If not Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell [68 percent of poll respondents said to only resign Lowell if the dollars and years are reasonable – hah!, 28 percent to sign him whatever it takes and four percent not to sign him at all], Miguel Cabrera or Kevin Youkilis, who should man the hot corner?
How about Jed Lowrie?
Lowrie, 23 (until April 17), hit .300/.356/.506 for Triple-A Pawtucket, and .297/.410/.501 for Double-A Portland in 2006, both playing the shortstop position. While the large disparity in OBP between the two levels is a bit concerning, I’m not worried about it because he has a reputation for fantastic plate discipline.
For comparison, Dustin Pedroia hit .305/.384/.426 in Pawtucket in 2006 before being called up in September. So Jed Lowrie looks a lot like Pedroia, except with some more pop.
The question is: could Lowrie play third?
Lowrie has a “decent glove and average range” for a shortstop according to SoxProspects.com. He has a strong arm but his throwing accuracy isn’t excellent. To me, he seems like he’d play well at third. His range is not as much of a concern at third, where it’s more about reflexes and getting to the ball (and SoxProspects labels him ‘intelligent’ in that regard).
While it would be pretty cool to have yet another farm product who can work the count and provide occasional pop, there are two major drawbacks to having Lowrie man third base.
The first is the lack of power. If we go from Mike Lowell to Jed Lowrie, our lineup is that much weaker and much more dependent on Manny and Big Papi. We need to make sure we don’t keep sliding back in terms of offense, we need to stay up near the top. If we use Lowrie, then our lineup starts becoming really thin. Keeping in mind that Lowrie is a right-handed hitter, the lineup could look as such:
CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Ortiz
LF Ramirez
RF Drew
1B Youkilis
C Varitek
3B Lowrie
SS Lugo
Not exactly awe-inspiring, is it?
The second drawback is pretty simple: I think it’s asking a lot for a rookie that’s a Pedroia clone on offense to switch positions and produce in his rookie year. Those that produce should be celebrated (and are) … but more often than not, it takes a while to adjust.
We need to have a balanced team: balanced on offense, defense and pitching. If we plugged Lowrie into third base, I’m not confident that we’re balanced on offense anymore. The money would have to be plugged into a serious upgrade in pitching for it to be worth it — Francisco Cordero, Roy Oswalt levels.
As intriguing as this option is and Jed Lowrie is in general… he’s not the answer at third.
