The Orioles acquired infielder Julio Lugo from the Cardinals (pending MLB approval), reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli tweets that the Cardinals will receive a player to be named later. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun notes that the Orioles will pay Lugo the league minimum, with the Red Sox paying the remaining $8.6MM. Lugo asked the Cardinals to trade him, reports Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez first reported word of a deal to an AL club and later suggested the O's.
Lugo provides insurance for Brian Roberts, who dealt with back spasms earlier this spring. He can also back up Cesar Izturis at shortstop. Ghiroli says the Lugo acquistion could mean Robert Andino is on the chopping block.
The Cards' signing of Felipe Lopez made Lugo unnecessary. Lugo, 34, hit .280/.352/.405 in 293 plate appearances for the Red Sox and Cardinals last year. The Cardinals acquired him in July for Chris Duncan, with the Sox assuming Lugo's contract.
Please Please not the Orioles.
April Fools???
I sure hope so
I’d be ok with it if it means moving Wiggy 😉
It’s the O’s! I bet Ferrariman is dancing in the streets as we speak!
“The Cardinals traded infielder Julio Lugo was traded to an American League team”
Tim, that just doesn’t sound quite right LOL
Arent the Red Sox looking for shortstop depth? 😉
I bet they’re looking for help just in case Scutaro doesn’t perform. Haha
i almost fell on the floor laughing bud, I’ll take Tugboy at Short if need be (plus the dude can hit)
I’ll take Stevie Wonder over Lugo
Lugo was sooooo bad in 08 – massive slump – that the fans went full circle on him. after hating him for months, we would cheer him on at every at-bat because the slump was that bad. i dont know if we were collectively mocking him or truly felt compassion about how ridiculously terrible he actually was at the plate.
Rangers? Would they take him instead of Lowell?
The Rangers aren’t ALE, but it makes sense.
Crazy – but could it be to the Sox as trade bait with Lowell? Surely not, but they are paying for him so why not try to use him as some trade bait and get him off the books? Wouldn’t be half bad! If not, see comment below…
Oh, I didn’t read the AL East part.
Has to be the Jays or Os then, hmm
AL East team. My guess is the O’s. They are the only team that needs him. Although the Yanks may have taken him just to say that they have a player that the Sox are paying for. That’d be dirty. But for real – O’s, Rays have Bartlett, Yanks Jeter, Sox Scutaro, J’s Gonzalez, O’s have a question mark. I don’t know why he would go back to the AL east where he sucked, and is now going to have to replace O’s pitchign with Sox pitching, which will make him even worse
The Jays have McDonald and Gonzalez, The O’s make the most sense as a middle infield back-up to Izturis and Roberts.
Why would Gonzalez say traded to an AL team without knowing which team? I could see the team not announcing anything until all parties are informed and such, but this just seems weird to only leak that he is switching leagues. Odd, to me anyways.
I hope the Cards got something decent in return. He was a free player for them this year and is a suitable bench guy. Hopefully a left-handed bat or bull pen help.
I don’t think it will be anything but the PTBNL.
Any idea who the Cards might be getting in return?
As stated above, it’ll likely be either a PTBNL or cash considerations.
A Bag of Spicy Nacho Doritos and a half a pack of Tums.
It’ll be a PTBNL AND cash considerations, meaning there will most likely be a veteran coming the Cards’ way with cash coming from the Os to make up the difference in salary (since Lugo is being paid by the Red Sox).
Looks like cash and/or a minor leaguer. Seems that Stavinoha hit well enough for us to let Lugo fly.
Wow Lugo’s defensive numbers for 09 are horrible: -44.7 at SS in 401 innings and -22.9 at 2B in 168 innings! Talk about poor insurance. I know he is basically free, but a team will lose more runs because of him than what he can contribute!
I see you used the UZR/150.. I would say most people are used to looking at UZR numbers. If so, Fangraphs put his UZR at 2B at -3.5 I know that’s not good but its a lot better than your numbers look, even though they say the same thing
At -13.4 UZR playing SS he really isn’t close to the defender he once was. And I should have posted UZR/150 to clarify, I didn’t think about it until I read it later. Overall, he does not look good in the field!
oh yea I agree he is definitely a below average fielder though.. as a Met fan, I can’t really comment on defensive 2nd basemen…
Luis might benefit from a transition to 3B with another team. His UZR is poor: -10.4 at 2B in 09. But he had a successful season at the plate: .302/.387/.346. He obviously doesn’t have the power that traditional corner infielders require, but he might be worth the experiment.
I’m not sure Castillo has the arm for 3rd. I wouldn’t really think changing his position would improve his defense too much (although, his stats might go up just because of differences in the standards for UZR).
This guy is making the rounds in the AL East. He’s like Eric Hinske. Only places left to go now are the Yankees and Jays.
They could move everyone around. Lugo at 3rd, Tejada at Short and Izturis to 2B until Roberts is back…Seems the best defensively
Lugo was not unnecessary. One of the reasons the Cardinals signed Lopez was because they lacked veteran bench depth. Unless they got another verteran bench player back, the bench (especially in the middle infield where Lopez is now all we have) is now a question mark again. I hope this is an April Fool’s Day joke.
hmmm idk…… i guess hes better then our current back ups…. but if hes added to the roster more moves will need to be made to see whether or not this was a good move.
I don’t know what you were watching, Lanidrac, but Lugo can hardly play short anymore so his value there is limited.
Ryan and Lopez seems like plenty of depth at SS with Greene (with Solano perhaps hot on his heals) behind them. Lugo was basically third second baseman and emergency shortstop.
That…and I think we wanted to keep Mather, Craig, and Stavinoha on the big club.
Wiggy as in Ty Wigginton? If thats correct and the Cards got Wiggington for Lugo that would be a much better deal for the Cards than the O’s.
Robert Andino spelled the end of his tenure in Baltimore with his non-existent bat and cocky play in the field. Yesterday, Jim Palmer deemed his pay “pathetic” when he hot-dogged a play at SS which let the runner beat out the throw.
But it’s not just Andino, it’s also Izturis’ poor bat and the utter lack of MIF depth in the O’s system.
Check this out, too:
In 2009, the league average was 262/333/418/750.
Izturis
2009: 256/294/328/622
Career: 259/298/331/629
Lugo
2009: 280/352/405/756
Career: 271/336/391/727
Brian matusz for lugo????? Il settle for tillman or weiters
dammit lugo, get out of my division!
Wow, they must be really, really, desperate….
Man the orioles are making some risky moves this season, and with what happend with the Mariners, I say brace yourselves.