Lugo’s death knell begins gonging

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.

WholesaleKeychain.com TRIVIA: Last catcher drafted

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.

If you want to buy a keychain or their other offerings, head to the site and put in "MVN" as a coupon -- you will save 10 percent!

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.)

Lugo’s death knell begins

With the All-Star Break finally behind us, it's time to take a look ahead at what the second half has in store for us.

One thing it doesn't have in store for us is Julio Lugo's presence in a Red Sox uniform.

Read on to read what the likely scenario is to happen once games get underway again... and also possibilities the Sox might keep Lugo on the roster.

But the bottom line is that you can go ahead and pack away your Lugo t-shirts now.

Today’s trades show how lucky Sox fans are

Today, two extremely puzzling trades occurred. Check out the trades and my reaction to them.

Then, just be happy you're not a Royals or Mets fan.

Sox interested in Atkins; should Sox go to 11 pitchers?

Rumors abound that the Red Sox and Colorado Rockies have discussed a deal around reliever Takashi Saito for third-baseman Garrett Atkins, making roughly $7 million this year.

The benefit to Atkins is that he would give the Sox a legitimate power bat off the bench, something the team lacks. Atkins would play first and third base off the bench, providing invaluable depth should Mike Lowell's return prove unsuccessful.

Which brings us to a more important question: are the Sox better served with an extra bench bat or an extra pitcher?

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Fenway Guide TRIVIA: ROY infielder

Who is the only other Red Sox infielder aside from Nomar Garciaparra and Dustin Pedroia to win the Rookie of the Year award?

Bates promotion tells a lot about Sox’s concern for O

With the recent callup of first baseman Aaron Bates to the club, it's clear that the Sox are concerned about their offensive viability.

With the All-Star break around the corner, the club could have opted to keep Jeff Bailey on the roster despite his high-ankle strain and go a couple days against a left-handed starter with Julio Lugo at short or Mark Kotsay at first (despite the latter's left-handed bat).

Instead, the club chose to promote a 25-year old struggling in Triple-A. Bates' numbers so far on the year are .182/.273/.295 with only 24 games at the level. And yet, the Sox brought him up to get his right-handed bat in the lineup against lefty pitchers.

Bailey likely to hit disabled list

Yesterday, first baseman Jeff Bailey suffered a high-ankle strain trying to make a play on Brad Penny's acrobatic flip to first base Saturday. He's likely to hit the disabled list, a loss given that the Sox are about to face two left-handed pitchers.

How can the Red Sox replace Bailey against left-handed starters?

Hello from Amsterdam!

Greetings, all. I've reached the Amsterdam leg of my whirl through Europe. It's a fun, quaint city surrounded by canals. I've been trying hard to stay hip to the Sox despite being six hours ahead of eastern time. It seems as if just as I left, David Ortiz heated up, the Sox swept the Yankees and were on fire... now the bats have gone cold.