Tug O’ Snore

November 25th, 2009 | by Darryl Johnston |

Sorry, Mr. Hulett.

Tug Hulett

With all due respect, this is not what we were hoping for when the Boston Globe’s Extra Bases broke the news of a Red Sox trade.

The club acquired versatile infielder Tug Hulett from the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Hulett is castoff-fodder from the Rangers via Kansas City. He projects at-best to be a utility infielder in Boston, but will most likely spend 2010 in Pawtucket.

Hulett is a career .194 hitter with one home run and three RBI in 45 games in the majors. That line doesn’t exactly inspire my big Thanksgiving-acquisition hopes. Yet not all is unlikable about Hulett.

Although his numbers at the big-league are less than pedestrian, he did show some signs of being a valuable major league commodity during his time in the minors. Last year, Hulett hit .294 with an OBP of .384. In fact, all throughout his minor league career, Hulett has displayed an exceptional hitting eye. In eight seasons between college and the minors, the 26-year old infielder never posted an OBP below .357.

In 2007, JM Barten from Beyond the Box Score had a great article profiling Hulett and ended it by saying:

So let’s review, he’s a good defensive second baseman who has enough smarts and footspeed that he might turn into a decent supersub kind of like an Esteban German/Chone Figgins. He doesn’t have much of any kind of power. He knows the difference between balls and strikes. So how you look at him depends a lot on whether you think that the phrase “A poor man’s Dustin Pedroia” is a compliment or not. The ceiling is David Eckstein at second base. The downside is that he doesn’t get a chance at all and ends up cruising Durham, Tucson, Portland, and Louisville in a long AAA career.

So basically, Hulett has great strike zone judgment and may see some time at Fenway this year. For those waiting with baited-breath for a deal to be done in the Red Sox organization, here you go.

A super utility for your Pawtucket Red Sox.

Darryl Johnston is the Red Sox correspondent for Fanball.com. He has many years of sports writing under his championship belts. Email him – redsoxdj@gmail.com