Nathaniel Lowe’s tenure with the Nationals has come to an end. Washington placed him on unconditional release waivers this afternoon, the anticipated outcome after they designated him for assignment on Thursday. Waivers are a 48-hour process; those will be resolved no later than Monday.
Another team could claim him and assume the remaining $2.33MM of his $10.3MM salary, but that’s difficult to envision. In the likelier event that he goes unclaimed, the Nationals would remain on the hook for virtually all that money. At that point, Lowe would be free to sign anywhere. A new team would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum for the final few weeks of the season.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive writes that the Red Sox are likely to show interest once the veteran first baseman officially reaches free agency. (To be clear, Cotillo is not reporting that Boston has any plans to claim Lowe off waivers and take on the remaining salary.) Money won’t be a factor, as every team would be offering the league minimum — which comes off the Nats’ remaining obligations. Assuming multiple teams are willing to offer Lowe a major league contract, he’ll make his decision based on how many at-bats are available, the potential to contribute to a playoff run, and possibly geographical preferences.
The Sox have used an Abraham Toro/Romy Gonzalez split at first base since Triston Casas’ knee injury. They were expected to pursue first base help before the trade deadline but didn’t come away with any offensive additions. Gonzalez, a right-handed hitter, has more than held up his end. He’s mashing lefty pitching at a .357/.407/.673 clip with six homers in 108 plate appearances.
Gonzalez has a near-.900 OPS against southpaws in his career. He’s a .220/.239/.342 hitter versus right-handers. He’s only reaching base at a .270 clip against righties this season. Gonzalez has started four of the past six games (all of which have been against righties), but he shouldn’t be playing regularly unless he holds the platoon advantage. That leaves a decent amount of playing time for the switch-hitting Toro. An offseason minor league signee, Toro is hitting .238/.293/.387 in 198 plate appearances from the left side of the plate. He’d hit well in the immediate aftermath of the Casas injury but has slashed .194/.252/.287 over 32 games since July 1.
Lowe is a lefty bat with a better big league track record. His stint in Washington was a disappointment, as he hit .216/.292/.373 across 490 trips to the dish. That’s essentially a match for Toro’s season. Between 2021-24, Lowe posted an impressive .265/.352/.435 showing in more than 2000 plate appearances against righty pitching. It’s easy to see why the Sox would look to add him as a platoon partner with Gonzalez.
Toro is out of minor league options. The Sox are carrying three catchers on the active roster after claiming Ali Sánchez off waivers from Toronto this week. If the Red Sox were to sign Lowe, one of Toro or Sánchez would almost certainly be designated for assignment as a corresponding move. While Boston makes the most sense as an on-paper fit, teams like the Reds or Royals could also look for a first baseman or DH. A team that signs Lowe (or claims him off waivers) could theoretically retain him in 2026 via arbitration, but no club is likely to tender him the eight-figure contract that’d require.
Lots of players should be dfa before month is over. Some will I imagine.
Red Sox shouldn’t play poor and just put a claim on him.
Claim is not possible anymore. Washington already started the release process.
My mistake. I was going by the other story. But I see here that it is not complete.
Why pay anything when you can just get him for free?
For the love of The Flying Spaghetti Monster please no. Just promote Garcia already and be done with it.
Yes. Lowe isn’t an upgrade, but Garcia would be be.
An upgrade at 1B? Garcia has not played any 1B so far.
Production wise he would be.
Lowe, Toro & Romy aren’t good fielders either, so he could hardly be worse. But his bat would be, should be, far superior.
You have zero idea if that is true because Garcia has never played in the majors. Lowe won a Gold Glove in 2023, so I think he can be called a good fielder. He also won a Silver Slugger in 2022, so I don’t think his bat is that bad either.
I looked him up at BR to see if he was a good fielder. The only time he posted somewhat positive fielding metrics was his GG season. Below average in the rest.
A SS 3 years ago is meaningless against a -0.4 bWar THIS season.
Getting fresh(er) arms off waivers can make sense, but struggling “sluggers”. Just no.
I disagree that Garcia could hardly be worse at 1B. I think Garcia will be in the OF if he makes it to Boston this year.
If you look at his career, he had four straight seasons over 2.0 WAR before this season. Which do you think is the outlier?
all in the suit that you wear, in any case, Lowe isn’t an upgrade, when you have Garcia or Campbell.
If he was a demon fielder, it might make sense.
Currently, he can’t hit or field. Not a better player than any of the internal options.
Garcia has never played 1B and Campbell just start playing 1B. I think we can assume Lowe is better defensively than them at 1B. Is Lowe an upgrade over Gonzalez or Toro at 1B? I think that’s the question.
I believe Lowe has won a GG at 1B?
Finalist in 24?
He has a track record as a major league 1B, which none of the other options at 1B possess.
This is such MLB The Show logic. Aggressively promote fast-moving top prospect to play a position in the majors he’s never played?
Was Doug Mientkiewicz an exciting add in 04? No. Did he hit well? No. (.215/.286/.318). But he was a good defender and caught the last out of a historic world series.
What’d you rather have, a 22 y/o feeling things out for the first time? Or a gold glove, silver slugger, former WS champ as a bench bat?
Isn’t lowe a gold Glover with 68 rbi this year ? Not sure how an unproven rookie who is just learning the position is an upgrade
Lowe had one good fielding season, won a GG. Still had negative BR dWar that year. Bad the rest.
Leads the NL is errors for a 1B this season (thanks to BR for the bold type). Toro & Romy are also error prone.
Before I commented, I looked Lowe up to see how good or bad he was/is. Fielding well below average currently,
If he was a great fielder, you could make a case to accept some below average offense. But he’s presently bad at both.
86 wrc+ bad offensively presently. I think he needs to see out the year in AAA & work on his game.
Why? They’d have to drop a current player from their 40-man roster to add him, and then he only gets to play until the end of the season because he’s not eligible to be on their postseason roster. Why pick up a player and get used to having them in the lineup and then have to play without them in the postseason?
I believe players added until Sept 1 are eligible for postseason play
Correct
Correct O Mundo
A. Sanchez.
5 minutes ago..MLB Network: “Philadelphia Phillies’ SP Zack Wheeler is going on the IL with an upper body blood clot..Wheeler will return to Philadelphia for more tests.”
He’s cute.
-Breslow
I left a like on his profile.
-Breslow
I’m dumb and try too hard.
-Soto should bat first.
Shhh don’t tell anyone. Damnit
Don’t trade for a 1B at the deadline and hope that a team DFA’s someone is a bold strategy. Lowe also hasn’t been great, hence the lack of interest in a trade and the DFA.
I’d rather then actually try Jhostynxon, and he should have been getting reps there as early as possible. He’s not going to play the OF for the Sox baring a trade, or a mornic move like playing Rafaela at 2B full-time.
Campbell Sucks, dude blows, zero movement on any if his offerings…he’s gotta go! As for Lowe Rony Gonzales is a way better option in a platoon vs. LHP, Unless it’s for Toro, it’s a pass…
Lowe is LH and wouldn’t play vs. LHP.
Devers told ya so breslow
This should be a defensive upgrade from what I hear
As a Nats fan, he was probably upset about being traded and showed up to camp grossly overweight showing he didn’t care. His play this season reflects this. Good luck to anyone picking up someone like this. Not the way a big leaguer should represent.