Well, that was a surprise.
Julio Lugo has been designated for assignment, bringing to a close a tumultuous two-and-a-half years with Lugo as our apparent shortstop.
In the spirit of Lugo no longer being a Red Sox, let's have a shortstop trivia question.
What Red Sox shortstop set the all-time (not just modern, all-time) record of consecutive games played before future players surpassed him?
The Red Sox have informed all teams that they are willing to pay most of Lugo's remaining salary, Ken Rosenthal reports. The team has publicly announced its intention of bringing Mike Lowell aboard Friday with Jed Lowrie to follow Saturday, so Lugo's time is running short.
The Sox have realized Lugo's sunk cost -- one of the few teams to understand the idea of sunk cost -- and are willing to receive a fringe prospect in return just to move him. The idea behind moving him instead of releasing him outright would be to get at least some talent into the system from a team that wants Lugo without having to fight for him in free agency.
I'm going to guess Lugo to the Pirates. The Pirates seem to be highly likely to trade second baseman Freddy Sanchez, and Jack Wilson may be on the way out as well. The Pirates need middle infield depth with these moves, and Lugo fits the bill.
Congratulations to Mike for winning the trivia contest spanning April to now! He tied with trivia guru Tessie's Dad for the final standings; given that Tessie's Dad retired, Mike gets the grand prize of Fenway!: The Ultimate Fan's Guide, 2009 Edition.
The grand prize for this round of trivia is brought to you by WholesaleKeychain.com. They have a selection of many sports keychains, including the Red Sox. A leather keychain is up for grabs that can be engraved with your message of choice. A Boston Red Sox bottle opener is part of the prize.
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Onto the trivia:
Who was the last catcher to be the first draft pick for the Red Sox? (Note: may or may not be first-round, but Sox's first selection in the draft.)
Mid season report cards are certainly the topic du jour around the blogosphere as the All-Star break gives us a lapse from the everyday grind of game to game commentary.
I have to give Boston.com props for a pretty innovative approach to the report card feature this season. That said, there are a few items that could be improved.
1. Mazz can give a +/- on a letter grade, but we can't? There were plenty that I would have given the same gradient as Mazz had I been able to. I ended up with alot of B's where there was more variation between the players I gave that letter grade than I represented with the straight grade. I guess baseball isn't as "easy as A, B, C" after all.
2. Aggregate grading isn't weighted in structured way. The fact that I gave the Red Sox players most responsible for their performance all A/B grades and the long tail some C/D/F shouldn't aggregate out to me giving the Red Sox as a whole a C+. The formula should be more intelligent (weighted by Win Shares or Innings Played) to derive a team score. Also it would be fun to see some roll ups of Bullpen/Starters/Infield/Outfield/Bench, etc.
Overall, I'll give credit to Boston.com for a very well done interactive feature. Maybe even a B+ (if I could).
Josh Beckett capped off the first half of the season with a bang.
Leave it to the Red Sox to give us some news to keep us amped up through the break. They have recalled Clay Buchholz from AAA and he will be starting on Friday at Toronto. This also means that they will be moving to a six man rotation (Buchholz, Penny, Lester, Smoltz, Beckett, Wake) in the second half of the season.
Questions abound.
- Does this mean that a deal is somewhere in the making to push the rotation back to 5?
- What does this signify about Daisuke Matsuzaka's status the remainder of the season?
Thoughts, concerns, speculation?
Throw it at us.
UPDATE: It appears it will be a single spot start for Buchholz and then he'll be back to Pawtucket.
I don't buy it...I think this is some posturing in advance of the 7/31 deadline. I smell smoke...and when there is smoke....you know the rest.
Even though Boston got out to a 9-0 lead after four innings of play the Red Sox bullpen made it interesting.