Jed Lowrie
Have you heard of Jed Lowrie? He was a first-round draft choice of the BoSox in 2005. He was the 2007 Red Sox Offensive Player of the Year. He name was bandied about in the Santana trade discussions this past offseason. He’s a SS - but can play 2B and 3B as well. You may know some or all of this.
But did you know that before the season started, one of the guys on local sportstalk radio predicted that Lowrie would be starting for Julio Lugo before the end of *this* season? He then amended it to say before *this* Memorial Day. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Lugo’s only into his second year of a 4-yr/$36 million contract. No way the Sox sit Lugo for some minor leaguer that you’d probably not heard of until the Santana trade talks, right?
Well… not so fast my friend. With Mike Lowell on the DL and Alex Cora also hurt, Lowrie was called to The Show for infield depth… and he’s played. In 5 games, he’s had 12 ABs - and has hit .417, slugged .667, scored three runs and had five RBIs. In the field, he’s made no errors, had 12 assists and 3 putouts.
Meanwhile, Lugo has played in 18 games, with 66 ABs - and he has hit .273, slugged .303, scored 5 runs and has two RBIs. In the field, he’s made 4 errors, had 37 assists and 22 putouts. Three of those errors came in one game.
Small sample size? Absolutely. Will Lowrie’s BA and SLG come down? Um, yeah… I’d expect so. Will Lugo’s go up? Goodness, I hope so - although it should be noted that in 2007 (age 31), he was 237/294/349–643 OPS (65 OPS+).
Francona usually protects his players and gives them time to break out of slumps (in 2007 - see Pedroia in beginning of year, and Drew and Lugo all year). But as Lowrie keeps getting playing time, and keeps producing (more than Lugo)… then, well, he’ll keep getting more playing time… one would think.
Jed Lowrie replacing Julio Lugo by Memorial Day 2008 as the starting SS for the defending WS champs? Sounds silly… but sounding less silly as the days go by. It *shouldn’t* happen, but…
don’t be surprised if it does.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Ratfarts.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Tito won’t do that to a vet…not even Lugo.
But Labor Day is probably not a bad bogey. The kid can flat-out play and Lugo is, well, Lugo.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Nobody’s perfect, and Lugo seems to be the best example of Theo’s un-perfect-ness. They wanted Lugo for a couple years, and overpaid him once they had the chance to bring him on… and I don’t get it. Yeah, he was a nice player in Tampa Bay - but as posted last year when they signed him, he’s a poor man’s Renteria (who they jettisoned after one season). Perhaps Lowrie’s development has been a bit of surprise (at least in the timing), but aside from that - I don’t get why they didn’t keep Alex Gonzalez for short money (as he is easily the best defensive SS I’ve ever personally watched with the Red Sox - so that goes back about 30 years), until a better option came along… whether from the farm or elsewhere. All things considered, I didn’t think Lugo was a better overall option - and still don’t.
Lowrie seems to be showing that he belongs at this level, and is ready to make meaningful contributions on a daily basis… right now. It’ll be interesting to see what the Sox do when Lowell and (especially) Cora return from injury. Its clear, though, that neither needs to rush back at this point.