The Cardinals traded Chris Duncan to Boston for shortstop Julio Lugo this afternoon.
“We felt that Julio could help our club by improving our middle infield depth,” said Cardinals’ Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak.
Dave Duncan told Derrick Goold that Chris was happy with the move and noted that Chris had always done better on the road than in St. Louis so he expected the move to help his son. The elder Duncan, however, was none too pleased with the move. Goold will have more on that later.
Lugo was designated for assignment last week and the Sox had until Monday to move him.
Bernie Miklasz confirmed that the Red Sox will still be responsible for the remaining $13.5 million on Lugo’s contract. It’s expected that Duncan, 27, will be assigned to Pawtucket.
The Cardinals were going to option Duncan to Memphis before this deal was announced. Duncan is hitting .227 and has just one hit in his last 31 at-bats as he struggles to regain his form from off-season disk surgery.
Lugo, 33, hit .284 in 37 games for the Red Sox this season. He had struggled in Boston since joining the Red Sox in 2007. He hit .237 that first season as the Red Sox won the World Series. He played in only 82 games the next year and made 16 errors and hit .268 before suffering a torn quadriceps muscle.
