Derek Lowe

Derek Lowe was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers and his big league career may be over. And what a unique career it has been. Lowe once led the league in saves - something Jonathan Papelbon never managed to do. Lowe had as many 20-win seasons as Mike Mussina - but whereas Mussina was nicknamed Moose - it was Lowe who really shouldered the load and who led his league in games started 4 times (Mussina managed the trick just twice).

The Red Sox do not win the 2004 World Series without Lowe's pitching heroics. But it is Curt Schilling and David Ortiz who still get all the kudos. For his part in the 2004 Championship - Lowe was shown the door and allowed to sign with the Dodgers as a free agent.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying Lowe and his career 4.03 ERA is a Hall of Famer. It is also hard to feel bad for a man who spent all or part of 17 seasons in "the show" while raking in more than $110 million in salary. It's just that Lowe seems a decent guy and has been so enigmatic that the passing of his big league career seemed worthy of note.

Thanks for 2004.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

Very interesting address by Neil Gaiman. Excellent advice.

This was awesome. Kyrie Irving disguised as old man schools street ballers.

Nice look at Derek Lowe's season and Lowe's perspective on it.

Interesting insight into why Adam Lind may have been placed on waivers.

Triple Crown Odds - I'll Have Another has 39% chance to make history.

Medicine for the Dead - an interesting new blog.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In the wake of the Secret Service hooker scandal - shouldn't some reporter ask President Obama if he favors legalizing prostitution? If I was willing to pay good money for that question does that make me a "John"?... 100 years ago Leonardo DiCaprio drown for your sins, he rose and now reads your dreams for your deepest secrets. Move over Flying Spaghetti Monster - I'm thinking of founding the Church of DiCaprio... Quid pro quo literally means "something for something". Prostitution is a quid pro quo arrangement. You give money you get sex. According to Patrick Kennedy - the Obama White House operates on the same principles as hookers... If the season ended today - Derek Lowe would probably get some votes for the AL Cy Young Award. Think about that for a minute... I may have business cards printed up - Chris Lynch, President, Americans for Bacon. Seriously - I may set up as a lobbyist... Last week's Mad Men recut as a horror movie trailer... If Ian Kennedy was still with the Yankees - would he be the team ace?... Is there any doubt that Doc Rivers should be the NBA Coach of the Year?... Johnny Cash with a kitten. Awwwwww....

How Jason Varitek Came to Town

Alex Speier has an excellent look back at the trade that brought Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe to Boston. Great insight into how that trade came to be. I found it most interesting that the deal ended up being a compromise - the Red Sox actually wanted pitcher Ken Cloude for Heathcliff Slocumb but "settled" for Varitek and Lowe.

Whenever this great robbery of a trade is brought up by a Red Sox fan - I always like to remind people that Boston also traded Jamie Moyer to Seattle for Darren Bragg. Moyer went on to win 133 games over the next 10 seasons for the Mariners.

While we are looking back at the career of Varitek - here is something I wrote the day after he smushed his mitt in A-Rod's face.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Thunder Grizzlies would be a good name for a band or a show on the National Geographic Channel... If there were such a thing as the Pimp Olympics - I'd buy a ticket... At some point today I will try to use the phrase "argle-bargle" in conversation. For no good reason at all... Of all the Thompson gunners - Roland was the best... People remember that Lou Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp for the Yankees but who replaced Babe Ruth? I seriously don't know but now am curious about it... Interesting look at Seattle Mariners pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen... I really hope that BC's Mark Herzlich gets picked up by a good team. It would be a bonus if that team was the Patriots... Quote of the Day: "I went to my doctor and told him 'my penis is burning.' He said, 'That means somebody is talking about it.'" - Garry Shandling... Derek Lowe getting arrested for DUI reminded me of this piece a few years ago from Dan Wetzel

Manny Ramirez

The Manny Ramirez situation is very interesting. I think there are several things at play here which are worth a comment:

- The one-year $25 million offer is very smart from the Dodgers point of view. The Dodgers do need offense but they can't afford to spend that sort of money on a player who could take a month off mid-season to balky knees or a troubled hammy. By making it a one-year deal the Dodgers make sure they get Manny's full attention. He needs to play to get paid in 2010. What better way to make sure Manny focus' on the 2009 season?

- The "screw you Scott Boras" aspect of this is good PR for the club. Nobody likes Boras - nobody. Making the $25 million offer public is in effect calling Boras' bluff. Now everybody knows what the Dodgers are willing to do. If another team is willing to go to two or three years for Manny - fine. The Dodgers have both shown their fans that they were willing to pay top dollar for Manny but at the same time they stood up the the man many blame for ruining the game.

- It has to be asked if the money the Dodgers are willing to pay to Manny would be better used elsewhere. They could literally sign Adam Dunn and Ben Sheets for the same money they would pay Manny (maybe even a lot less than what Manny would cost). Dunn would give them the HR bat they need and Sheets could help fill the role of the departed Derek Lowe. The problem is for the Dodgers that they can't go and sign a Ben Sheets and then have Manny accept his $25 million offer. There's obviously a limit to the Dodgers' budget.

- An aspect that is not talked about but what may be the most important consideration for many teams is the draft picks involved. The Dodgers have compensation picks coming for losing Derek Lowe to the Braves and if they lost Manny to another team - they would have more picks coming. That would allow them to sign an Adam Dunn and a Ben Sheets without impacting their farm system too much. Maybe that's another reason they have made their bids to Manny Ramirez so public - so other teams would know where they stand and thus know what the costs would be without Boras hyping it any further.

EDIT: As an aside - look for a team like the Nationals to offer Manny a two-year deal for like $50 million if the Dodgers one-year deal looks like the only offer. The Nationals draft pick is protected (because it's first overall) and the Nationals could use Manny to sell tickets early in the year and then turn around and trade him to a contender for prospects near the trading deadline.

The Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels has a contract through the 2011 season. The way I see it - Daniels is safe (as long as there is no major collapse) until he gets to field "his" team in 2010.

The Rangers are solid up the middle. They have Gerald Laid at catcher; Ian Kinsler at 2nd (locked up till 2013); Michael Young at short (also locked up till 2013) and Josh Hamilton in centerfield. In addition David Murphy and Jarrod Saltalamacchia look like they will be productive low-cost players in the starting nine.

That leaves 3rd base, a corner outfielder and a 1st / DH. Hopefully Chris Davis who has hit 5 HR in 14 games this year in Arlington will be the answer at 3rd. The Texas farm system is getting better and maybe the holes can be filled by prospects like Chris Davis. However, to become a playoff threat team - some free agents will need to be signed. But where will that money come from?

Consider the situation of the following players:

Kevin Millwood is the highest paid Ranger but his contract is actually very favorable to Texas. Millwood has to pitch 273 inning between this season and next (or 180 innings next season) or the Rangers can opt out of the last year of the deal ($12 million in 2010). Who knows though? $12 million may be the going rate for a 180 IP per year pitcher with a league average ERA.

Vicente Padilla also has a $12 million 2010 option. So basically if neither pitcher is performing up to club expectations then the team can save more than a third of their payroll and start anew for new starters.

Hank Blalock has a team option of $6.2 million for 2009. Unless Blalock catches fire in the second half - I don't see the Rangers picking up that option. You can't catch fire from the DL.

That's over $30 million of payroll that can be shed by the time the 2010 season comes around.

If I were in Jon Daniels shoes' I would target the following 3 free agents to field as competitive team as possible in 2010.

1. Derek Lowe - free agent after this season. His sinkerball could be just the right pitch in the heat of Arlington.

2. Jason Bay - free agent after the 2009 season. He would add another big bat to an already potent line-up.

3. Justin Duchscherer - free agent after 2009 season. This has been Duchscherer's breakout season but I think he's the real deal.

Those three players would cost more than the $30 million that was just trimmed but it would be worth it. Justin Duchscherer and Derek Lowe at the top of the rotation with that potent Ranger line-up would make the Rangers a very competitive team come 2010.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

It's not so much that Detroit is 0-6 to start the season. It's that they are already 4 games back in the standings... Many Red Sox fans are frustrated with Coco Crisp and would like to see him traded already. But Terry Francona has shown an ability to get bench players their at bats and Coco at the least makes the best late inning defensive replacement in the game (moving Ellsbury to left for Manny Ramirez). However, the frustration Red Sox fans have with Crisp's situation must be nothing compared to how the Dodgers fans must be feeling about Juan Pierre. Both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier deserve to start and both of those players make the Dodgers a better team than what Pierre brings to the table. Yet there's Pierre continually trotted out to take up valuable AB from Ethier and Kemp. Here's the catch - both Crisp and Pierre are light hitting defensive specialists but Pierre has $36.5 million left on his contract that runs through the 2011 season and the contract includes a limited no-trade clause. Meanwhile Crisp is a better defensive player and his contract calls for only $4.75 million in '08, $5.75 million in '09, with a $8 million club option in 2010. My guess is that it will be very tough for Ned Colletti to trade Pierre for any sort of value while Coco Crisp is also available on the market... It very could be that Derek Lowe will be the best free agent pitcher available after this season. Lowe has had two real solid starts to begin the season. It could also very well be that Lowe ends up trade bait for the Dodger since the Dodgers are pretty deep at starter if Estaban Loaiza remains steady and Jason Schmidt comes back healthy. Lowe could be traded mid-season for the simple fact that Scott Boras is his agent and Lowe will probably be going to the highest bidder at the end of the year... The season is less than 10 games in and already Oakland's Joe Blanton has two 2-1 losses on his record. I feel bad for the guy... My early season fascination with David Murphy continues as the ex-Red Sox farmhand had another 2 hits last night and is now hitting .409 on the season... The Colorado Rockies have only scored 10 runs so far this season and are only hitting .209 as a team. Yet it is the Cubs fans you hear complaining... Who knew? Gabe Kapler (2) now has more HR than either Manny Ramirez (1) or David Ortiz (1). I guess that year off really helped. Just the same - I wouldn't rush out to pick up Kapler for your fantasy baseball team nor would I drop either Manny or Big Papi from your line-up... John Smoltz just needs 19 more strikeouts for 3,000 in his career. Smoltz should be a first year selection for the Hall of Fame when he's done....

A Great Trade for the Red Sox

Alex Speier has a look back at the trade that brought Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe to the Red Sox in exchange for Heathcliff Slocumb.

Excellent job by Speier. It's amazing in hindsight that Seattle did not want to do a Ken Cloude for Slocumb deal straight-up.