A bit of bad news

Posted on August 19, 2008
Filed Under 2008 Season, Injury Watch |

I’ve got a bit of (tongue-in-cheek) bad news for Red Sox fans. Julio Lugo swung a bat (and probably missed) for the first time yesterday since straining his left quadriceps on July 11th. MLB.com gives an estimated return date for Lugo as September 1st. That is the same day that rosters expand, so nobody will have to leave the club for Lugo to rejoin it.

All of that is fine and well but it brings up the bigger issue of who is going to be the starting shortstop?

Jed Lowrie is hitting .309 with a .372 OBP and 30 RBI in only 136 AB. His OPS is an incredibly solid .850 and he has played errorless baseball at short. He should be the clear choice to remain the starter.

Julio Lugo was hitting .268 with a .355 OBP and 22 RBI in 261 AB. His OPS is a weak .685 and he has committed a league-leading 16 errors. Unfortunately he is also the veteran and is signed until 2010 at about 9 mil a season.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it wouldn’t be a good business decision to put Lugo and his salary on the bench; however, it wouldn’t be a good baseball decision to have him in the starting lineup.

Comments

4 Responses to “A bit of bad news”

  1. Michael Christopher on August 19th, 2008 10:22 am

    On a side note, it is INCREDIBLY easy to find images of Julio Lugo making errors.

  2. bottomlinesox on August 19th, 2008 10:34 am

    No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    This will be Tito’s toughest decison yet… and I’m not sure I trust him to do the right thing here… not good.

  3. Michael Christopher on August 19th, 2008 12:10 pm

    Same, I get the feeling that he’s going to return to the veteran rather than let Lowrie finish out the season as a starter. Fingers crossed.

  4. Nicholas on August 19th, 2008 2:46 pm

    Please god, no more Lugo.

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