There was barely any room for him during the first half of the season, when Nick Green
found his name on the lineup card far more often than Lugo did — even
after Lugo came off the disabled list at the end of April.
Through 88 games thus far, Green has played in 70 of them, hitting
.257 with four home runs and 30 RBIs. Lugo, meanwhile, has played in
just 37; he’s hitting .284 with one homer and eight RBIs.
Jed Lowrie is due back to the big club in the coming days, and considering he’s the guy Theo Epstein wanted in the starting slot all along, it leaves Lugo in no-man’s land.
Unsurprisingly, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that the Sox are “desperately” trying to trade him
— desperate enough to pay almost all of his salary (he is due the
remainder of his $9 million salary for the rest of 2009, plus the same
amount for 2010).
They’re so desperate to get rid of him that they’re basically paying him to leave.
A source told Rosenthal that the team considers Lugo to be a “sunk
cost,” and if he is untradable, the team will most likely release him.
A trade doesn’t seem too likely for Lugo, who houses a career .271
clip and has proven to be offensively ineffective, injury prone and
defensively unsound. He’s registered over 55 RBIs just twice in his
10-year career. It’s not exactly a great resume.
It seems that the only way to move him would be to find another team that is equally desperate.
A move could be coming soon, with Lowrie and third baseman Mike Lowell
likely to be activated this weekend as the team takes on Toronto.
Lugo’s days in Boston could be numbered — but of course, we’ve all said that before, so you never know.
