Lowe unlikely to be in Braves 2012 rotation?
It’s funny how these things turn out. If you remember back in 2009, New York Mets fans were begging their team’s brass to go and get Derek Lowe. The fans wanted him and ownership really wanted him too. So, what was the problem? Money? Nope. The fourth year. The Mets were willing to give him a three-year deal, but Lowe wanted four. The Atlanta Braves gave it to him.
I listened to NY sports radio in 2009 as Lowe pitched very well at the beginning of the season. Mets fans called and bitched and complained…”look how good he is! We should have had him!” I wanted to grab the host’s mic and say, “Listen stupid. No duh he’s good. No one disputed he’d be good this year (turns out he wasn’t). It was the fourth year.”
The fourth year of the contract is why the Mets didn’t get him. And it looks the Braves wish they didn’t do that deal either. After another “we signed you to be better than this” year with a 9-17 record to go with a 5.05 ERA, the Braves now admit that he’s probably not part of their 2012 starting rotation despite being owed $15 million next year.
“Going into next season, it’s hard to project him as one of our starters at this point, based on the young talent we have,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “But again, that’s something we’ll figure out once we get closer to Spring Training.”
The Braves are incredibly young and talented and Lowe just doesn’t fit in. They still have Tim Hudson, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson and Brandon Beachy. And you also have Mike Minor who seems like he’s ready to give it a shot in the majors. Throw in prospects Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran as other guys that could get a shot.
“You want to put the best five starters out there,” Wren said. “Right now, the way we project, I’m not sure Derek would be one of our top five starters. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Lowe hasn’t been a complete Barry Zito stinkbomb in Atlanta, but he hasn’t been worth all the money. Maybe he’d be a nice fit in the rotation when Jurrjens eventually gets hurt?
