Red Sox Mike Lowell likely not changing
colors anytime soon. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell hobbled off the field today after fouling a ball off his leg in an exhibition game against Toronto, and in so doing he may well have taken one of the spring’s few questions – will he or won’t he be traded? – off the table. (Answer: he won’t be, at least not anytime soon.) But even so, it raises another that is especially difficult: when will enough be enough for this poor guy?
As it is, at least one published report says no market has been developing for the surgically-repaired (hip, thumb) veteran. Even if today’s injury isn’t serious enough to disable him, it probably will sideline him for at least a couple of days, limiting the club’s ability to showcase him and making a trade even more of a remote possibility with less than two weeks to go before Opening Night.
In a backwards sort of way, this is good news for the Red Sox since it means they’ll likely have Lowell as a proven hitter on the bench, ready to spell either Adrian Beltre or Kevin Youkilis at the corners, pinch-hit as needed, or stand in for David Ortiz should the latter get off to another slow start as DH. But it’s just so wrong for Lowell, who’s wearing Red Sox only because the Marlins insisted he be packaged with Josh Beckett and who’s done nothing since but bat .295, win the 2007 World Series MVP, re-sign for less than offered elsewhere, and then watch – without public complaint – as the club tried either to give his job away, essentially give him away, or both.
This baseball thing sure is rough, but at least he and we now know where things stand: Mike Lowell will be with the Red Sox when the season starts, either on the bench, hoping against hope for a chance to play, or on the DL, hoping to rehab in Pawtucket and show he’s worth trading for. Unfortunately, neither seems a fitting answer for a guy who’s been nothing but a model player for so long.
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