Red Sox Moves: Plus LaRoche, Minus Lugo, Wake DL'ed

The Red Sox have made some moves lately. They designated Julio Lugo for assignment, they called up Clay Buchholz, they DL'ed Tim Wakefield and now they have traded for Adam LaRoche.

And since no matter what the standings show, Yankees fans are interested in the going ons on the other side of Connecticut, let's look at those moves:

Julio Lugo looked like a bad move from the beginning. The Red Sox have had a lot of pains trying to fill shortstop since Nomar Garciaparra worked his way out of Boston. Edgar Renteria didn't work and was paid to leave. Julio Lugo hasn't been much better. And Jed Lowrie has been beseiged by injuries. The Lugo downfall started when he lost playing time to Nick Green this year and, I believe, the last straw had to be when Lugo missed a workout and the team traveled without him (even though it supposedly wasn't his fault). Then when they tought about DFA'ing him, the Mets, Cubs and Cardinals asked about him, knowing full well, as MLBTradeRumors wrote, that the Red Sox would have to pick up most of the entire remaining salary. Rob Neyer wrote that it wasn't Lugo's bat that was hurting the Sawks, it was his glove. In the end, Lugo was DFA'ed and Ken Rosenthal thinks that in the end Lugo will just be flat-out released.

The Red Sox then had one pitcher come and one pitcher leave. Clay Buchholz came back from the minors to make the first start of the second half. The Red Sox said they made the move to give more rest to their starters--which makes some sense-- but I think the real reason was to showcase him in case someone was interested in trading for him. And then they put their top winner, Tim Wakefield, on the DL. I think that Wakefield's win total has been better than he's pitched, but this is still a loss for the BoSox.

Then the Red Sox went out and got themselves Adam LaRoche in a salary/personnel dump by the Pirates. This is the second time in a year that the Red Sox have been invovled in a trade with a LaRoche brother; Andy Laroche, Adam's brother, joined him in Pittsburgh via the Manny Ramirez 3-way trade at the 2008 deadline. Adam LaRoche is a decent hitter, but much better in the second half. Rob Neyer wonders why they made this move, though I think that LaRoche will be a good bench bat and fill-in at 1st, especially if Lowell needs to get some extra rest.

Great Tweet by Behind The Moat on the acquisition: I bet Adam LaRoche is excited to go to the Boston R...ooh, a bird! http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/12806524/ #mlb

And, lastly, to make sure this was somewhat about the rivalry, Peter Abraham writes about Red Sox owner John Henry taking a shot at the Yankees. Maybe he should start worrying about his own team slipping in the standings ;)