Mike Lowell?
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe suggeststhat the Red Sox somehow move Mike Lowell to the Twins. Even if the Sox pick up the lion’s share of the $12 million Lowell is owed for 2010, I don’t see this happening.
One of our top prospects, Danny Valencia, plays third, so why should we give up prospect to get Lowell for part of a season? If our production from whoever plays third this year is Punto-esque (which is possible since Punto will likely be getting a lot of starts at the hot corner), wouldn’t you rather they give Valencia a chance than trade for Lowell? I like Mike Lowell, but I don’t think its the right move. I think the rest of our lineup is good enough where we can afford to have a black hole at the bottom of the order. It would be nice if Punto (or Harris) could give us something close to league average numbers, but I’m not holding my breath.
Not really a whole lot to discuss on this topic, but I thought I’d point it out as we gear up for the season and I shake off the blogging rust.
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Yeah, if we take Lowell, we’re going to have to make the Red Sox pay basically his entire salary, plus we shouldn’t be willing to give up much of anything; maybe a nearly-MLB-ready starter will be expendable, like Perkins or Duensing or Swarzak, but a) we’d probably want something better and longer-term than Lowell, b) the Red Sox don’t really need or want those guys given that they don’t fit the high-strikeout mold of their pitching staff, and c) the Red Sox aren’t going to make a trade that they don’t clearly win.
I agree that we can afford a single weak spot in the lineup, which Punto or Harris will provide. Plus, we’re going to want to bring Valencia up whenever he proves himself ready; his K/BB ratio in AAA will be the best predictor. He had a great K/BB in A+ ball, then when he was promoted to AA it sucked. Then in his next AA stint his K/BB ratio was great again, and when he was promoted to AAA it sucked again. If he can make the adjustment at AAA this year, he’ll be ready for us to bring up to the majors. But it’ll be important for us to realize that he probably won’t be successful offensively for his first half-season. Given that in 2010 we can afford a weak spot in the lineup, that’ll be ideal for us. Then, hopefully, he can continue his trend of making an adjustment after a half-season of failure, and be an above-average player in 2011 and beyond.
So, ultimately, I don’t see much point in adding Lowell even if we can get him for free. (Which we undoubtedly can’t anyway.)