Keeping up with the corners

With Mike Lowell's recent injury concerns creeping back into the active conscious of Red Sox Nation, depth at the corners and in the middle of the lineup has suddenly been thrust to the forefront of the early pre-trade deadline chatter.

Much of the Red Sox trade innuendo to this point has surrounded the potential acquisition of a shortstop or catcher, positions without organizational depth or strength. But with Jason Varitek and George Kottaras holding down the fort behind the plate with acceptable production and Nick Green earning the job at short with Jed Lowrie waiting in the wings (and Julio Lugo being Julio Lugo), those positions may not be the most critical to address as July rolls in.

Five shortstops Red Sox could pursue

As Nick Green and Julio Lugo team up in an attempt to break the record for most errors out of shortstop (and we thought Edgar Renteria was bad), it's time to start looking at outside options.

Green has been a great fill-in with the bat after no one expected him to even get a single at-bat on the year. On defense, however, his lead glove is starting to raise concerns. And Julio Lugo, of course, is Julio Lugo. We'll get to our internal option, Jed Lowrie, in a moment. But for now, let's focus on five shortstops the Sox could go after.

Poll: How the mighty have fallen…

LAA 5, BOS 4: Stranded

If leaving 12 men on base isn't any indication that David Ortiz needs to be moved down in the lineup, well then, what is?

How much is a Penny worth?

While they haven't shown the "stuff" that was expected of them this season thus far, the Red Sox do have rotational depth. With Daisuke Matsuzaka on his way back to the big club and Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden in the minor leagues, decisions regarding the starting five and top alternates will soon be made.

As injuries throughout the infield (Pedroia, Youkilis, Lowrie) have started to take their toll on the Red Sox this season, the "surplus" in the starting rotation may soon be required to yield some reinforcements.

CLE 9, BOS 8: Snapped

Javier Lopez could use a mulligan.

Lugo returns; is he better than Green?

Julio Lugo is back in our lives.

Get used to it.

While the pecking order clearly deliniates Lugo as the starting shortstop over Nick Green, it will be hard for Lugo to justify starting full-time over Green, at least in the outset.

Read on to see if there's an impending battle between Lugo and Green...

Lugo plays field, Ks twice for PawSox, will return April 27

Julio Lugo began a rehab assignment Wednesday for the Pawtucket Red Sox and came away feeling better, physically, than his performance would indicate.

Lugo, who batted leadoff and played shortstop, was 0-for-3 in three official at-bats and drew a walk in an International League game won by Pawtucket, 8-7, over Rochester in 11 innings.

It’s early, but the stats still exist.

Dustin Pedroia: OPS+ 86: Speaking of picking it up...I guess that is what the Orioles pitching staff allows a hitter to do. Although, I do not want to dismiss the offensive explosion of the last few days completely.

After all, they did "rock" Orioles "Ace" Jeremy Guthrie, and last time I checked, he is a pretty good pitcher. But anyway, Pedroia has reached base 10 times in the past four games. His OBP is now roughly league-average, and his slugging has broken the .400 mark. And both of those categories should only improve from here on out.

Poll: “Short” handed Red Sox