never experienced october? what about oliver perez starting game 7 of the 2006 NLCS and pitching great (six innings, 4 hits, 1 run)? and john maine was also very good in the playoffs. of course glavine is one the most eperienced playoff pitchers ever, and el duque is a yankee playoff legend.
wouldnt quite say a throw-in. 3 or 4 time all star and gold glover. the marlins wanted to dump his salary during his terrible 05 season after a broken hand, with a guy named miguel cabrera waiting to take over. funny how it worked out though with lowell's uppercut swing perfect for the short monster. drew is not a slugger but he does get on base. lifetime obp around ,.400 i assume but his health, of course is no shock. the shock was theo giving him the cash thinking he would play 140 games. i still like lugo minus his wife beating tendencies. hes an offensive threat but when struggling at the plate he is useless b/c his defense is terrible. i think he will have a good last third of the season with manny and papi upping their numbers in the process. im surprised he has run as much as he has. i used to like schilling as much as any pitcher when he was with the phillies. now i cant stand to hear him speak. he cant stfu. hes like that hot girl you thought you'd marry til you spent a week alone with her. reality sets in. forgot hanley was with the sox initially. cant help wondering how he'd perform in a sox uni. im sure you think of that daily.
The thought process of both teams during this deal was that he was no more than a throw in. Florida needed to dump his salary, so they told Boston no-deal on Beckett with out taking Lowell as well. Drew runs well when he gets on, his OBP is just under.400, and he's a decent fielder, but he hasn't hit .300 since '04, and only one other time in his career before that. Plus, he's only drove in 70+runs 3 times in his career. Not sure why you bring in a guy like this to hit in the 5 hole (which was their intention). Lugo has never hit .300 for a season, and only twice has he had an OBP above .350 (.373 is his career high). The 49 RBI he has so far this season is the 4th most of his career. He doesn't score a whole lot of runs either. Like you, I'm shocked that he's running this much. Boston has never been a team that utilized the steal very often. Lugo has already stolen the 2nd most bases of his career. Can't argue with anything you said here. Amazing what you learn about a guy when you move him into a big media market. Kinda like learning that A-Rod is a bit whiny and thin skinned. Hanley was considered un-touchable right up until the Beckett Deal. Right now, I would rather a crippled Hanley over a healthy Lugo. I wasn't too upset at the time Cabrerra left, because I thought renteria was a good pck-up. Edgar just forgot how to be an All-Star caliber player for the year he was in Boston. He hit OK, but he left his glove in St. Louis (career high in errors). Alex Gonzales was an outstanding defensive shortstop who couldn't hit if his life depended on it. Now, they got a guy who can run, but can't hit or catch. Both Cabrerra and Ramirez can hit, run, and play D. How the phuck did that assortment of SS come through town and we end up with Lugo?
I think it's a good move for BOTH Papelbon AND Gagne in that neither should be over-worked; both could be given an extra game off here and there that neither would normally have gotten if not for the situation they're currently in.
agree he was viewed as a throw in though that was because they had no use for him or his salary with a hall of famer in waiting behind him. plus its the marlins. no one gets paid for long. i hate drew too. I was just trying to use theo's logic. hes not terrible and there was no one else available with possible upside. if drew performs in the postseason nothing else matters.. he will be the anti-arod. suck in reg. season and perform after. i like lugo if i could get him on the cheap and defense wasnt an issue. unfortunately at SS its always an issue. Id play him at 2b and get hanley back. youk still remains underrated as well as pedroia. both guys are underwhelming but solid players. I dont think pap has pitched in more than 3 straight games (days) all year since the sox want to handle him a lot more carefully after his injury which may have been from overworking him so soon. gagne will get save opps for this reason at different points of the season as long as he is healthy. okajima impressed me the first time i saw him pitch. perfect setup guy but he will be pitching in the 7th now.
I have been impressed with Boston's farm system lately. Papelbon, Youk and pedroia are all products producing for the Sox right now. So is Jon Lester. Hanley is paying HUGE dividends (for a different team unfortunately), Gasspard will make a decnt # 3 or 4 starter for KC, and Jacoby Ellsbury will be roaming Centerfield in Fenway before long. Most I've seen him go this year is 4 games in 5 days. I'm glad Tito is using him like this. Hopefully it will prevent a breakdown like last year. Nothing against Dice-K, who has been solid and a ROY candidate, but I think the wrong Jap got all the hype this season.
now you see the dilemma of messing with something that was working perfectly. putting in gagne who is obviously trying too hard to impress beantown has been a colossal failure thus far. if i was tito, Id call up clay buchholz and send that trash-pile down to pawtucket.
right on cue: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2007/08/buchholz_to_bos.html
Did you read this before or after your 1st post? By the way, I'm warming up a little to Julio Lugo. He's been pretty hot the last month and a half hitting around .325 or so, and has only had 3 hitless games since the All-Star break. Big turn around from the month preceding the break where he only had a hit in 3 games.
