Julio Lugo...It Didn't Seem That Bad at the Time

Theo Epstein, the genius GM, who knows just who to let go of at exactly the right time, has only one glaring mistake on his resume. That is the general opinion at least.

Obviously, most consider that mistake to be Julio Lugo.

But, I ask: Did it really seem like such a bad idea at the time?

Before I go any further into this article, I'd like to point out that I have been as vocal as anyone about getting Lugo out of Boston and letting Jed Lowrie loose at shortstop. And although I'm defending the Lugo signing, by no means do I think he is worth the amount of money he got in the signing in question.

Now, let's move on.

After the 2004 trade of Nomar Garciaparra, the position of shortstop for the Red Sox had become a revolving door, with four different shortstops suiting up for the Red Sox between 2004 and 2006.

When Nomar was traded to the Cubs on the trade deadline in 2004, the Red Sox received in return new shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who hit .294, with six home runs, and 31 RBI, with four stolen bases for the Red Sox.

After the miraculous 2004 title run, Cabrera left Beantown for Los Angeles, which prompted the signing of Edgar Renteria.

Only one year into his deal, Renteria was so unpopular among Red Sox fans, mostly due to his 30 errors and horrible .954 fielding percentage, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Andy Marte.

Renteria wasn't that bad offensively in 2005, hitting .276 with eight home runs and 70 RBI. However, it wasn't enough to offset his bad defense or win fans over.

In 2006, a year in which the Red Sox missed the playoffs, Alex Gonzalez was the man for shortstop. In my opinion, if Edgar Renteria was bad, Gonzalez was two or three steps back from that.

Gonzalez was far from graceful at the plate, hitting .255, with nine home runs and 55 RBI. As if a .255 batting average wasn't bad enough, Gonzalez put up an astonishingly low on-base percentage, a measly .299.

Although, it was a trade off from Renteria. Renteria could hit, but he couldn't field. It was the other way around for Alex Gonzalez, who made only seven errors while boasting a modest .985 fielding percentage.

At this point, it seemed like nobody could fill the hole at shortstop for the Red Sox. No matter who the Red Sox picked up, they either couldn't hit or couldn't field.

With Alex Gonzalez gone, without a readily available prospect, Lugo was the top free agent shortstop on the market in the 2006-2007 offseason. Can Theo Epstein really be to blame for signing him?

In Lugo's defense, in 2006 he hit .278/.341/.421 with 12 homers, 37 RBI, and 24 stolen bases. After enduring two years of Edgar Renteria and Alex Gonzalez, who wouldn't want four years of the stats that Lugo posted in 2006?

Of course, the salary terms agreed upon between Lugo and the Red Sox were inflated, but you can chalk that one up for supply and demand. Lugo was the only viable option among shortstops on the market, aside from Nomar Garciaparra, who was coming off an injury-riddled 2006 season.

Nomar ultimately re-signed with the Dodgers, and 2006 was the last time Nomar reached 500 at-bats, hit 20 home runs, or hit .300. I know he is still an active player, so he has time to prove me wrong. However, the figures stand, at least for now.

Four years for Lugo seemed reasonable enough, assuming that he could continue to post numbers like he had previously in his career.

Unfortunately, Lugo, who was traded to the Dodgers at the deadline in 2006, did absolutely miserable down the stretch that year. It became a trend.

Lugo, following his trade to the Dodgers, hit .219, with no home runs, 10 RBI, and six stolen bases for the Dodgers.

Coming to the Red Sox, Lugo has carried those caliber numbers with him to Boston.

In 2007, Lugo hit .237, with eight homers, 73 RBI, and 33 stolen bases. His offense was similar to Alex Gonzalez, posting an OBP that was actually .005 points lower, committing 19 errors with a low .968 fielding percentage.

While Lugo was nothing to write home about, it's not like any other Red Sox shortstop since Nomar was. At least we could say that aside from batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, Lugo was putting up good offensive numbers.

In 2008, Lugo took a few steps back. In half of the amount of playing time that he had in 2007, Lugo's offense wasn't doing so bad. His batting average sat at .268, he got his OBP above .350. Pair that with 12 stolen bases, and it doesn't look that bad, right?

Oh, but God can be a cruel one. You would think that Lugo's fielding couldn't get any worse, but then in 2008 he posts a .945 fielding percentage. Yeah, that's not a typo, folks. In 2007, Lugo made 19 errors at shortstop in 145 games. In 2008, Lugo made 16 errors at short in only 81 games.

Following arthroscopic surgery on his knee, Lugo finds himself out of the starting shortstop role. Prospect Jed Lowrie is taking over the job, at least for now.

Lugo is still under contract for 2009 and 2010. Unless the Red Sox absorb the majority of his salary, he is almost impossible to trade away unless Boston takes a player with a bad contract in return.

Since Lugo will likely be with the Red Sox the next two seasons, here is one thing to keep in mind trying to be optimistic about the situation: Lugo is a career .271 hitter, with 77 home runs and 431 RBI.

His average season is .271/.335/.391, 11 home runs, 61 RBI, and 26 stolen bases.

Obviously, this is one of the worse contracts doled out as of late. While I am not at all a fan of Julio Lugo, or the contract handed out to him, it's hard for me to blame Theo Epstein for how this turned out.