"The Sox can demote first baseman Aaron Bates to clear a spot for Buchholz, then demote Buchholz to...

"The Sox can demote first baseman Aaron Bates to clear a spot for Buchholz, then demote Buchholz to clear a spot for Lowell or Lowrie. But under virtually every scenario, Lugo would be the odd man out. If no deal is made, the Sox could release him, the source said.

The problem with Lugo's trade value — besides his erratic defense since returning from knee surgery — is his contract. Lugo, 33, is owed the remainder of his $9 million salary this season, plus $9 million next season. The Sox have been trying to move him since last off-season.

Lugo is batting .284 with a .352 on-base percentage in 123 plate appearances"

Any chance the Cubs could capitalize on Boston's desire to dump Lugo? Perhaps he could be the bad contract the Cubs use to unload one of their bad contracts. Obviously our outfield contracts would be the nicest to unload, but Boston is pretty set there. Any clever ideas of how to make this work? Can any of our outfielders play first base (mostly kidding)?

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9815896/Source:-Red-Sox-'desperately'-trying-to-deal-Lugo

4 months ago tomas21 44 comments 0 recs |

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Maybe

Lugo and Baldelli for Fukudome? They drop Lugo, and use Fukudome as their 4th outfielder, and we drop salary (around 1.5 mil this year plus 3 or 4 more next year), and pick up a middle infielder that is a little more productive than our second basemen.

It could be stupid, but thought I’d throw it out there.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 12:55 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Kosuke has a NTC

Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team

by carmen_fanzone on Jul 16, 2009 1:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure he'd

waive it if I asked him. Or if Lily told him to.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 1:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fukudome would waive his NTC in a heartbeat to play with Matsuzake. He would have an instant friend.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 1:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fukudome

doesn’t have friends here?

Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.

by drewishdrewid on Jul 16, 2009 1:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe things are better this season, but in the off-season the Cubs were talking about bringing in a Japanese player for Fukudome to buddy up with. I think being an outcast is one of his problems.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 1:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Link?

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 2:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

By Tim Dierkes [December 26, 2008 at 8:30pm CST]
According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs are eyeing Japanese pitchers Ken Kadokura (righty) and Shigeki Noguchi (lefty) for bullpen roles. Sullivan says both were released by the Yomiuri Giants, and part of the Cubs’ motivation may be to make Kosuke Fukudome feel more comfortable. Continue Reading

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 2:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sullivan was speculating there

and the Cubs didn’t after all think it was important enough to sign a crappy player just to keep a multimillionaire from being lonely.

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You are arguing with yourself

All I said was THERE WAS TALK, speculation is talk, about bringing in a Japanese player. The Cubs bring in crappy players all the time for shitty reasons. Just look at this year’s team, it’s filled with crappy players.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 3:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry, when you said "the Cubs were talking..."

I thought you meant the team called the Cubs, not reporters or bloggers.

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 3:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You take things so literally JohnM

You don’t think Sullivan has the inside scoop or at least sees things that go on in the clubhouse?

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 3:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I also think he makes things up, and during the offseason when nothing’s happening, stretches to find a story. There may have been some vague idea of checking these guys out for this purpose, or maybe they were just interested in checking them out because they are baseball players. In any case, they never did sign crappy players for this particular reason.

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 3:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I never said they signed anybody for this reason. I said there was TALK about doing so. A vague idea expressed is also considered talk.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 4:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the article citation below

I remember reading that now. I’m sure they were upfront with Kadokura (and Takatsu in ’07) when they gave them NRIs and they knew they were highly unlikely to be signed, but I thought it was incredibly patronizing to Fukudome, if they truly thought that, and I thought that it made no baseball sense.

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 4:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Patronizing to Fukudome indeed

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Are you serious, bigz38fan?

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 5:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, I am

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 5:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

???

You said

Fukudome would waive his NTC in a heartbeat to play with Matsuzake. He would have an instant friend.

and

Maybe things are better this season, but in the off-season the Cubs were talking about bringing in a Japanese player for Fukudome to buddy up with. I think being an outcast is one of his problems.

So, you can imagine why I was confused about that.

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 5:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

it'

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's one thing..

for a player to improve his situation and another for someone else to have to do it for you. I have no doubt Fukudome would be more comfortable if he had someone on the team to hang out with, but having a parent do it it quite patronizing.

Dear Sue, I’ll pay you $100, if you only go out with my son. Who would feel good about that?

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 5:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whoosh!

"Who's Bob Brenly? The guy that used to be the manager for Arizona?" ~ Alfonso Guilleard Soriano

by JohnM on Jul 16, 2009 5:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

oh, you mean

in the LAST post season. I thought you meant this upcoming post season.

Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.

by drewishdrewid on Jul 16, 2009 3:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

no, last post season. “were” , not are being the key word in my comment.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 3:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ask and you shall receive

Chicago Tribune December 27, 2008

The Cubs believe having another Japanese-speaking player around will help Fukudome feel more comfortable.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 4:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know there were problems

with his translator last year, but they got him a new one.

I, too, would like to see a link.

Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.

by drewishdrewid on Jul 16, 2009 2:46 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Leery of Lugo

The Sox are dropping him for a reason….he’s had some serious defensive meltdowns.

"[I]f we get a Jumbotron, I can't pull the instant replay thing on all the rookies. Every time there's a good play, we're like, 'Oh, look at the replay,' and you get the rookies to look at the scoreboard." - Ryan Dempster, 2 January 2009

by CaughtInTheVines on Jul 16, 2009 1:44 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to acquire Lugo.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 1:45 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

But would

you rather have Lugo, Baldelli, and 16 million dollars or Kosuke (assuming Boston would take the deal, which is quite debatable)?

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Real Question.....

What would Hendry do with the 16 Mil? If he would go out an get a quality Left handed reliever, then maybe. Having doubt in what Hendry would do, I would keep Fukudome.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 1:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The bulk

of the 16 mil would be in 2 years. I think there is a better than 50-50 chance Hendry wouldn’t be the GM when the bulk of the money was freed up.

This is sort of OT from this fanshot, but I don’t see a new owner keeping Hendry once they see how many undesirable contracts there are on the team, and how poorly constructed the outfield is (a $200 million outfield in which none of the 3 players are in their true position—Soriano and Bradley are DHs, Fukudome is a RF).

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 3:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

We can only hope

Hendry is gone once the new owners take over.

by bigz38fan on Jul 16, 2009 4:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ugh.

I didn’t want Lugo a couple years ago when he was a FA. I sure don’t want him now.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Jul 16, 2009 2:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I was thinking

along the lines of a lesser of two evils. I don’t particularly want Lugo (though he might be an offensive upgrade over our current 2nd basemen), but dropping around 16 mil in salary without losing anything in the outfield (I think Baldelli brings as much with the bat as Fukudome) is something I think could be worthwhile.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 3:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

But how could you drop $16 mil?

Who would you dump in that scenario?

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Jul 16, 2009 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

We send

Dome (who is owed roughly 12mil/yr for 2 yrs after this season) for Lugo (who is owed 9 mil next year) and Baldelli (minimal salary). My numbers could be off, it’s back of the napkin math, but that’s what I estimated.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jul 16, 2009 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs