| 16 July 2009
At the start of Spring Training, most of us were excited to watch Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie battle for the job as starting shirt stop. Both played well in ST... and then Lowrie went down early with a wrist injury. That opened the door for Nick Green and when Lugo went down next, Green seized the opportunity and never looked back.
Now all three players are healthy enough to play and the Red Sox plan to activate Lowrie over the weekend, begging the question: Will Lugo be traded or DFA'd?
The guys at Fire Brand took a look at many of the possible scenarios and I recommend reading the post. I'll be a little more brief with my two cents.
First, let's hear what Francona has to say about the log jam at short stop:
On the status of Lowell and Lowrie:
"We certainly have some decisions to make. And Theo and I have talked a bunch about this, I don't think that's any secret. We're going to have a couple roster moves coming out of this break. One, to get Buchholz on, and then there could be two that day. We're either going to activate Mikey Lowell on Friday or Saturday and also Lowrie most likely on Saturday . . . So we're looking at a couple of roster moves, and they're important ones. I think things worked out well. Not having Mike Lowell was tough for us. We moved [Kevin Youkilis] over to third, and I hope people understand how easy my job is because Youk can do that. [Mark] Kotsay has filled in great, [Aaron] Bates filled in, gave us a big day the other day. But having Youk and Lowell as our corner guys and having Kotsay fill in all over the place, that gives us our best team."
On how Lowrie might be used upon returning from his injury:
"If he comes back Saturday, or close to Saturday, he's not going to be at 100-percent efficiency. He's not going to be ready to play every day. So it's actually going to be a pretty good situation. We can use our shortstops -- and again, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here -- we can use who we have and also give Jed a day built in in between. That's probably going to be the best of both worlds."
Some people have speculated that calling up Buchholz was the first domino in a line that will send Brad Penny or other players to another team via trade. Others think that this spot start in Toronto is a means for the Red Sox to showcase Buchholz in an effort to trade him.
Personally, I'm taking Tito at his word. I think the Sox wanted to show Buchhy that they appreciate all his hard work. He'll make his start, giving the staff some extra rest, and then he'll head back down to Pawtucket where he will wait for a roster spot to open up or the September call-ups.
What does that have to do with the short stops? Well... if Buchholz goes back to Pawtucket, you can fill his spot with Mike Lowell. Aaron Bates is also likely to be sent back down and that would open a spot for Lowrie. It's that simple.
Tito said that Lowrie needs more time, so Lugo and Green will continue to share time at short with Lowrie mixing in as well and maybe even playing a little third base. Green and Lowrie can also play second, giving Dustin Pedroia time to be with his wife - if needed.
That leaves us with Beckett, Lester, Wake, Penny and Smoltz and the same group of relievers we've had all season.
Bottom Line: Lugo is clearly unhappy with his reduced role and adding Lowrie into the mix isn't going to help. But I've said it before and I'll say it again: Injuries and slumps can happen at any moment. Just look at what Coco did in 2008 when Ellsbury went into a funk.
Green hit .321 in May and earned the playing time he has enjoyed since then, but he hit .233 in June and is 6 for 33 (.182) in July. Lugo hit .346 in limited time through June and is hitting .284 overall... if Green doesn't come back from the break on a tear, don't be surprised if you see more of Lugo going forward - especially with Lowrie still working out the kinks.
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