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Mike Lowell

Possible Destinations: Mike Lowell

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Mike Lowell has thought about asking the Red Sox for his release, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com and various other reporters. The Red Sox will be paying most of Lowell's $12MM salary regardless of what the next few weeks bring, but it's time to consider some possible landing spots for the 36-year-old in case Boston trades or releases him. First, let's take stock of Lowell and what he can be expected to contribute.

After offseason thumb surgery and a knee contusion in Spring Training, Lowell's health is far from certain, especially at his age. He posted a .290/.337/.474 line last year and has hit .263/.354/.404 in 65 plate appearances so far in 2010. With one homer and eight walks, his power appears to be waning, but he's still getting on base. As for his defense, Lowell has played just 32 innings at third so far this year. Last year, he posted a UZR/150 of -14.4, which suggests he was – and probably remains – a defensive liability.

The Rangers pursued Lowell last winter, before concerns about his thumb put the deal on hold. With Vladimir Guerrero and Michael Young around, the Rangers appear set at DH and third. First baseman Justin Smoak should hit and Chris Davis and Ryan Garko are around, too, so the Rangers don't seem likely to pursue Lowell again. The Marlins were another rumored destination over the winter, but that was before Gaby Sanchez had proven he could hit in the major leagues.

Earlier in the month, a friend of Lowell's told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that Lowell would like to play for the Twins or Angels. The Twins are starting light-hitting Nick Punto, but Punto's a much more reliable choice on defense, according to UZR. Angels third baseman Brandon Wood has endured one of the slowest starts in the majors, so the Halos are one potential match.

Other possible suitors include the Mariners who need offense (but not more fading veterans) and the Orioles, who have no home runs from their first basemen. Lowell seems to fit best in the American League, where he can DH, but there don't appear to be starting jobs out there for him, unless the Orioles or Angels decide they need production now.

Upcoming Ten And Five Rights

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Players who have accumulated ten years of major league service time can't be traded without their permission if they have spent the last five years with their current club. Ten and five rights can make it much more difficult for a GM to pull off a deal. Here's a list of players whose five and ten rights kick in in the near future:

  • A.J. Pierzynski – June 14th
  • Mark Buehrle – July 6th
  • Jimmy Rollins – Rollins' rights kick in September 7th, long after the trade deadline. The Phillies have not shown any interest in dealing Rollins, but it's worth noting that they won't be able to trade their star shortstop next winter or next season without his permission.
  • Mike Lowell – Lowell would have ten and five rights after the season, but only if he stays in Boston. If Lowell, a free agent after 2010, signs elsewhere, he will have no such rights.
  • Ichiro – Ichiro will gain ten and five rights after the season. He has a limited no-trade clause now, and isn't going anywhere regardless of his contract status.
  • Albert Pujols – Pujols isn't going anywhere either, and his limited no-trade clause becomes a full no-trade clause after the season.
  • Rafael Furcal – Like Ichiro and Pujols, Furcal will see his limited no-trade clause become complete after the season. Furcal is under contract through 2011 and the Dodgers have an option for 2012.

Stark On Gordon, Dunn, Lowell

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The five most untradeable contracts in baseball?  ESPN's Jayson Stark's poll of baseball executives say it's Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Carlos Lee, and Barry Zito.  Hard to argue; check out our Bad Contract Swap Meet from last year for a look at other ugly deals.  It was interesting to see Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kosuke Fukudome nab honorable mentions in Stark's poll.  On to his other rumblings…

  • Stark's conversations led to repeated mentions of the new collective bargaining agreement, which will go into effect in December of 2011.  The uncertainty will have an impact – will 2011 draftees lack leverage, knowing that a slotting system could be installed the following year?  Does it make sense to worry about Super Two status for Mike Stanton now, when that provision might not exist in 2012?
  • Teams have kicked the tires on Alex Gordon, but the Royals have no interest in trading him.  MLBTR's Luke Adams led a discussion post on Gordon yesterday.
  • The Dodgers are scouring the trade market for starting pitching, while the Royals and Phillies seek bullpen help.  The Mariners and Braves are trying to add offense.  The Diamondbacks are actually more interested in starting pitching than relief, and are expected to have Chris Snyder available once Miguel Montero returns.
  • A "baseball man familiar with the Nationals' thinking" expects Adam Dunn to return in 2011, though not necessarily via an in-season extension.
  • A friend of Mike Lowell tells Stark the third baseman would love to play for the Twins or Angels if the Red Sox plan to trade him.
  • The Phillies have recently adopted a stance against full no-trade clauses, which is reflected in the Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard extensions.

Top Trade Chips: AL East

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Let's finish off our series with the toughest division in baseball…

  • Blue Jays: The Jays already traded away most of their top pieces, but they still have three desirable relievers in Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, and Kevin Gregg. All three can become free agents after the season. There might be some interest in first baseman Lyle Overbay, who will also hit the open market after the season. 
  • Orioles: Considering how poorly he pitched before landing on the DL, I'm sure a large part of the Baltimore faithful wouldn't mind seeing Mike Gonzalez go. Alas, that won't happen anytime soon. There always seems to be interest in Luke Scott, who still has two more years of team control left. If they decide to sell at mid-season, Kevin Millwood and Jeremy Guthrie could find their way onto the block. 
  • Rays: The Rays are a player development machine, and they have enough young players to get get pretty much anyone they want. They have enough depth that they could trade one of Reid Brignac or Sean Rodriguez plus one of Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, or Jeremy Hellickson and not miss a beat. If they fall out of it and decide to sell, it doesn't get much better than Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, and Carlos Pena. I believe the term is "stacked."
  • Red Sox: Boston has held onto Clay Buchholz for this long, but with his name appearing so frequently on the rumor circuit, it really wouldn't be surprising if they moved him for a big time player. They might still be able to find a taker for Mike Lowell, and there would be interest in Manny Delcarmen if he were made available. They did lose a valuable chip when Junichi Tazawa went down with Tommy John surgery. 
  • Yankees: They seem unwilling to trade either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, so their best chip is the semi-blocked Jesus Montero. Of course, the Yankees have the ability to absorb even the ugliest of contracts, so maybe we should consider that their biggest trade chip.

Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Lowell, D’Backs

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FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal has a new Full Count video up, so let's dive in…

  • If the Red Sox decide to give Mike Lowell more at-bats at the expense of David Ortiz, don't be surprised if it happens soon. Just six of their next 26 games are on the road, and Lowell is a .303/.361/.513 career hitter at Fenway. Yesterday we heard that the Sox would probably release Ortiz before keeping him on the bench.
  • Should the Orioles decide to part ways with manager Dave Trembley, Rosenthal calls Greg Maddux an outside the box replacement candidate. Andy MacPhail has long admired Maddux's baseball smarts, and thinks he could succeed in any role. Keep in mind that the 355 game winner is currently working for Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and his only tie to the O's is MacPhail, his former GM with Chicago.
  • The Diamondbacks' rotation depth remains an issue, but they have minimal interest in Jarrod Washburn. They only have so much money to spend, and Washburn is coming off knee surgery and hasn't been through Spring Training. Arizona believes they're better off waiting until other teams fall out of the race and the trade market begins to develop.
  • The concern in Atlanta is about Bobby Cox's bullpen management. The 38-year-old Billy Wagner and 40-year-old Takashi Saito have been worked hard in the early going.

Olney’s Latest: Smoak, Davis, Ripken, Mathis, Lowell

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In today's blog post at ESPN (Insider required and recommended), Buster Olney writes that Rangers' first base prospect Justin Smoak is off to a strong start in Triple-A and could push Chris Davis either out the door or onto the bench. Smoak is hitting .300/.475/.567 with two homers in 40 plate appearances so far this year, while Davis is off to a .194/.265/.290 start with 10 strikeouts in 34 plate appearances.

Here's the rest of Olney's rumors…

  • A possible reason why Orioles owner Peter Angelos declined to hire Cal Ripken Jr. is because of "concern about whether the addition of the legend would lead to office politics and ugly fallout." 
  • With the Angels carrying three catchers, Olney speculates that Boston could be a trade match for Jeff Mathis, and wonders if the talks could be expanded to include Mike Lowell given the Halos' troubles at the hot corner. Red Sox catchers have thrown out just one of 17 base stealers this season, and Mathis has thrown out 23% of would-be base stealers in his career.

Lowell Plans To Retire After This Season

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Mike Lowell said today that he will almost certainly retire from baseball when his deal expires at the end of the year, tweets Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.

The BoSox agreed to deal the 36-year-old to the Rangers for catcher Max Ramirez back in December.  However, the deal was called off when Texas discovered that Lowell had a torn ligament in his right thumb.

For his major league career, Lowell has hit .280/.343/.468 with 218 HRs.

Rangers No Longer Interested In Lowell

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In an appearance on Jim Bowden's XM 175 radio show today, Rangers GM Jon Daniels confirmed that his club no longer has any interest in acquiring Mike Lowell from the Red Sox (link goes to Bowden's Twitter). Daniels says that the team's addition of Ryan Garko off waivers eliminated their need for Lowell.

We had heard conflicting reports regarding Lowell's status lately, with one report stating that talks with the Rangers were heating up, while Sox GM Theo Epstein said there had been little action on the Lowell trade front. Texas had, of course, worked out a deal to acquire Lowell earlier in the winter before it was nixed due to questions about the 36-year-old's health.

A week ago, it appeared that the Rangers and Marlins were the primary candidates to trade for Lowell. However, the Marlins denied any interest, and now that the Rangers have followed suit, it's looking increasingly likely that Lowell will be a Red Sox for the foreseeable future.

Latin Links: Martinez, Maya, Ramirez, Escobar

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A rumor by any other name smells just as sweet. Links are in Spanish…

  • Pedro Martinez has largely been linked in rumors to National League teams this winter, but Vladimir Guerrero thought recently his former Expo teammate might join him in Arlington. "Early in March, when I reported to Texas' spring training, I heard a fair amount about the possibility that Pedro was going to sign here, but it didn't happen," Guerrero told Juan Mercado at the Dominican paper El Dia. Martinez showed last year he wasn't afraid to pitch the stretch run in a hitter's park, as National League batters actually fared significantly better against Martinez on the road (.322/.362/.517 in 20 IP) than at Citizens Bank Ball Park (.225/.274/.701 in 24 IP) during his two months with the Phillies.
  • The flurry of activity this offseason in regard to Cuban prospects is likely "the tip of the iceberg," Rangers scout Juan Alvarez tells the Nuevo Herald's Jorge Ebro. The latest signings from the island, of pitchers Reinier Roibal by the Giants and Sergio Espinosa by the Rays, were relatively low on fanfare, but Ebro quotes a source saying interest is quickly heating up for 27-year-old Cuban right-hander Yuniesky Maya. Maya has been linked this winter primarily to the Red Sox, who reportedly view him as a starter.
  • In an interview with the Venezuelan paper El Tiempo, Max Ramirez clarifies recent reports that he is focusing on first base as his quickest route to the Rangers' major league roster. While he admits to taking some grounders, "They still consider me as a catcher and I think that's where I have more opportunities now," Ramirez says. Earlier this week the 25-year-old's name popped up once again as a possible trade chip for Mike Lowell, but that window likely closed for the time being when the Rangers claimed Ryan Garko off waivers yesterday. Nevertheless, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Gil LeBreton recently noted, Ramirez is the odd man out at any position in Texas, especially after the team acquired catcher Matt Treanor from the Brewers.
  • Kelvim Escobar is throwing again and will stay in extended spring training for the Mets, but the team isn't counting on having him in the bullpen any time soon. A day before his previously stated April 1 deadline to decide whether to sit out 2010, Escobar told Lider en Deportes' Carlos Valmore Rodriguez that neither he nor the team are throwing up their hands on his one year, $1.25MM contract. Escobar says of Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel, "They always tell me not to worry, they don't want me in April or May, because that's not when you win the World Series. (They tell me) they need me for a long time, to take my time and not rush myself, to be patient about things."

Not Much Trade Activity For Mike Lowell

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THURSDAY, 12:14pm: Red Sox GM Theo Epstein told Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald, "There hasn't been much trade activity, if at all," for Lowell this spring.

WEDNESDAY, 5:03pm: Bradford reports the two sides "aren’t close" to a deal and it's unlikely that Lowell is dealt before the start of the season.  Meanwhile, WEEI's Alex Speier says the Mets are not interested in Lowell despite Daniel Murphy's knee injury.

4:17pm: Talks between the Rangers and Red Sox for Mike Lowell have accelerated, reports ESPN's Gordon Edes.  Perhaps the Rangers' interest picked up after Lowell hit two doubles today.  Just two days ago Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote that the Rangers' interest in Lowell was "light," and the Sox didn't expect a suitable offer from any team.

Via WEEI's Rob Bradford, it was known that the Rangers would scout Lowell again today.  However, Bradford said the Rangers' interest is "tempered by their reluctance to allocate any substantial amount of money to a player who would be filling a reserve role."  Bradford says that for the Rangers to take Lowell on as a backup, the Red Sox would have to assume almost all of his $12.5MM salary.  Potentially, a bigger market for Lowell could develop once teams get a better look at him.

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