Our long national nightmare is over. Julio Lugo has been DFA'd. The Sox now have a week to trade or release him.
Regardless the outcome, the Sox will likely be paying all or nearly all the rest of Lugo's $36 million contract.
For the record, that's $36 million for a collective line of .251/.319/.346, a 71 OPS+, with a UZR/150 of -40 runs at shortstop.
By the end of his contract, Lugo will have provided Boston with $4.8 million in value, a return of about 11 cents for every dollar the Red Sox invested in him.
Farewell, Julio. It's not your fault the Sox overpaid for talent you no longer had -- and only briefly possessed -- but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to see you go.
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Time to start the "this team get whiter" crap from the haters.
I say: THANK THE GOOD LORD BABY JESUS.
Posted by: Brad | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 02:25 PM
We won't know what we had until it is gone.
Oh, wait. That's completely wrong. We know.
I need to find a new LFRS! Who is going to step up!?
Posted by: SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 02:40 PM
Any links to the yfsf article when the Sox first got Lugo?
Posted by: Lar | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:02 PM
Here you go, Lar.
http://www.yfsf.org/2006/12/5117036_and_we_.html
Posted by: SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:28 PM
SF beat me to the punch, but I posted up above with a few interesting quotes from the 2006-07 offseason re: Lugo.
A great debate about the Sox' free-spending ways in that thread. I'd forgotten how much the Sox changed the roster from 2006. What's amazing is that of their three big moves -- Drew, Matsuzaka and Lugo -- two had disappointing seasons and the Sox still won the division and the World Series that year.
Posted by: Paul SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:38 PM
Man, and the first post nonetheless.
I have no idea where I got the idea that he had a good glove.
Posted by: Brad | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:43 PM
Haha, ya, so much of it was still debating DM and what counts as payroll. What a waste of time that was!
Posted by: Lar | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:43 PM
Lugo was a decent defender for a time, and actually had better range than the much-ballyhooed Gonzalez. But his arm was a disaster, and the knee surgery this season destroyed whatever defensive value he had left. It was the last blow -- a speedy baserunner who couldn't get on base, a range-reliant fielder who could no longer run.
Posted by: Paul SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:54 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHjNeBS7ckw&feature=related
I'M JUST SO HAPPY!
Posted by: Atheose | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 03:57 PM
Excellent point on the outcome of 2007. In that light, the only signings that hurt are the ones that don't stop hurting after the suds are dry. And even then it takes a year or two. What's good about pitching contracts that go bad is the pitcher is usually hurt. When bats go bad they take ABs away from more deserving candidates. At least the Sox made the right move. The Yankees would have first run him out to CF.
Why were the Sox so hot to get rid of Cabrera? He was well-liked and good enough. He's outperformed his salary every year too.
Posted by: Rob | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 04:13 PM
He wasn't well liked inside the clubhouse, as rumors had it, thanks to his certain, ahem, tendencies he had with regard to teammates' wives. At least, that's what has been said.
Posted by: Paul SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Hmmm, that seems like a lame reason to get rid of the guy. He won a Series as the starting shortstop. Reggie Jackson wasn't well-liked.
Bah, but then I don't buy into the chemistry nonsense.
Posted by: Rob | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 04:50 PM
There's a difference between believing in some magical chemistry formula in the clubhouse and getting rid of a guy who keeps hitting on other guys' wives.
Posted by: rootbeerfloat | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 05:05 PM
I too cannot believe that the Sox didn't keep Orlando Cabrera. That move singlehandedly kept the Sox from winning another World Seri--
Er, forget it.
Posted by: SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 05:09 PM
This post makes me think on the Cerberus of Kevin Carl Kei.
Posted by: attackgerbil | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 05:19 PM
OH HAPPY DAY!
Posted by: Micah-SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 05:36 PM
"This post makes me think on the Cerberus of Kevin Carl Kei."
I'm just going to change my handle to "the guy who never gets any obscure references"
Posted by: rootbeerfloat | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 05:44 PM
RBF: I googled Gerb's reference and still couldn't come up with anything!
Posted by: SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 06:05 PM
In Greek/Roman mythology, Cerberus is the three-headed hound who guards the gates of hell.
Hence, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pavano, Mr. Igawa.
Posted by: attackgerbil | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 06:18 PM
Imagine an immense, dark, but fiery cavern, flames licking occasionally the ceiling, wherein Brian Cashman stands on a slender bridge holding in both hands an enormous soup-bone, with which he fends off a great Rottweiler treble his size and which has three heads whose visages are Kevin, Carl, and Kei; "Nice Shot" by Filter plays the background on a loop. For several years.
Posted by: attackgerbil | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 06:26 PM
wtf was that?
Posted by: attackgerbil | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 07:15 PM
I am so out of it I didn't even make the Kei Igawa connection. I am pathetic.
Posted by: SF | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 07:41 PM
AG -
You crack me up.
Posted by: rootbeerfloat | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 08:19 PM
This post makes me think on the Cerberus of Kevin Carl Kei.
Kickass reference!
The rumor regarding OCab is that he slept with a certain player's wife. A player that has a lot to say about the team's decisions. I loved the guy, and was surprised to see Renteria come to Boston.
Posted by: Atheose | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 10:39 PM
AG
That's why Cerberus was a hilarious nome for the holding company that owned (still owns?) Chrysler.
Posted by: dabize | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 10:39 PM
This photo reprinted by permission of the AP, Hades Division.
Posted by: attackgerbil | Friday, July 17, 2009 at 11:20 PM
The rumor regarding OCab is that he slept with a certain player's wife. A player that has a lot to say about the team's decisions.
Who was this certain player? I have heard it was everyone from Keith Foulke to Jason Varitek to Manny.
Posted by: SoxFan | Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 12:46 AM