Comments on: Julio Lugo is what’s wrong with people.

By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:08:26 +0000

Yes, Zvee, your comment is a bit off the mark, methinks. Red Sox fans don’t love Manny *because* he fucks up from time to time; they love him *despite* his fuckups. The whole idea of “Manny being Manny” is more or less an explicit acknowledgement of precisely the point you just made – Red Sox fans realize that they put up with more from Manny because he is one of the best hitters of all time. But Lugo just sucks all around.

Also, I can’t agree with the idea that if J.D. Drew were hitting .310, people would say he was “cool under pressure.” Even when Drew had his career year with the Braves in 2004, hitting .305 and 31 homers, I don’t remember anyone complimenting his on-field demeanor. He was still known for his apathetic approach, such that when the Dodgers signed him that very offseason, there was much concern among LA fans and media about Drew’s reputation as an apathetic player, despite the numbers he had just put up.

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By: Brian Sadecki

Brian Sadecki — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:40:59 +0000

Gabe Kapler wants back in! Put him at short. That man is made of heart and hustle.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:08:05 +0000

Needless to say, Ward, you are of course right about the perception of “apathetic” vs “cool under pressure.”

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:02:41 +0000

Lugo at least had the good grace to bounce his helmet in fury after dicking himself out of an RBI and the team out of a game-tying run. It may be a slim straw, but I will grasp at it all the same.

As for Manny, I’m not going to argue about “which is worse” because frankly, I still fail to see why Manny and Lugo should even be compared in this context.

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By: Coley Ward

Coley Ward — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:26:15 +0000

We can argue all day which is worse, Manny being Manny (ie., one good sneeze away from a coma), or Lugo being lazy. But the reality is the most important difference between Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo is that Manny hits about 100 points higher.

It’s a lot easier to get away with being a space cadet when you’re pounding the crap out of the ball.

Same thing with J.D. Drew. Sure, he looks apathetic now. But if he were hitting .310, he’d look cool under pressure.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:43:17 +0000

Zvee, to echo Nick’s “sometimes you just have to watch the games,” the fact that Manny has these “Manny moments” does not mean that they are akin to Lugo’s screw ups, does not mean that Manny’s contribution to the team is akin to Lugo’s, and it does not follow that Manny gets a free pass.

If you follow the Red Sox at all, you know that Manny’s occasional base running mistakes to not usually include a lack of hustle down the first base line in close games, with the bases loaded, in the second half of September (in fact, “Manny Moments” are usually not about hustle and more about taking a leak inside the Red Sox outfield wall). If you follow baseball at all, you know that despite limited defensive capabilities and occasional mental gaffes, there are vast differences between Julio Lugo and Manny Ramirez. These differences are so obvious I trust I do not need to surface them here. And finally, if you have ever followed the “Manny being Manny” storyline, then you know that a) fans and press alike have in fact expressed plenty of outrage when one of Manny’s gaffes has proved costly to the club and b) said storyline has nothing to do with the fact that, this season, Julio Lugo’s only real contribution to this ballclub has been his ability to run and last night he couldn’t even do that.

Manny has nothing to do with it. Manny has been out with an injury. As I mentioned in the post, there’s plenty of blame to go around for what went wrong last night, but if there is one person you cannot blame, it’s Manny Ramirez.

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By: Zvee

Zvee — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:01:48 +0000

Panic Panic Panic, it’s everywhere!

Manny does this all the time – he’s “just being Manny” and people joke about it.

Julio Lugo does it and people are ready to throw him in the harbor. The Sox blew it last night, just like they’ve blown it for the last two months.

Don’t blame Lugo for your team’s woes. Just blame him for being a shithead and hitting his wife with a telephone.

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By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:14:34 +0000

We need players who want to win. Lugo and Drew are guys that the front office likes becuase they are so “even” and don’t get too high or too low, blah blah blah.

All that means to me is that the Red Sox are basically paying a premium for guys who replace hustle with apathy. We are paying extra money so the players who are on our team don’t care if they win or lose.

But hey, its all about how you play the game anyway, right???

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By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:10:37 +0000

Where’s Carlton Fisk when you need him?

“Let me tell you something, you little shit. There’s a right way and a wrong way to play this game. You’re playing it the wrong way, and the rest of us don’t like it. Someday, you’re going to get this game shoved right down your throat.”

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:22:42 +0000

Yeah, these are the kind of little things that Lugo always does which never show up in the box score.

I love Sabermetrics and all the fancy new stats it has given us, but Julio Lugo is Exhibit A for why the Baseball Prospectus approach *alone* will never be enough to totally understand the game of baseball (not that the BP people ever claimed it is).

Sometimes you just have to watch the games to fully realize that a certain player is a moron.

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