnick covers baseball for ESPN.com.