Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

TORONTO _ Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein made it official Friday afternoon that the club designated shortstop Julio Lugo for assignment.

Epstein said the motivation behind the move it's a matter of putting the best team on the field. The GM admitted he made a mistake with the four-year $36-million free-agent signing of Lugo prior to the 2007 season.

The Red Sox have seven days to work out a trade, where they will be "more than accommodating" to take on the financial burden of his contract. If a deal is not done, he will then officially be released and becomes a free agent.

The fact Jed Lowrie is ready to be activated on Saturday and Nick Green has played so well this season, the Red Sox thought that combination at shortstop would be better for the club.

"Ownership has been consistent that we'll do what we need to do to keep the best possible team on the field," said Epstein. "It's a sunk cost. I'm sorry it didn't work out better for Julio, but keeping him on the team wasn't going to change that."

Lugo did not participate in a mandatory workout at Rogers Centre due to a "mix up" but he arrived in Toronto late Thursday night and he spoke briefly with Epstein and manager Terry Francona. They talked again Friday morning and Lugo was told of his status.

Epstein said Lugo understood the situation and was professional about it. The GM also said there's been a lot of communication with Lugo this season and he was told he would either be traded or released once Lowrie was able to return.

"Sometimes the best organizations make mistakes. It was a free-agent signing that didn't work out. We ended up paying for past performance, not current performance. It was a mistake, and as the decision maker, that's on me. We'll move on. We're a better organization having gone through it and we'll make better decisions going forward."

From Day One, Epstein said, it just didn't work out.

The winter before Lugo arrived at his first spring training for the Sox, he lost 15 to 20 pounds due to a stomach issue, according to the GM. Because of that, Lugo lost strength and quickness.

"We got him off on the wrong foot and he was never the player with us that he was in Tampa," said Epstein. "We tried a lot of things to get the best out of him. We did win a World Series with him as our everyday shortstop. He made a lot of contributions to that world championship and that's not lost in the mix. But it didn't work out the way we envisioned it. He never got on track, locked in and comfortable. He never played even close to the way we expected."

Epstein's goal is to build the organization from within so it doesn't have to rely on the free-agent market as much.

"This was lessoned learned - for sure," he said.

 Tags  Julio Lugo Theo Epstein

---