Jed Lowrie is on the road to recovery. Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston has the details.
“The schedule, as laid out by manager Terry Francona, is this: Lowrie will play shortstop for the PawSox on Monday, serve as DH on Tuesday, work out with the Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday, play short again in Pawtucket on Thursday, and either play short or DH again on Friday. He’ll then be re-evaluated, Francona said, to determine whether he is ready to return to the Sox roster or continue rehabbing.”
Lowrie started out the season as the utility infielder, and after a sizzling April, he seized the starting job from Marco Scutaro. He continued to play well until he injured his left, non-throwing shoulder on May 29th after colliding with left fielder Carl Crawford on a shallow fly ball. Despite his injury, he continued to play the next ten games hitting .128/.190/.205 before being put on the disabled list on June 16th.
In the time since Lowrie hit the DL, Scutaro has reassumed the role of starting shortstop having started 32 of the last 33 games. With Lowrie’s return looming, I’m left wondering if he’ll either be given his job back, or be expected to share playing time. Clearly, he’s the better hitter at this point (in particular against left-handed pitching), but Scutaro, despite a weak arm, is the better defender. Ideally, the two would share playing time in some sort of a platoon situation with Scutaro facing RHP and Lowrie facing LHP, with a few shots playing 2B/3B against RHP.
Terry Francona is facing a tough decision. Does he let the veteran continue to start despite his obvious limitations? Does he give the younger shortstop of the near future a chance to shine? Or does he do what’s best for the team, and platoon the two players? Like I said, it’s a tough job, but that’s why they pay Tito the big bucks. What are your thoughts?