It appears that we need to spend the money from St Louis on hitting coaches.

Adam LaRoche and Chris Duncan, we hardly knew ye.... Enjoy the Cash and enjoy the rest of your summer off!

... still a good trade for the Sox. I would have been happy swapping two dozen baseballs for Lugo.

Great trade Theo

LaRouche is employed, Ryan.

I was mystified why they even took Duncan in that trade. I would rather the Red Sox picked up a minor league P or SS for Julio down by the schoolyard Lugo. I guess they may have another player or cash coming to them , so maybe Theo will take a young player or pitcher.

Two dozen balls for Lugo? Priceless. I

So if they owe us cash $ then we don't owe Lugo any of his salary for next season? I sure as hell hope so.

And don't forget that the Sox are on the hook for most of Lugo's $12 mil salary for the next two year. Those are some expensive baseballs!

Why is the hitting so pathetic with the PawSox this year?

Lugo was always a good hitter but the negative folks never saw that!

Lugo is hitting .319 for the Red Birds so far. Why can't we get players like that?

The reason Francona's here is "it's all about morale". He's losing his touch. DiceK got a taste of the old country during the world cup and I'd bet, he's history here. Julio got stepped on from day one and never performed as advertised. It'll be interesting to see how he does, long term, in St Louis.

The problem with Julio wasn't his hitting - he was doing alright this year.

It was his terrible fielding and ability to botch seemingly the most routine plays. He was a liability in the field and will not be missed by this sox fan.

Lugo a good hitter? With the Red Sox I doubt he ever got over .250. And don't forget his epic 'no hit' that went on for 4 weeks or so a few years ago.

Anyone that can hit a fastball will have inflated numbers hitting in front of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Ryan Ludwick. Sorry, still not liking Lugo.

I had been wondering why Anderson got the call up instead of Duncan when they wanted a right handed bat outfielder and wanted to give Reddick some more time to "bake' in the minors.

Lugo was always a good hitter? On what planet do you spend most of your time?

Um, Bonnie, Lugo was not "always" a good hitter. He was, at best, a streaky hitter, but mostly an under achiever. In his first season with the Sox, which was his only full season, he batted .237. He hit .268 last year in 82 games and .284 in 37 games this year. That was an improvement, but hardly enough to offset his horrific defense. It wouldn't have been so bad if he could have gotten some more walks.

"Lugo, meanwhile, is hitting .319 with a home run and 14 runs scored in 72 at-bats for the Cardinals."

What will it take to placate the neverending, far-reaching, Curse of Nomar?

Right on Big Dog!

America runs from Duncan..

My mother is a good hitter, too.

uselsss.....

"Lugo was always a good hitter but the negative folks never saw that!"

By the negative folks you mean anyone who watched him play?

Lugo was not good for Boston....Let it go...The sooner we forget about Lugo, better it is...

Apparently Lugo could see the baseball well enough to hit it but not well enough to catch it.

Uh, yeah; it was our (perceived) negativity that caused us to believe Lugo was not a good hitter. With men on base last season, he had the lowest BA of any regular in the Majors.....but it was my our negativity.

I wonder if we're going to release the PTBNL as soon as we get him, too.

What will it take to placate the neverending, far-reaching, Curse of Nomar?

Bring him back to end his career in Boston.

As a Cardinal fan, I can't believe the Red Sox made the Duncan for Lugo trade...you ask any baseball fan in St. Louis...Duncan was a total disaster in the field and at the plate...the pitchers around the league figured him out two years ago and he's been washed up since...Lugo is and will be productive...

Theo, what the hell were you thinking?

Reitz44,

I doubt that Theo ever wanted Duncan. He just wanted a warm body so that his eating of Lugo's contract wouldn't look so bad.

Good luck to St. Louis - maybe Lugo will continue to shine there, but he would never have turned it around in Boston. Even if Lugo keeps it up, Theo had to get him off the team.

I am totally through with this team, and all of the moronic bean eaters here. Yankees, you have won my heart now.

I would've traded Lugo for 10 American dollars and a pack of Camel Lights

And I don't smoke

Lets' face it there will never been a replacement as good as Nomar. Once he left that position has been haunted by like 6 different players and now we're back to Alex Gonzalez. Please.

"What will it take to placate the neverending, far-reaching, Curse of Nomar?
Bring him back to end his career in Boston."

Then let it be so, Cal. Let it be so.

Lots of players "hit better" after they leave the AL East. Why do you think Smoltz wanted out - because he could extend his career playing elsewhere. Lugo was a bad signing no matter which way you look at it.

Lugo is a lifetime 250 hitter and will reach that level at some point he had 4 years at TBay that he hit 15-10-10 and 12 homers before being traded to the Dodgers, he never approached that again.

Bonnie,
With all due respect, the negative people may have realized that there's both a top half and bottom half of an inning. He was the worst, most fundamentally unsound defensive shortstop I have ever seen. I don't care if he hits .407.

lol, LaRoche is enjoying dropping bombs for Atl...where you been man? Duncan always sucked, had a lucky stint when there was no book on him, now he's toast. Career is over. Boston is overrated though, thats fo sho.

Lugo is coming back down to earth...last seven days he has hit .150 with a slugging of .230. Its a small sample but my bet is he will continue to trend downward...

39 comments about Lugo? ooops, make that 40!

Lugo was brought in as an offensive upgrade over Alex Gonzalez. Here are his numbers (BA/Slg/OPS) for his time with Boston:

2007 - .237/.349/.643
2008 - .268/.330/.685
2009 - .284/.367/.719

He fielded .968, .945, and an incredible .928 in his three years here (in succession), while his range factor declined from 4.21 in 2007, to 3.70 in 2008, to 3.33 this year. That represents a decline from slightly below-average to below abysmal: he was getting to fewer balls and was doing terribly with the ones he did reach.

I agree with the above poster who said that a couple dozen baseballs for Lugo would be a good trade.

His brother was no good with the Yankees. The father is an excellent pitching coach. You would think they would have realized pitching may have been the way to go?

I thought the Sox were eating Lugo's salary, but if they might be getting cash back from St. Louis, maybe not? Does anyone know?

As for his legacy in Boston, his 3 most memorable plays in my view were (1) being safe on an error while the tying and winning runs scored in the "Mothers Day Miracle," (2) making the error that cost Curt Schilling a perfect game in Oakland, and (3) dropping a popup in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS, which could have cost the Sox their season.

Bonnie,
With all due respect, the negative people may have realized that there's both a top half and bottom half of an inning. He was the worst, most fundamentally unsound defensive shortstop I have ever seen. I don't care if he hits .407.

DISCLOSURE: I am a lifelong Cardinals fan. Not surprised by this move by the Sox. Two organizations currently heading in two different directions. Cardinals seem to handle players like Smoltz, Lugo better. Love him or hate him Tony and Dave Duncan are an unbeatable duo.

I was never comfortable watching him field a ground ball.

DISCLOSURE: I am a lifelong Cardinals fan. Not surprised by this move by the Sox. Two organizations currently heading in two different directions. Cardinals seem to handle players like Smoltz, Lugo better. Love him or hate him Tony and Dave Duncan are an unbeatable duo.

Yeah, Adam LaRoche is alive and well in Atlanta and doing very well, thanks. He never wanted to leave the Braves in the first place. :)

OK Lugo has already looked good in the cardinal uniform and has done more for us then duncan did in his whole career. Boston the only way you will get into post season is the wild card.....and thats not hapening, mayb they need more juice huh? thats the only way u beated us in 04. haha your staff cant handle a future hall of famer nor a struggling star...thanks for the help sox...have fun watching us in october...

hmmm, well the cardinals seem to be doing well with this trade:)
i dont know why you guys took duncan anyway, HE SUCKS!
i'm not surprised at all that he was released, the only reason he stayed on the cardinals for so long was because of his daddy.

as a cardinal fan, i don't know about the daddy comment, although i have read that duncan was a favorite of tony la russa. i will say i was glad to see him get traded. i just got sick of watching him get carved up at the plate. kept thinking he would come around, but just never seemed to be getting on track.

i am sure that all of the st. louis fans aren't as mean and rotten and heartless as most of the one's leaving these comments about chris duncan. he is a human and has feelings as you should have, but it doesn't seem that you do. if you were real fans you would be in his corner, you might be surprised at how much better he may have done if you were behind him with a pat on the back rather than a knife in the back. he was on your team, but you weren't on his. it's too bad, because he was a good guy who gave his best. he deserved better than the crap you gave him.

i am sure that all of the st. louis fans aren't as mean and rotten and heartless as most of the one's leaving these comments about chris duncan. he is a human and has feelings as you should have, but it doesn't seem that you do. if you were real fans you would be in his corner, you might be surprised at how much better he may have done if you were behind him with a pat on the back rather than a knife in the back. he was on your team, but you weren't on his. it's too bad, because he was a good guy who gave his best. he deserved better than the crap you gave him.

Most of the CDuncan negative comments are from younger fans. Us more mature fans will miss CD but there was always a cloud over his head from day one. He really was like a nephew to Tony L. Oh well, life moves on. Best of luck to CDuncan. Now on to the real meat of my post. Thanks Boston, seriously, we love Lugo, he is doing great. And the Smoltz-> Sweet! 7 strike outs in a row Sunday -> a Cards franchise record. And to think we now have a 9 game lead. Players love to play in St L. It is a fun clubhouse and ball played the right way. The midwest way, w/ lottsa Love Baby

Life long St. Louis resident and all I may add is, Mr. Doyle, you must be kidding.