Julio Lugo, on Red Sox fans booing him for not making enough plays defensively:
If you try to make a play like that and you get destroyed by you [media] guys the next day, it’s not fair. You guys can say whatever you want. I can take it. I can [expletive] take it. I’m a human being, I’ve got feelings, but I can take it. It’s tough. Nobody wants to be booed. Not me, not anybody. At the same time, I’m not making excuses. I’ll tell you the truth. I think the fans have been fair to me.
Sometimes you deserve the boos. Sometimes you don’t, but I love it here. I work my ass off. I go to sleep feeling good every night that I’m trying my best. I’ve got that best job in the world. I get paid a lot of money. You’ve got everything you want--money, fame, a bunch of girls looking at you. What more can you want? I love Boston, man. There’s nowhere else you’d want to play. I love it.
Since signing a four-year, $36 million contract in the winter of 2006, Lugo has hit .248/.316/.343 while sitting out one-third of the Red Sox’s games. And his defense at shortstop, which is drawing most of the fans’ ire of late, has rated 3.2 runs below average during that time according to Ultimate Zone Rating.
Add it all up and Lugo has been about 13 runs better than a replacement-level shortstop while being paid about $20 million (thus far), so suffice it to say that his love affair with Boston isn’t exactly mutual. On the other hand, he makes a pretty good point with the whole “money, fame, and a bunch of girls looking at you” thing.
