Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Lugo Gives This Trade The Finger

So I'm strolling through some of Baseball Prospectus' Unfiltered content as I am wont to do from time to time. In this afternoon's post by Marc Normandin regarding Red Sox SS Julio ("I Left My Power At Tropicana Field") Lugo, Marc linked to an older story on MLB.com which you can read here. What galled me was the following blurb:
Lugo's finger: It won't stop infielder Julio Lugo from playing, but when he was acquired from Tampa Bay in last month's deadline deal, he reported with an injured middle finger on his right hand.

Trainer Stan Johnston said the injury is to a ligament around the knuckle nearest the fingertip, making it difficult for Lugo to fully straighten the finger. He said the discomfort is felt both while throwing and batting.

Johnston fitted Lugo with a metal splint to wear when he's not playing in hopes the injury will heal without requiring surgery.

While hindsight is 20/20 (or, in the case of Lugo's production for the Dodgers, .224/.285/.267), didn't The 'Stache do any due diligence on Lugo before he pulled the trigger on the deal. Shouldn't he have known that Lugo wouldn't be able to pull a trigger with his injured digit? Hadn't Neddie heard of a medical exam, or was he just flushed with the notion of trading away a couple of prospects for someone who would make Cesar Izturis look productive?

1 comments:

Orel said...

"While hindsight is... .224/.285/.267...." Nice.