Epstein on Lugo

I respect Lugo for not being a whiner and not causing distractions and being ready to play when called upon, so it's sad to read Theo repeatedly calling Lugo a "mistake". He could have said "we think this puts our best team on the field" and left it at that. Oh well. Bye Julio. Thanks for 07. See ya!

"We were paying for past performance, not current performance."

You signed a 30 year old utility player with a career .335 OBP to be a leadoff SS at double his previous salary for 4 years. The Astros released him. Tampa traded him for scrubs Joel Guzman and Sergio Pedroza. You paid for imaginary performance that was impossible for him.

F Lugo, your argument is full of holes. First, Lugo's previous salary was negotiated while he was still in his arbitration years, thus it can't be considered an open market price. Second, while the year before we signed Lugo was not his best, he had been an increasingly valuable player for the previous 2 years. He was an above average defender and above average bat at a premium defensive position.

That said, if there is something to be criticized in the signing, it was committing 4 years to 31 year old SS who didn't show a lot of evidence that he had yet to peak. What happened to Lugo's health was not entirely unpredictable. The contract was correctly valued, but the long term commitment was unwarranted.

I have to say, that I really feel sorry for Lugo. Every time he seemed to be pulling it together here in Boston, some sort of injury or other event would knock him back down. I also don't feel he got just credit for how he turned his season around in 2007, and played lights out defense AND offense in the 2nd half.

This year especially, he was a true professional in the Spring, and had truely earned himself the starting SS position for opening day. I also think Theo and co need to take quite a bit more blame for bringing him back from rehab, when he was clearly not healed physically. I think it created a situation where he was doomed to fail. Good management puts players in a position to succeed, not fail.

Ok, now that I said that, I am glad that they are letting him go. It was just never going to work. Now let's just hope that they are not rushing Jed back before he is fully healed too! Nick's got the fort for now, no need to rush.

Wow, he out and out called it a mistake. You have to respect that. And I appreciate that the Sox, at least, recognize and will address a mistake when they see one.

I wonder what else they see as mistakes but aren't in a position to address right now. A certain Japanese pitcher comes to mind...

Hey, everyone makes mistakes. The Sox have made a lot of the right moves too. Getting Jason Bay, under the pressure of needing to dump Manny, was pretty spectacular. Putting together a strong pitching staff counts for a lot too. It all makes up for the occasional clunker like Lugo. And I don't feel badly for him at all. Bottom line, he didn't perform. He'll have another chance somewhere else, and I hope he takes advantage of it.

"First, Lugo's previous salary was negotiated while he was still in his arbitration years, thus it can't be considered an open market price"

It's his ACTUAL price that is now dead money. No arbitrator made the Red Sox pay it, they made a stupid offer on their own.

"He was an above average defender"

.960 FLD% 25 errors is ABOVE average for SS? Every single AL starting SS has a better % this year and only 5 on pace for that many errors.

"above average bat"

Nope. Half a season in Tampa 2006 his OPS were .871 but every year previous he was average with .730-.765 OPS.

If you were the GM for Florida or Boston, would you trade Hanley R for Paplebon and Lugo and 80% of Lugo's salary for Hanley R?

Theo has been just great, but let's admit it -- this signing was a disaster. And that's not just looking backwards. The signing initially caused major head-scratching. He was a disaster with the Dodgers and truly looked horrible. What Theo saw -- I have no idea. I hated the signing from the get-go, and Julio did nothing to disprove it. Please -- don't "feel sorry" for Lugo -- he picked up $36M and was only slightly more valuable than myself -- and I got paid zero.