Redsox Shopping Lugo

A number of clubs have holes at shortstop - including the St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants - but Lugo is a tough sell, coming off a season in which he didn’t play after July 11 because of a severe quad strain. Beyond his value, there’s the issue of his contract.
The best bet would seem to be a deal in which the Sox absorb a bad contract in exchange for a team taking Lugo’s remaining dollars. On that criteria alone, the White Sox would seem a good fit, given that they are willing to unload pitcher Javier Vazquez (two years, $22 million) and outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher (three years, $22.5 million).
But as a reliable 200-inning starter, Vazquez will fetch far more than Lugo in return and the asking price on Swisher is also likely to far outstrip that of the shortstop. In some ways, Swisher would be a perfect fit for the Red Sox, since he could serve as a left-handed hitting backup to Kevin Youkilis [stats] at first as well as the team’s fourth outfielder should Crisp be moved. Swisher’s grinding approach at the plate - he saw more pitches than anyone else in the AL last year - dovetails nicely with the Red Sox’ offensive philosophy.
A potentially better matchup could be the Tigers, who would like to unburden themselves of overpriced lefties Nate Robertson (two years, $18 million) and Dontrelle Willis (two years, $22 million).
Boston Herald