As You Were

With Alex Rodriguez almost assuredly heading back to New York, Nick Cafardo reports Mike Lowell might find that Boston is the only place that wants him ... at third base.

Could it be that the only options Mike Lowell has at the moment are to join the New York Yankees as a first baseman on 4-year, $52 million deal or stay with the Red Sox and accept a 3-year deal in the $36-$39 million range?

That could very well be the case.

Never mind the defensive switch -- which I would imagine a Gold Glover who still plays excellent defense at third would be loathe to do -- I'm sure Lowell knows very well these two sets of numbers:

Career at Fenway Park:

• .316/.375/.512 in 683 PAs (.887 OPS, 118 OPS+ where 100 is his personal average).

Career at Yankee Stadium

• .278/.330/.456 in 97 PAs (.786 OPS, 93 OPS+).

If, just for kicks (because it's really not that useful), you adjust his stats to a full season, that would be 25 HR and 120 RBI as a third baseman in the Fens, just 17 HR and 63 RBI as a first baseman in the Bronx.

Come on, Mike. Come on home.

Comments

[attackgerbil]

> Come on, Mike. Come on home

Of course you know he was drafted as a Yankee.

"You can never go home again. But I guess you can shop there."

[Kazz]

The Yankees have the right idea, here. Lowell would be the lynchpin of a Giambi-Phillips-Betemit-Duncan five-man first-base platoon. They could schedule them like starters.

[Brad]

I was down with everything until you got to that last line.

[Jp-YF]

Please Mike come back home where your career began in the Bronx.. We missed you and I would like to see you wear pinstripes again.

[Brad]

JP - I'll personally drive him there, and carry his bags inside for him @ that price.

[DR]

What happened to the Phillies having interest in Lowell?

[Paul SF]

Of course, if we're going to get all technical, YFs, I guess I'm really talking about Puerto Rico. :-P

[LocklandSF]

If you want to get REALLY technical, you're talking about Cuba.

[DR]

Either way, they love their baseball down there.

[Paul SF]

Yeah, I meant Cuba. My bad. Too early here.

[LocklandSF]

It's really just semantics, his is Cuban, he's from Puerto Rico.

Either way, DR nails it, they love them some baseball.

[NH Rob]

I'm not so sure Lowell is a great keep. His career line is:

.280 .344 .468

and last year it became

.324 .378 .501

largely on the basis of this split:
Home: .373 .418 .575
Away: .276 .339 .428

But it's not like that's a solid trend or anything. In 2006, it was the exact opposite:
Home: .260 .327 .436
Away: .310 .352 .514

If you look at his hitting charts at mlb.com, you can see he pulls absolutely everything at Fenway. How long, especially after last year, before every team gives him nothing inside to hit? Pitch him away and even if he learns to spray singles the other way, at least it's not doubles and homers to left field. Even if he falls back to that career line, the Sox could easily get that from one of their youngsters.

I certainly don't see what's to get so excited about. Similar to the analysis on Damon, I think folks are putting too much emphasis on one year and neglecting the big picture.

[Lar]

To be honest, I don't think it would be a good signing for the Yanks. Other than the obvious fact that the Yanks already have too many 1B/DH to rotate. And Lowell isn't quite miles above that.

[LocklandSF]

Fun Lowell story...

One of my favorite things to do at games this year was to find a little kid sitting near me and when Lowell came up to bat, I would say to the kid, "watch this little man, CVS sign!"

I can't tell you how many times Lowell delivered and the kid thought I was magic.

[yankeemonkey]

Just say no to Lowell (for any amounts of money/years). He's just not a good fit for this team as presently constructed.

[yankeemonkey]

*this team = Yankees. obviously.

[sam-YF]

i agree YM. We dont need Lowell and signing him to keep him away from the Red Sox isnt a good idea. I dont think that Cashman makes his decisions based on this anyway. They arent the only team we play after all.

[Brad]

That, and by signing him, the Yankees would lose their 28th pick to the Red Sox for doing so.

[Nick-YF]

I have no idea either way obviously, but this strikes me as posturing on the part of the Yanks and Lowell. It seems highly unlikely that Lowell, a gold glover, will take them up on the offer given his love for Boston, etc. I just see this as trying to raise the cost a bit on Boston. It serves both the Yanks and Lowell.

[sam-YF]

furthermore, I believe that signing Lowell means no Andy Pettitte due to FA restrictions. No thanks.

I still think that he would be a good fit in Philly.

[DR]

It would seem bizarre to have Lowell at 1B for the Yankees. Why would they steal him away with the lure of an extra year to have him playing out of position until he is 37 or so? It seems like Philly would be the logical second choice. If the rumors of Rolen's departure prove to be accurate, St. Louis might be ok as well.

He will sign with Boston though. There is no baseball so we have to speculate to entertain ourselves.

[Paul SF]

Apparently Philly is saying they're not in the market, and the Cards have denied making an offer. The Mets and Angels also denied making offers, so it basically just leaves Boston and NY, and I don't think NY is serious.

[NH Rob]

The free agent restrictions don't apply to re-signing your own players.

[DR]

Who knows with the new New York regime. They are cultivating their Mad Mullah personae pretty well.

[sam-YF]

Im not sure about that Rob. My understanding is that you can resign as many type A free agents as you have if you are above the yearly limit. I really dont know though, ive read about 20 different interpretations of this rule.

[DAW]

I heard on xm yesterday that Atlanta is in the mix...

The Yanks are (had better be) bluffing, to try and increase the price of, and interest in, Lowell. No way they make that deal.

[dc]

andrews, i think you got it right...the yanks are simply playing the game to push the sox a little on lowell...i don't see how lowell at 1B is any better for the yanks than what they already have, unless you factor in the subtraction of him from boston...

[CT ball fan -SF]

All the rumors, posturing, and denials, not to mention the whole A-Rod and Cabrara circuses, make it look like another collusion case could wind up being in the works for MLBPA. The current crop of GMs is supposed to be smart enough to avoid this, but it sure looks like they're trying to stumble into it again.

[Lar]

It's hard to argue there's collusion when ARod gets paid 300 mil..