Lugo designated for assignment

Well, that was a surprise. Julio Lugo has been designated for assignment, bringing to a close a tumultuous two-and-a-half years with Lugo as our apparent shortstop. I opined on this transaction over at the Hardball Times. Some nuggets: This year, Lugo's offense has seen an uptick, hitting .284/.352/.367 in his best offensive display since his time with Tampa Bay in 2006 before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the deadline in 2006. However, his defense has become atrocious: he's checking in at a cool -43.2 UZR/150. To put that in perspective, when Yuniesky Betancourt was traded to the Kansas City Royals last week, he was the consensus worst shortstop in the game according to many bloggers. His UZR/150 on the year? -17.4. With at least 50 innings played at the position in 2009, he's easily the worst in UZR/150. The second worst is the Mets' Ramon Martinez, at -29.1 in 81.1 innings, or 162 less innings than Lugo. Ouch.