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,
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
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 —
As intriguing as this option is and Jed Lowrie is in general… he’s not the answer at third.
Categories: Jed Lowrie
Loading ...
Lugo at 3B? If his throws are errant from SS, he'll be an older, bat-less version of Ryan Braun at the hot corner.
Other news: Rivera is apparently mad at the Yankees for referring to his age in recent talks, and is seeking a fourth year. There's rumors that he already has a three-year offer on the table from LA.
Agreed. Though I'd love to see Lowrie up next year in a utility role (i.e. serving as the 2007 version of Alex Cora, though perhaps with more playing time).
As for the Japan thing…what really irks me is the fact that not only do the Sox have to travel to Japan, then back to Oakland a week later, but also that the games in Oakland are then followed by a series in Toronto with an off day in between. That's asking for uber-jetlag, and we have trouble with west coast games as it is!
We're getting no sympathy from whoever the scheduler is.
Evan,
On that Oswalt note, my uncle was wondering about something similar last night, so I figured I'd post it…
"If the Sox really wanted to make a HUGE splash, I wonder if they'd consider making a push for Johan Santana. If he can be had for Ellsbury, Lester, and another prospect or two, and would be willing to sign an extension, that would give the Sox an insane rotation of Santana-Beckett-Buchholz-DiceK-Schilling. Or, how about a similar deal — with slightly less talent going the other way — for Ben Sheets? They might not need much offense to succeed with that kind of pitching."
_____________________
Out of curiosity, would you feel secure with the ridiculous rotation mentioned above, even if it means keeping Coco in center and playing Lowrie at third?
I'm not certain, but I think I would.
(And, for the record, both my uncle and I readily admit that this is a pipe dream…)
Santana's HR rates are already rising, and we want to put him in Fenway as a lefty? With slappy returning to NY?
We already have some major upgrades to the pitching staff going into '08. Beckett should lose .25-.5 in ERA (fiine by me; he'll still be a bargain), but Matsuzaka should improve by a full run, and a healthy Schilling should be good for a sub-4.0. Oh yeah, and if that Buchholz kid can pitch like the top pitching prospect in baseball (which he is), I think we'll be ok.
Okaji's not going to repeat what he did this year, but if he's in the 3's, excellent. Middle relief will be more of an issue, no doubt, but MDC and Paps are a nice group to have.
I don't really want Lowrie, but he's a much better solution than Lowell.
Out of curiosity, what do you think of bringing back Kielty and going with a Kielty/Moss platoon at first-base? Neither of them has much experience at 1B, but both would probably be at least passable defenders there. It would also be a very cheap platoon, with a decent amount of offensive upside. And if we'd prefer to keep Moss as a backup outfielder, trading for someone like Scott Hatteberg (great numbers vs. RHP last year) might make sense.
If we do that, I'd try to trade Coco for bullpen depth. The Twins might be an ideal match, since they have plenty of relievers and need a CF-er. Or just use the money we saved to sign Francisco Cordero, and find a lefty specialist.
Or…just get Cabrera, dammit.
Moss is an option at 1B, he played a few games there in AAA this year and is playing there full time in the Dominican league from what I understand.
I don't think Lowrie is a good solution at third base, not with his lack of power. That would really leave Manny and Papi as our only big boppers. The Cardinals just happen to want a SS in return for thier disgruntled third baseman, Scott Rolen … just a thought
I posted too soon, I also wanted to comment that I never thought of a Kielty/Moss platoon but would not be against it. I would prefer that to resigning Lowell or trading any of our prospects.
he is not the answer at third but you can damn bet that he is the answer at shortstop, he is a better hitter than Pedroia and if by mid season next year Lugo is hitting 230, i wouldn't be shocked if Theo gets rid of him and calls up Lowrie.
Not sure if i believe the Yankees really want Lowell for first…that may be posturing to drive up his price. I heard Haren may be a target as well as Santana now (Cafardo). If he could be had for some sort of Lowrie, Masterson, Moss, Hansen package that may be intersting but I think our rotation will be fine with Buccholz being added for most of the year.
In regards to third, I want Lowell back for three years, if he is getting four I am liking Blalock. I have a hard time believing these Crisp/Blalock rumors, I imagine we would have to sweeten that deal with at least one very good prospect. Wouldn't mind a Crisp/Taylor Teagarden swap with Texas if Lowell comes back…very good defensive catcher who hit 28 homeruns last year (does strikeout a ton)…he is coming off an elbow injury though. With Salty and Max Ramairez in the fold he may be gettable.
From RotoWorld:
According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox may shy away from pursuing a trade for Miguel Cabrera because they "might be saving up" their "arsenal of young players" for a potential deal for Johan Santana or Dan Haren.
Just a few weeks ago most people seemed to think that Santana wasn't going to be dealt, but now it sounds like several teams are going to make a run at him during the Winter Meetings next month. The speculation about Haren being on the market comes from general manager Billy Beane talking last week about potentially blowing up the A's and rebuilding.
#2 DR
At some point, no matter how vaunted your rotation is, your offense needs to keep up or you will lose.
I feel like they would move Lugo to 3rd and keep Lowrie at SS if this was the route they chose to go.
After thinking about it more, I'm officially opposed to any deal for Santana. Let me get this straight, we haven't produced a power hitter since Mo Vaughn from our farm system, while we've graduated Papelbon, MDC, Lester and Buchholz in a manner of years, and we're trading for pitching? What sense does that make?
We need another bat. The pitching is going to carry itself, but unless we want a lot of 2-1 losses and risk completely sinking our team if Ortiz or Ramirez get hurt, we need hitting. Do not give up Buchholz for Santana.
What are your thoughts on going after Teixiera in 2009? He would be an option if Youk moves to 3B and we put Moss at 1B as a stopgap for 2008
Moving Lowrie at third diminish his value. In the long run, has more sense to keeping him at short and moving Lugo to third…
Going for Santana and Haren has not much sense in this moment. Right now we have 6 starting pitchers, and if the FO wanted to go in that direction, then the re-signing of Schilling don't make much sense.
We need a third baseman. We need a new bat to replace Lowell and a declining Manny. We all know this. And Theo more than anyone.
This kind of rumor sounds more like a smokescreen if you ask me…
Make sure you check out the podcast to hear some more opinions on the 3b issue
What about trying to aquire a great first base defender like we did with Doug Min-whatever and having him platoon with Chris Carter at first. Carter can learn how to field and in the meantime we can play Carter for 6 or 7 innings and then put a good defender in. This way we can still upgrade our hitting with Ellsbury in center, and get similar results from Carter as we saw from Lowell offensively. There is probably no chance of this ever occuring, but I'm just trying to be creative. I would love to keep Ellsbury.
Carter just doesn't have the bat to stick. If he were routinely slugging .550-.600 in AAA I'd have faith in him, but he hasn't, so I don't.
If he can be a mid-season callup in the hinske role, I'll be happy since he has some pop, but I'd be scared out of my mind with him as our starter.
I really don't see Carters problem being with the bat. If Jack Cust can do it, Chris Carter can. The problem is he is a stiff at first. He is a DH, not at 1st baseman.
We are not going into 2008 with Lowrie, Moss, or Carter starting. It is really that simple. None of them are good enough to be a corner infielder. So not ot sound like a dick but really this whole convo is for nothing.
I don't understand why the Blalock idea isn't getting much love. He is a 1 year commitment and can probably be had for Crisp, a player we don't have room for. I know he is a bad hitter on the road but he does have a .297/.354/.514 line at Fenway for his career. He is also only 26 years old.
I also really like the Edwin Encarnacion option, but that is just not going to happen.
All this being said, there are no good options. Every option has a huge problem. Blalock can't his on the road. Lowell Arod and Chavez cost too much. Miggy is going to cost the farm. Rolen has been hurt a lot lately. Crede doesn't fit into the FOs mindset. No matter what happens we are going to be dissappointed with whoever we are going to end up with.
What would it take to get Adam LaRoche from the Pirares? I know theyre rebuilding this offseason.
Anyone think Barry Bonds would be the best idea? I mean look at this lineup. The numbers are James projections for OBP. I know James isn't the best but PECOTA isn't out yet.
Ellsbury (.374)
Pedroia (.369)
Ortiz (.407)
Ramirez (.405)
Bonds (.491)
Drew (.393)
Youkilis (.399)
Varitek (.349)
Lugo (.331)
I don't care if that makes us a pretty bad defensive team, we would score 900+ runs and still have Buchholz/Lester. Also, we could improve our team with Crisp and Lowrie who have no position on this team. We can bring back Mienkiewicz as a defensive replacement for Ortiz. Come on, this sounds like such a fun idea at the very least.
Bonds was just indicted by a grand jury a half hour ago, and he thinks everyone in Boston is racist. Not going to happen.
I like your creativity, but I doubt anyone in the Boston organization wants to bring Doug M. back after the World Series ball incident.
I really don't think the ball matters in the slightest bit.
[...] the Olde Towne Team since 2003 Promoting from within: Jed Lowrie at third? If not Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell [68 percent of poll respondents said to only resign Lowell if [...]
[...] the Olde Towne Team since 2003 Promoting from within: Jed Lowrie at third? If not Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell [68 percent of poll respondents said to only resign Lowell if [...]