Lugo DFA'd, Sox will eat salary

I'm sure I'm not the first to see this and ponder the idea, so I thought I'd compare him to Cedeno and see if Lugo would be a better option going forward.

Lugo clearly has a large advantage at the plate.  Though he has never been all that good offensively, for the rest of the season, ZIPS projects a .324 wOBA.  Over ~320 PA, this would put him at -1.7 wRAA.  Ronny is (very generously, in my opinion) projected to have a .286 wOBA.  Over the same amount of PA, that puts him at -12.2 wRAA.

So, does Ronny's defense make up for the 10.5 run difference?  Depends on how optimistic you are on Lugo's defense.  Lugo, since coming back from surgery, has been terrible.  His -43.2 UZR/150 is a product mainly of SSS, but closer examination shows that his range just hasn't come back.  While his range is generally worth around 5 runs above average, it has dropped to -5.3 since his return.  Over at Fangraphs, R.J. says he expects -10 UZR/150 to be more realistic.  Ronny meanwhile is on pace for 11.1 UZR/150.  Over roughly 75 games, this would put the difference in defense at about 10.5 runs.

Essentially, it looks to be a wash.  This is assuming, of course, Ronny lives up to his optimistic ZIPS projection and Lugo's range hasn't deserted him completely.  Also, I am not educated in park factors, but I'm assuming Lugo's switch from Fenway to Safeco may actually give Ronny the advantage.

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2009/04/05/aumont_to_bullpen_role.html

I feel like this has to be some kind of joke.  Late April Fools joke?  If not, I see very little reason for optimism for this team for the next few years.  Do you think this is purely a GMZ decision or more an inevitability caused by the pick of Aumont?  We now have three potential power relief aces from the last 3 drafts.

A few relievers were non-tendered, many of whom have once had moderate success and could be cheap options.  I know little about any of them though, so I don't know if any are better than internal options.  Here's a list of non-tendered relievers:

Takashi Saito, Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban, Clay Hensley, Charlie Haeger, Chris Britton, Matt Belisle (has been starting mostly), Gary Majewski

Also, Jonny Gomes, who kills lefties, was non-tendered, but I don't see where he'd fit if he can't platoon with Branyan at first.

To take Bedard's spot.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/archives/136675.asp

He was having control problems at AA, so this should be fun.  McSquinty will probably use him as our closer...the bullpen is a mess.  Two relievers with frequent control problems (Green, Morrow), one underused lefty (RRS), one with an extreme case of old (Rhodes), one career AAAA'er (Baek).  When I have the most faith in Roy Corcoran, something is wrong.

Per News Tribune

Clement, Jimenez, Huber and White.

Gives a slightly clearer picture of the bullpen anyway.

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According to Hickey at the PI...didn't see this anywhere else.

Shhh don't tell Peter Angelos.

He also maintains that it is 5 players for Bedard...in which case I'm reeeeeally not happy about this trade.

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If Mickolio isn't going to the O's, how does he compare right now to Morrow, as a reliever?

Is he significantly worse, or is keeping Morrow in the pen over him doubly stupid?  I heard last year he was nearly ready, but is he ready to be an immediate impact reliever in the mold of EOF/Lowe/RRS?

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