Julio Lugo (SS), LA - Trade (AL to NL)
July 31, 2006
News: Lugo was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfield prospects Joel Guzman and Sergio Pedroza.
Views: More than anything, this deal just confuses me. It obviously must have been made as soon as the Dodgers determined that they no longer had a shot at acquiring Alfonso Soriano. Even after shipping Cesar Izturis to the Cubs for Greg Maddux within minutes of this deal, the Dodgers now appear to have one of the deepest infields in baseball, with Nomar Garciaparra (has played everywhere but 2b in the past two years), Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal, Wilson Betemit, and Lugo. Lugo is a free agent at the end of the year, but Guzman was too good a prospect for the Dodgers to have shipped him away for a "good" rental player like Lugo. The assumption is that they'll do everything they can to re-sign him.
The odd man out here would obviously have to be Betemit, who will assume the role of being a utility man that he had in Atlanta. He's the cheapest option and offers the least experience. However, with Kent and Garciaparra currently on the disabled list, Betemit should see plenty of time in the lineup in the short-term. Lugo could see a slight decline in his offensive numbers, as the National League is more pitching dominant and his new home park is one of the better pitcher's parks in the league. He does join a superior offense, however.
From Tampa's perspective, Guzman and Pedroza join one of the deepest outfields in terms of prospects in recent memory, as the Rays already boasted Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Jonny Gomes, Delmon Young, and Elijah Dukes as top flight young outfielders.
Fantasy Baseball 
Lugo will most likely be playing a combo of 2B (until Kent is healthy) and 3B the rest of this year. Furcal is LA's SS. He might also play some OF.
I highly doubt LA signs Lugo. He seems to be the prototypical rental player, since LaRoche will be ready for a starting gig next year (with Betemit as his backup if he fails) and Furcal is going nowhere for a few years.
Well yeah, I was wondering if I might have to drop him since he might not get much PT but we'll see and what guru said.
Betemit will continue to play, at least for the time being. Thinking long-term (well... short, but long... for the rest of the season), you would have to think he's the odd man out when everyone's healthy. Betemit had a high stock as a prospect a few years ago, but who are you going to send to the bench when everyone's healthy?
Nomar
Jeff Kent
Julio Lugo
Rafael Furcal
Wilson Betemit
That's a pretty crowded infield picture when everyone's healthy. For now, Nomar and Kent are both on the disabled list, and there's talk that Nomar's injury is probably more serious than they initially thought it was (though that's just a rumor) that convinced the Dodgers to acquire Lugo.