Myglowl Trade

[debageldond]

So, it's been reported here and here that Mike Lowell has been traded to the Rangers in exchange for catcher Max Ramirez. The deal is preliminary and the Red Sox are probably going to be eating some as yet undetermined (but supposedly large) amount of his salary

Comments

[ktsies2]

Precisely what everyone else said. He's my favorite...and is still a great force at the plate and quite decent defensively, plus doctors claim his mobility will be better for the 2010 season...I just don't understand, especially since we've got Martinez and Varitek already. The move doesn't really make sense to me. He's only got a year left on his contract, he likes Boston, just let him ride it out here.

[awallens]

I agree. His numbers were still good despite the injury, and he's only got one year left... And our catchers are OK.

[durandal_1707]

I'll miss the World Series MVP for sure, but it was pretty clear last year that Lowell's hip injury was seriously impacting his performance. He was a liability in the field for a majority of the year and was the world's greatest double play candidate on the basepaths.

Max Ramirez is 25 years old and was injured last year. Considering that Victor Martinez's contract ends after 2010, and I hope to dear god this is the last year of Varitek, Ramirez helps fill the catcher void until Exposito/Federowicz/Wagner develop.

[commissarmp]

I would have been very nervous starting this season with Lowell as the starting 3b, he's had a hard time staying on the field the last two years and his ability to field and run the bases has fallen off a cliff. It seemed like only a matter of time until he became a victim of the rare 9-3 'groundout'. It's unfortunate because he had been very good, had his great moments here and was still somewhat productive at the plate as long as he got the ball reasonably far into the outfield.

I don't know anything about Ramirez. It makes sense to aquire another catcher, since Victor can't catch as often as most starting catchers and Varitek can't play any more than absolutely needed. Also in the event a new starting 1B besides Casey Kotchman cannot be aquired Victor can play a lot of first.

[just_becca]

Awww, bummer.

[arrowintwolakes]

The question becomes do we go for Beltre, which I personally think is a good idea,* or do we flip the Jays the bird and see if we can take our nifty bundle of prospects on over to San Diego and get us some A-Gon love.

And say what you will about Ramirez, but "Max" is short for "Maximiliano." That's awesome!

*He's a near-exact analogue of Lowell from 2005 except his power-outage was explainable and he always had more pop and speed than Mike Lowell anyway. Were I to be asked in 2006 if I'd have preferred that version of Lowell or the 2010 version of Beltre, I would have chosen Beltre then, I sure as hell choose him now.

[durandal_1707]

I'd love to see a trade for Adrian Gonzalez or Miggy Cabrera, but I'm pretty sure those are pipe-dreams that won't happen unless the farm is completely emptied (Buchholz probably involved too). Still, my position on that is that those are the kinds of players you trade your blue-chip prospects for.

Beltre is a bit of a risky venture, he's a superb defender (for now, if Lowell illustrates anything, it's how age/injury can have devastating results on defense) but the argument that he'll see a big boost in offense when he goes from Safeco to Fenway doesn't address one of my main concerns about this team: road offense. It also doesn't help that his career OBP is .325.

[arrowintwolakes]

Yeah, whatever speed he has is very much mitigated by his poor on-base skills.

Detroit could be convinced into a fire sale, I hadn't thought about that. Miggy is basically their only real offensive player on that team right now. It might be a hard sell after finishing a game from the post-season. By that dint, the Padres aren't going anywhere and Gonzalez is quickly becoming not a player to build around, but a player whose potential was squandered by not building around him. Add to that the Padres are fielding offers. There's a lot more to this offseason yet.

[durandal_1707]

The Tigers may be convinced - consider Detroit's economy right now, and the fact that they are also forced to pay Magglio Ordonez $18 million for that option that vested last year. Miggy is making $20 million in 2010, and that salary is going to go up slightly - according to Cot's Contracts: 10:$20M, 11:$20M, 12:$21M, 13:$21M, 14:$22M, 15:$22M.

The only hitch I'd see with Detroit would be if they're convinced they can build a contender around Verlander and Porcello. But then again they traded away Edwin Jackson who was a great #3 starter, even though he greatly overachieved last year.

The Padres need to rebuild their farm system - IIRC groups like Baseball Prospectus rated their minor league program close to dead last.