Red Sox Player Julio Lugo To Leave Red Sox

Julio Lugo Designated for assignment

Julio Cesar Lugo was designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox after repeated under-achievement and injuries during his two and a half years tenure with this team. This designation was confirmed by his agent, Sam Levinson on July 17th and what this effectively means is that the Red Sox has 10 days to trade or release this veteran shortstop. He had signed a four year contract for $36 million as a free agent before the 2007 season and it is estimated that about $13.6 million is still remaining on his contract. So far, there have been no takers for this 33 year old and he is likely to become a free agent after the 10 day period.

The Red Sox management was very excited about Lugo when he was playing for Tampa Bay Rays and they decided to bring him on at a high price. But, Lugo consistently under performed for the Red Sox right from the time he joined the team in December 2006. He batted .189 up to July 7th in his first season after which he was dropped from the leadoff spot to the bottom of the batting order. He made a come back to finish the season with .237 with 8 home runs as the Red Sox won their second championship in four years. His problems persisted in the last season where he batted .268 with just one home run and 22 RBIs. He made 16 errors before he had a torn quadriceps and his season came to an abrupt end. He returned in late April and since then he has batted .287 in 37 games and he had a whopping seven errors in 97 chances. This poor performance forced the Red Sox organization to designate him for assignment because they want to put their best players in the field always.

There were many rumors about Lugo before the official announcement was made. He missed a mandatory team workout and did not travel to Toronto with his team mates to play against the Toronto Blue Jays. Terry Francona, the manager, told reporters that Lugo had missed the team workout because of a communication mix-up. But it was very obvious that the Red Sox was doing everything possible to move him because Lugo is league-average with his bat and below average with this glove. Also, they want to bring in other talented players like Clay Buchholz, Mike Lowell and Jed Lowrie.

This deal will be one of the worst deals in the career of Theo Epstein, the general manager of Red Sox. They are looking at this deal as a sunk cost and Epstein said in an interview that the team had paid for his past performance and not for his current one. Though, Epstein is talking to other teams to trade him, it looks very unlikely. The Red Sox are obligated to pay the remaining amount before releasing him and they are ready to accept the mistake so that they can move on with the remaining season.

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