Looks like Boston signed Julio Lugo too

Barndog

four years, nine million bucks per.

Breaking on espn.com now.

I love the offseason. So much hope that will only be dashed in late summer.

softparade

Lugo had a good year in 2005 but every other year in his career has been very pedestrian. Ever since Garciaparra left that shortstop position has been a revolving door in Boston.

Jerry will be here soon with a article that does the twist until it appears Lugo is better then Jeter

BobaFett72

lugo is a butcher in the field. they should have kept their shorstop from last year. big bucks for JD Drew too. what a waste of $$

ctsoxfan

I love both deals. Lugo is exactly what the Sox need at short (he's essentially Renteria, with more speed) - and Drew should be an upgrade in RF, and a solid hitter behind Ortiz and Manny. You have to admit, the Sox are filling the holes they needed to fill.

Next up, Gagne?

Barndog

<< <i>I love both deals. Lugo is exactly what the Sox need at short (he's essentially Renteria, with more speed) - and Drew should be an upgrade in RF, and a solid hitter behind Ortiz and Manny. You have to admit, the Sox are filling the holes they needed to fill.

Next up, Gagne? >>



Rent-a-wreck, but only faster? So Lugo will get to 30 errors by July? I'm still an Orlando Cabrera and Jay Payton fan. They could have been had for less money and we'd see fewer errors at short and more games played in RF.

ctsoxfan

I liked Cabrera, too - but the Sox made a mistake not resigning him, and made it worse by giving up on Renteria after his one bad season. Hopefully, this will cement the SS position for the next 4 years, and you have to admit - with Lugo, Crisp, and Youkilis atop the lineup (2 of the 3 anyway), they should produce a lot of RBI opportunities for Manny, Ortiz, and Drew.

Why all the negativity on Drew? Do people realize how good a player Drew is? He has the 25th highest slugging percentage of all active players, and the 15th highest among active players under 35. He’s posted a career line of .286, .393, .512. His OPS is .905, compared to .924 for David Ortiz (and 1.011 for Manny). I know he's got issues staying healthy, but you have to give him a chance - he certainly upgrades the lineup tremendously.

Jersey

<<Why all the negativity on Drew? >>

Because he's shown himself to be money hungry ever since he refused to sign with the Phillies. That will always follow him.

Barndog

<< <i><<Why all the negativity on Drew? >>

Because he's shown himself to be money hungry ever since he refused to sign with the Phillies. That will always follow him. >>



I hold nothing against people who wish to improve their income level, that's the American way. Staying healthy and having a desire to do the best thing for the team are two areas Drew has had issues with.

ctsoxfan

I understand the feelings on Drew, but I don't think the Sox would have targeted him like they did if they didn't feel he would stay healthy. I also feel the two signings make the team a lot stronger, especially if you add Matsuzaka (hopefully next week) to the rotation, and the best news of all - Jon Lester is cancer free, and hopes to get back to the rotation next season. The starting 5:

Schilling
Matsuzaka
Beckett
Papelbon
Wakefield (or Lester)


Not bad at all.

Barndog

so where does Wily Mo go? I understand it will NOT be Washington.

yankeeno7

Red Sox to finish 4th in the division.

I think the Sox will find out just how much a good SS means to a team. Lugo isnt going to provide it. Mistakes letting Cabrera and Renteria go. And I also dont understand not being interested in signing Loretta...he did a FANTASTIC job at 2B!

Sox will be lucky not to have Schilling , Beckett, Varitek, Crisp, and Drew not to break down for extended periods of time during the season. To me, a lot of risky players. And who knows with Matsuzaka. He could be a star or a flop. Though he has been good in Japan, lets not forget two things...he was in an inferior league(going to the most fierce league in baseball) and he has pitched an awful lot of innings...very overused. For his sake and the Sox sake, I hope his arm stays healthy.

Axtell

<< <i>Red Sox to finish 4th in the division. >>



Keep dreaming...they'll be challenging for the division title (as usual).



<< <i>Sox will be lucky not to have Schilling , Beckett, Varitek, Crisp, and Drew not to break down for extended periods of time during the season. To me, a lot of risky players. And who knows with Matsuzaka. He could be a star or a flop. Though he has been good in Japan, lets not forget two things...he was in an inferior league(going to the most fierce league in baseball) and he has pitched an awful lot of innings...very overused. For his sake and the Sox sake, I hope his arm stays healthy. >>



Wow, your assessment of 'risky' players sounds just like the makeup of the yankees!

softparade

<< <i> Why all the negativity on Drew? Do people realize how good a player Drew is? He has the 25th highest slugging percentage of all active players, and the 15th highest among active players under 35. He’s posted a career line of .286, .393, .512. His OPS is .905, compared to .924 for David Ortiz (and 1.011 for Manny). I know he's got issues staying healthy, but you have to give him a chance - he certainly upgrades the lineup tremendously. >>



J.D. Drew is as soft as they come. He is ultra sensitive and has no idea about the type of place he is coming to play. I am very happy the Red Sox decided to blow 70 friggen million bucks on one of the softest players in the game. Hmmmm, that is more money then they were willing to give Johnny Damon.

yankeeno7

Oh, you're correct Ax...as always!

perkdog

Not happy about this or that foolish signing of Drew either.

perkdog

ctsoxfan

<< <i>Sox will be lucky not to have Schilling , Beckett, Varitek, Crisp, and Drew not to break down for extended periods of time during the season. To me, a lot of risky players. And who knows with Matsuzaka. He could be a star or a flop. >>



Not sure what you mean, exactly. Varitek and Crisp are not exactly injury-prone (Varitek's knee injury last year was the first time he missed any significant time in his career, and Crisp got hurt early in the season on a freak play and never got completely back, he's healthy now). Beckett didn't miss much time either, while many expected him to. Schilling is 100% healthy, and it's easy to knock Drew before he's played Game 1 for the Sox. Let's see what happens.

Matsuzaka, a flop? All I know is, if the Yankees were signing him, there would be 87 threads here about how he is the next gigantic superstar. Because it's Boston that won the rights to him, now all of a sudden he could be a flop. No surprise there.

yankeeno7

Never said he WAS or IS a flop, but I did say he could end up being one, kind of like Irabu was.(but for different reasons of course) Believe me, from the beginning I was afraid of the Yankees bidding too much. Im not even thrilled about Igawa. Too much money invested in unproven players.

Like I said, the facts you can't deny are that he has good stuff....BUT has a LOT of innings under his belt for his age. He has been overused and unproven in MLB.

Not sure what Yankees fans you are talking about either because I have seen a lot more realistic, objective opinions from most Yankees fans on this board and not over defensive stance that most fans seem to take about their team...and their obsessive stance on beating up on the Yankees.

A761506

While the Red Sox on paper look like they should be a solid team, I think things are still plenty shaky. The whole Ramirez soap opera isn't over yet, and if they do wind up trading him, they can pretty much count on having one of the weakest line-ups in the division, and if they keep him, they can pretty much count on more of his disruptive antics. And those antics, which undermine Francona's ability to manage the team, can hurt a team a lot more than his 35 homers may help.

It's amazing how much credit has been given already to the Japanese wonder boy, who has never faced major league hitting in any sort of serious competition. Heck, he's not even signed yet.

The bullpen is virtually non-existent at the moment. The work-horse Timlin has nothing left. There is no closer, and I'd bet anything that Gagne's career is over, so signing him will not be the answer.

I think the Red Sox will finish next season in 3rd place, right behind NY & Toronto again. Baltimore still sucks something awful, so they won't challenge, nor will Tampa (which hired a couple kids out of college to run the front office, and they don't look like they have the experience or know-how to fix things there).

softparade

<< <i> Matsuzaka, a flop? All I know is, if the Yankees were signing him, there would be 87 threads here about how he is the next gigantic superstar. Because it's Boston that won the rights to him, now all of a sudden he could be a flop. No surprise there. >>



Spare us Jerry. If the Yankees won the rights there would be 100 threads crying about the money spent and another 50 telling us all that he is a unproven entity and the Yankees were foolish.