Lowe For Sale?

I said this was a bad signing before the ink dried. Looks like I'm right if the Braves are looking to dump him after one year.

If the Braves could do a Rios with Lowe I would be all for it.

If we could save 15M we could resign LaRoche and trade for Uggla and still have pleny left over to lock up both Soriano and Gonzo.

Boston seems like the most likely landing spot due to their question marks after their top three, history with Lowe, and recent forays in willing to take chances with upside pitchers.

would a Lowe for Bradley swap work out?

Great idea by WS2009. Derek Lowe would pitch much better in Citi Field. If the Mets take most of his salary, maybe a marginal prospect would work. Nick Evans comes to mind as the Mets will never play him for some reason.

if lowe is dealt, the braves will either pick up a poor contract in return or pay a lot of salary relief. personally, i think a deal with the cubs could take place. milton bradley and derek lee for kelly johnson, ryan church, and derek lowe.

cubs then move fox to first, kelly johnson to 2nd, and ryan church as a 4th outfielder.

if bobby cox is the "greatest people manager of all time", then what better way to test him in his last year than milton bradley? aside from the lack of closer, this trade would satisfy all the braves needs.

after the dust settles from that trade, the braves would be left with about 8-10 million dollars to either re-sign one of gonzalez or soriano, or gamble on a cheap closer like wagner or...dare i say, smoltz? smoltz did come out and say that he thinks he's better suited for the pen now during a fox day game last month.

WS2009, what do you mean the Mets seem to want to spend money? I keep hearing they're going to cut their payroll and that Wilpon lost a good deal of money in the Madoff scandal.

The day the Braves get Milton Bradley is the day I quit watching Braves baseball. I can not stand Milton.

I still vote for the KJ and Lowe for Carlos Lee trade.

the mets arent gonna take lowe and his contract. the mets need a real #2 starter like halladay or lackey. lowe is a #3-4 starter at best.

I'm willing to eat half of Lowe's contract if we somehow get a legit power bat.

OF COURSE Lowe is for sale. Actually Lowe should be free; it's his contract that'll cost. This deal was destined to have "regret" written all over it, but good god, after just the first year? I'm pretty sure he'll be a Brave next year & fairly certain he'll pick it back up. He's still a workhorse.

ryan c

Where are you getting $8-10 million from. Bradley has 2 years and $21 million remaining, $10 million in 2010 and $11 million in 2011. Lee has 1 year and $13 million left. Lowe has 3 years and $45 million left at $15 million a season. Johnson is arb. eligable and should make around $3.5 million. Church is also arb. eligable and should make $3-3.5 million. We would be taking $23 million from the Cubs in 2010. We would give them $22 million.
Not only that but the Cubs would never do that trade. There not going to give Lee away for a overpayed aging pitcher, a bad 2B and a 4th outfielder. Lee is a good player.

bbxxj, boston won't take lowe and how do they have question mark in the rotation? Their top 3 guys are all aces, clay buckholz gonna be number 4 and they will probably sign a free agent for number 5. lowe to mets won't make sense either like metsfan08 said mets need another ace behind santana.

Here's the breakdown:

Vazquez 12
Hudson 10
Chipper 13
Kawakami7.33
Mccann 5.67
Mclouth 5
Infante 1.85
Ross 1.6
Diaz 3
Jurrjens0.5
Escobar 0.5
Prado 0.5
Moylan 1
Medlen 0.5
schafer 0.5
Hanson 0.5
Heyward 0.5
Conrad 0.5
O'Flaherty 0.5
lee 13
bradley 10
87.95 mil
after the mclouth trade, the braves payroll was probably aroud 98 million. if the front office is looking to stay right at that level, then the braves have 10 million to work with.

kj has been a good 2b, and was very good this year after his rehab in the minors. the cubs 2b options stink. the cubs are going to have to take on a poor contract to trade bradley. fox is their 1st baseman of the future (probably) and derek lee is in his last year of his contract. it's really not that far-fetched of an idea for the cubs to consider.

do i think this will happen? absolutely not, but it's still fun to dream big.

Pretty sure someone just called Halladay a #2 starter. What?

Lowe has some serious negative equity right now. Eat a bunch of cash and you might get a good prospect back.

Last check the demand for over 35 pitchers, coming off a year in which he posted an ERA over 4.5 in the NL is pretty limited. Even with the Braves eat $5m/year it's hard to envision who the suitors might be.

Wait antor, Dice-K is still an ace? Did I miss something?

Top of the rotation
Beckett
Lester
Buchholz
Quality depth with some question marks
Dice-K
Lowe
Wakefield
Bowden

Thats an expensive way to build a staff but it would give BOS a great chance to survive a whole season intact.

bbxxj, boston won't take lowe and how do they have question mark in the rotation? Their top 3 guys are all aces, clay buckholz gonna be number 4 and they will probably sign a free agent for number 5. lowe to mets won't make sense either like metsfan08 said mets need another ace behind santana."

I give you Lester, duh, and Beckett. But who else? Dice-K? HAHAHA. He is not an ace and is VERY far from it. Stop living in a fantasy.

And if you cant spell Buccholz correct, maybe you shouldnt use him in your argument.

And if you cant spell Buccholz correct, maybe you shouldnt use him in your argument.

Posted by: lakersdodgersyankees4life | October 05, 2009 at 08:05 PM

You didn't spell it right, either.

Yeah I think the original guy spelled it right all along. Regardless, why not put a sinkerballer behind the best defensive team possible in a pitchers park? He would work in Seattle on a straight salary dump.

let me help everyone out, its Buchholz

let me help everyone out, its Buchholz

Posted by: csg | October 05, 2009 at 08:32 PM

Lol

ok now every one knows it's Buchholz right? :)

Or, if you get really desperate, Lowe for Gary Matthews Jr? (Are Angels fan afraid that Reagins may dump that asolutely hideous deal once and for all, but for Milton Bradley?)

Posted by: notin | October 05, 2009 at 08:57 PM

Lowe wasn't THAT bad. We'll keep Lowe if that's all we get in return.

Ollie Perez for Lowe? Fun thought if nothing else.

"After all, Jon and Kate are just a year removed from being "happily married television stars.""

I say this from the bottom of my heart, and with complete sincerity. Die in a fire.

Lowe is a solid starter. He did win the most games on the team. But he is not the guy that gets $15 mil a season. But you look at his history and he has only had 3 seasons in the past 10 years where his ERA was over 4.

If Atlanta paid $15 m or so remain on the contract they could get something decent. If he could pitch in the AL East I could see Baltimore making a deal for him. They need a veteran.

Nobody wants Lowe for that contract, and nobody wants Kelly Johnson to play for their team period.

And do people really think that you need to be a better pitcher for the AL? I'll grant you that the ERA will be slightly inflated between the leagues given the DH, but do people see AL pitchers as actually throwing better overall?

Dude, pass what you're smoking. Livan Hernandez will win a Cy Young before KJ and Ryan Ludwick ever get traded for each other. I remember that rumor from last year, and I thought that the speculation itself was completely false?

Okay, but on point. Lowe hasn't really been as bad as his numbers suggest. In fact, I'd say he's been pretty average, however he's getting paid like an ace, which is why he's had such a disappointing season.

FIP is 4.06 with a BABIP at .330 (which is kinda high). However you can't deny that he has regressed with his K/9 going from 6.27 in 2008 to 5.13 in 2009. Also his BB/9 up from 1.92 to 2.91, indicating that he's lost a little control, though not that much. His GB% is down as well.

I say the Braves give him another shot. Going into 2010, on paper the Braves have the best looking starting rotation in the NL, and maybe even all of baseball with Vazquez, Lowe, Hudson, Jurjens, and Hanson.

Wren was able to find a taker for the worst position player in baseball, Jeff Francoeur. If he a) doesn't require much back in the trade and b) chips in a modest amount of money, he should be able to trade Lowe. It would be well worth it to the Braves to pay $3-4 million a year over the next 3 years not to have Lowe as part of the rotation. They could then decline Hudson's option and re-sign him to an affordable lower cost extension with the money saved from Lowe's salary.

Lowe was a funny pitcher this year (before September, during which he was just bad, no way around it). His numbers weren't very good, but they were really plagued by a handful of really poor starts. He had a boat load of nice 1,2, or 3 run outings, but then he'd go out and get blown up for 6 or 7 runs once in a while. Personally I would rather have a pitcher that gives me a very good chance to win 4 out of 5 starts than one who sorta gets hit around every time he takes the hill. But to each his own on that aspect I guess.

I agree with the post earlier that was referencing a trade for Gary Matthews or someone horrible, I forget.. the poster said, "Lowe was not THAT bad." I agree.. he wasn't great, but good Lord, our rotation isn't so deep that we should just throw him in the waste bin and count on Kawakami or someone to pick up the slack.

I would like to trade him, pay a few million a year on his contract, and try to get something decent back. Wren will have his work cut out for him on this one.

And if you cant spell Buccholz correct, maybe you shouldnt use him in your argument.

Posted by: lakersdodgersyankees4life | October 05, 2009 at 08:05 PM

And......if you can't spell Bucholz correctly maybe you shouldn't attempt to correct someone who mispelled it...

Money's too tight out there, no one is trading for Lowe unless there's some serious salary relief.

God bless Lowe for getting what he got last year, but sure looks like a painful deal for the Braves.

I would like to see this happen:

1. Braves trade Lowe to Team A who accept 10-15M per year in salary and send a prospect in return according the the salary taken on.

2. Make a (maybe not so)crazy three way trade with the Marlins and Twins.

Twins recieve: Martin Prado

Braves recieve: Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu

Marlins recieve: JoJo Reyes, Cody Gearrin, Team A prospect, prospects from Twins, and if needed more upside low minors prospects from the Braves.

It has been reported here that the fish are wanting to move their expensive position players and I think they would like some cheap solid starters/pen guys in return. The Twins have holes at 2B/3B and at #2 spot and Prado can play both 2B and 3B and could score 100R hitting in the #2 in front of Mauer/Morneau/Kubel.

The Braves however have four player who could handle the #2 spot (McLouth/Schafer/Prado/Diaz) but noone really to hit #4. Adding Uggla and his 30 right handed homers would really complete our lineup.

1. Schafer/Diaz CF/LF
2. McLouth/Diaz CF/LF
3. Chipper 3B
4. Uggla 2B (sign to an extention)
5. McCann C
6. Escobar SS
7. Heyward RF
8. Cantu 1B (one year stopgap to Freeman)

No one is going to take Lowe's contract. Wren had to do something to make the stupid fans happy so he went out and signed him. We are going to have to bite the bullet and keep him around. What we need is ownership that will open the checkbook a little.

This very article reminds me of why I don't read Bowman. Inability or lack of desire to think things through when writing.

I like a Magglio Ordonez for Lowe swap but Braves may have to throw in some money in the future and I don't see that happening. However, adding Milton Bradley with the Cubs eating a significant portion of his salary seems like a fit. Even if the Braves take on Bradley and $3M-4M per year of his remaining contract they will save a large amount of money by unloading Lowe. In addition, getting a reasonable (obviously not spectacular) pitcher and a team to pick up some of the contract might be the best offer the Cubs receive. And, in the end, if the Braves have to release Bradley because of issues, it is at a much more reasonable cost.

The Braves are also not going to give Lowe to the Mets for "nothing".

Lowe is untradable! There are only a handful of teams that might pay B-level starting pitchers $15 million a year. While there are certainly teams that could use Lowe, he is simply way to expensive - expecially for a guy 36 years old with three more years on his contract and coming off a so-so season.

I cannot imagine the Braves writing another team a check for $25-30 million or so just to take Lowe - but that's what they would have to do.

I think Derek Lowe is still a good starting pitcher and if he had only year left he might be attractive. But, this is not fantasy baseball!

Seriously, what MLB team wants to pay Lowe $15 million for the next three seasons, given that he is 36 and appears to be on the decline?

Cantu sucks. Uggla is a slightly better player, but not as good as everybody thinks, or as everybody really thought last year. I think this is more of what he is, a .240-.250/.330-.340/..450-.460 type hitter who plays horrible defense. He is valuable, just not really as valuable as he was last year. If Cantu is playing a corner, he stinks.