Julio Lugo Goes Off on the Media

[Coco's Disciples]

Originally Posted by Thumper

Said I was going to.

Originally Posted by Dictionary.com

lie
verb, lied, ly·ing.
–noun
1. a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
2. something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture: His flashy car was a lie that deceived no one.
3. an inaccurate or false statement.
4. the charge or accusation of lying: He flung the lie back at his accusers.
–verb (used without object)
5. to speak falsely or utter untruth knowingly, as with intent to deceive.
6. to express what is false; convey a false impression.
–verb (used with object)
7. to bring about or affect by lying (often used reflexively): to lie oneself out of a difficulty; accustomed to lying his way out of difficulties.

Soooo...yeah.

[RobZombie]

Originally Posted by Sweet Chin Music33

I just think this is a classic example of wrong guy wrong team. Lets look at this logically. What was Theo thinking? Its easy to second guess now......but I mean, Cabrera was far superior offensively and defensively. As much as Renterria gets killed for his lone year here, he was a much better offensive player.....and at this point Lugo is on pace to shatter those 30 errors (10 in 33 games!). Alot of us did not like the move when he made it, but we thought maybe Theo knew something we didnt......but he didnt, and almost everyone knew this was a bad move from the get go.

I would much rather see a struggling Lowrie than Lugo, because I think Lowrie gives more defensively, and if he develops at all offensively, he has a chance to at least give what Lugo gave last year (.237, .294, .643), and that worked out well for us.

The player Lugo is today isn't the player who played for Tampa Bay. IOW, he's not the player that Theo thought he was getting. He's something like half the size for whatever reason. Gammons pointed out that because Lugo's legs aren't strong anymore he plays SS like "the guy who walks accross the ice in shoes before a hockey game". Hence all of the errors.

Gammons suggested that Lowrie might not be ready to handle SS on an every day basis in the big leagues yet either. The guy he suggested as a short-term replacement was Omar Vizquel. If Vizquel can't handle the job full-time, they could have him share it with Lowrie.

Though I am a patient guy and generally want veteran players to be fair given chances, I think its pretty clear that something needs to be done to bring another SS in and send Lugo packing. The Red Sox have a good team and with Vernon Wells out for an extended period, and the Yankees relying on a rotation of Pettite and Wang and prey for rain, the Sox will likely win the division.

But if you loose a game in the postseason because your SS didn't make a routine play you may not have a chance to recover. I would hate to see Lugo cost the Sox at a chance of back to back.

To me this is the biggest priority that needs to be addressed this summer. Bigger than getting a right handed relief pitcher or getting another starter.

[jacksonianmarch]

Lowrie can handle the routine plays. His range is subpar for SS in the major leagues. But when your incumbent has good range, but flubs throws and routine plays on a regular basis, the net gain of starting Lowrie becomes apparent. If Lugo played to his last season's defensive standards, which were rather poor to begin with, then you might have a case to stick with him simply because he made most of the routine plays and a good amount of spectacular ones simply because of his range. But this yr, since he is on pace for 50+ errors, it might be a better defensive move to have Lowrie start. Not to mention the fact that Lowrie centers the ball more on a regular basis. I honestly think Lowrie ends up as a 3b or a 2b at the MLB level, and this debut only furthers his trade value. We'll see. With Pedroia locked in at 2b and Lowell locked in at 3rd, Lowrie may end up locking himself into SS by default, even though he really isnt a true SS.

[Jayhawk Bill]

Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch

Lowrie can handle the routine plays. His range is subpar for SS in the major leagues.

As I posted yesterday, Lowrie's range (RZR) in his short time at SS in 2008 would be AL-leading were he a regular.

Something interesting--if one looks at Lowrie's FRAA at SS, the best MiLB fielding stat I can access, it shows a big jump for Lowrie at Pawtucket:

Level	Games	FRAA
A-	40	-3
A+	88	-10
AA	84	-7
AAA	31	8

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pe...E19840417A.php

In A and AA, Lowrie cost his team a run every 10-11 games at shortstop. In AAA, he's saved his team a run every four games or so. That's a big difference.

Maybe that superb RZR isn't just a small-sample fluke. Maybe Lowrie's finally caught on to playing shortstop...after all, he played mostly second base for Stanford.



FWIW, he actually pitched some in high school. His pro career was his first time playing SS regularly.

But when your incumbent has good range, but flubs throws and routine plays on a regular basis, the net gain of starting Lowrie becomes apparent. If Lugo played to his last season's defensive standards, which were rather poor to begin with, then you might have a case to stick with him simply because he made most of the routine plays and a good amount of spectacular ones simply because of his range. But this yr, since he is on pace for 50+ errors, it might be a better defensive move to have Lowrie start. Not to mention the fact that Lowrie centers the ball more on a regular basis. I honestly think Lowrie ends up as a 3b or a 2b at the MLB level, and this debut only furthers his trade value. We'll see. With Pedroia locked in at 2b and Lowell locked in at 3rd, Lowrie may end up locking himself into SS by default, even though he really isnt a true SS.

Cal Ripken Jr. wasn't a "true shortstop" either, but he did excel at SS given a chance. I see Lowrie as potentially being a more-than-adequate defensive shortstop, and right now Lugo isn't.

[YAZMAN]

My biggest problem with Lugo is it seems the more the heat get turned up on him, the more he sucks.

[RobZombie]

Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bill

As I posted yesterday, Lowrie's range (RZR) in his short time at SS in 2008 would be AL-leading were he a regular.

Something interesting--if one looks at Lowrie's FRAA at SS, the best MiLB fielding stat I can access, it shows a big jump for Lowrie at Pawtucket:


http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pe...E19840417A.php

In A and AA, Lowrie cost his team a run every 10-11 games at shortstop. In AAA, he's saved his team a run every four games or so. That's a big difference.

Maybe that superb RZR isn't just a small-sample fluke. Maybe Lowrie's finally caught on to playing shortstop...after all, he played mostly second base for Stanford.



FWIW, he actually pitched some in high school. His pro career was his first time playing SS regularly.



Cal Ripken Jr. wasn't a "true shortstop" either, but he did excel at SS given a chance. I see Lowrie as potentially being a more-than-adequate defensive shortstop, and right now Lugo isn't.

I'm not a big fan of BPs and other defensive stats the readings just don't seem to be as accuare as MGL. I often wonder how Dustin Pedroia can be ranked the best in the league when his range is pretty average.

I am a fan of MGLs UZR stuff. A lot of the guys that rank well with that are guys that when you see play actually look like good fielders when you see them play. In fact many of the defensive statistics that major league teams use are based off of MGL or use similar methodology.

The big difference between Lowrie and Ripken as far as I can see is that Ripken was big guy with a big arm. He could play deeper and increase his range. I'm not sure Lowrie can do that. There ARE certainly scouts that believe that Lowrie can play SS in the majors. Personally, I'd rather see his bat and glove get more work in Pawtuckett for the time being and bring in a veteran SS for 08 at least.

[Jayhawk Bill]

Originally Posted by RobZombie

I am a fan of MGLs UZR stuff.

Great! It has its merits, IMO, same as RZR, PMR, SFR, or the DFTS from which we get FRAA. For Jed Lowrie I have FRAA, and I posted it.

But you prefer the results of UZR...So what's Lowrie's minor league UZR at each level?

I often wonder how Dustin Pedroia can be ranked the best in the league when his range is pretty average.

Who rated him best in the AL? BP had Aaron Hill higher, as one counterexample.

[jacksonianmarch]

Interesting that Cora was activated and Lowrie was sent down. I'd assume the sox are trying to create a market for either Lugo or Cora. With the way that Lowell, Lugo and Cora have been banged up thus far, it is pretty easy to assume that the utility guy will be getting a significant amount of playing time. We'll see where they go.

[TheKilo]

Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch

Interesting that Cora was activated and Lowrie was sent down. I'd assume the sox are trying to create a market for either Lugo or Cora. With the way that Lowell, Lugo and Cora have been banged up thus far, it is pretty easy to assume that the utility guy will be getting a significant amount of playing time. We'll see where they go.

Or maybe they want Lowrie playing every day?