Marlins Discussing Mike Lowell

[emkayseven]

Biggamefish Q. Jimenez

[Big Z]

Mike Lowell(notes) is the all-time home run leader for the Florida Marlins, but right now he's on another team's roster, the Boston Red Sox. Lowell made his spring debut yesterday and the Miami Herald is reporting that the Fish had a few scouts there to see if he was healthy enough for the team to possibly pursue to play first base.
The Marlins could move Jorge Cantu(notes) to first but currently have youngsters Gaby Sanchez(notes) or Logan Morrison(notes) slated to play the first bag. The Marlins certainly wouldn't want to pay Lowell the $12 million he is owed this year but they may be willing to take Lowell off the hands of the Red Sox if Boston is willing to pay the $9 million it had promised the Texas Rangers it would pay in a deal that went sour earlier this winter due to the poor condition of Lowell's thumb.
The 36-year-old Lowell looked like the thumb wasn't hurting him yesterday, playing three innings and getting one hit in two at-bats.

[Metes]

That first sentence sounds really fucking dumb. Like a 4th grader wrote it.

[Beef]

Ehe, yeah, that is how you start the intro of your book report

[m26555]

BY GREG COTE
gcote@MiamiHerald.com

Some things make sense all sorts of ways, weighing in as pragmatic to the rational mind and feeling gut-instinct right to the sentimental heart all at once.

The Marlins have one of those situations this spring and should jump on it.

Bring back Mike Lowell.

For sure, it has to make sense for the Marlins first -- has to be a business decision that enhances the team's playoff chances in 2010 -- and it passes that essential test.

The rest of it wouldn't be enough if it didn't make Florida a bigger, better team, but the rest of it is a nice bonus that bears noting.

Lowell is one of us. Raised in Miami, of Cuban heritage, right off the campus of FIU and, of course, a popular player with the Marlins from 1999 through 2005 and still the club's all-time leader in home runs.

I always have thought Lowell, even more than Jeff Conine, deserved that ``Mr. Marlin'' designation (to the degree anyone from a mere 18-year-old franchise can).

Again, though, this must be baseball-smart first, and it makes sense for Florida in the short term, this season, because there is an opening at first base here and Lowell, clearly being made available in trade by Boston, plays first now, converting from third.

I mention short term because the Marlins no longer are a team that can use ``youth'' as a crutch or claim to be forever planning for some indeterminable tomorrow.

Win now is the mind-set. It became that the moment club president David Samson and owner Jeffrey Loria said they expected to make the playoffs this year. Not to ``play hard'' or ``be competitive.'' To play in October.

And what exactly has the club done to improve over last season? Who are the major new additions?

Pretty much nothing and nobody.

Lowell, even at 36, at least would be an attention-getting addition to underline that ownership wants to do more than ``expect'' a postseason berth -- it wants to go aggressively get one.

Acquiring Lowell would be seen as a smart move if it were one of those mid- to late-season trades made for the stretch run, a deal for an extra bat, for veteran leadership. So why not have all that for the whole season?

It isn't that Lowell wants out of Boston, where he has become truly beloved both in the clubhouse and among the Fenway proletariat. It is that he wants out of a situation that will relegate him to a bench role -- in effect retiring him as a full-time player.

Lowell lost his starting job at third when the Sox acquired free agent Adrian Beltre. He is destined to be a spot first baseman and occasional designated hitter if Boston keeps him. He wants more.

Lowell is to become a free agent after this season, so he'll be more than eager to prove to a doubting sport that he has one star-caliber contract left in him. That assures the team that gets him will get his best.

Now here comes the big caveat:

A trade should be predicated not only on a verification of Lowell's health and a confidence in his adaptation to first base but also on Boston's willingness to absorb the bear's share of his $12 million contract.

The preceding sentence cannot be overemphasized and should be read again, please, by those whose inclination was to see bring-back-Lowell as lunacy.

The salary issue doesn't seem a deal-breaker. The Bosox agreed to pick up $9 million of that tab in a December trade with Texas that fell apart when a Rangers medical exam determined he needed the thumb surgery he would go on to have.

Even if Boston would not agree to swallow the entire salary, the Marlins would get their money's worth paying a couple of million. Besides, the more Florida assumed in salary, the less it would be expected to give the Red Sox in terms of perhaps a prospect.

The downside is the health question. But he says the thumb is fine. As for the hip, well, he played through that pain last season and still managed to give the Red Sox 29 doubles, 17 homers, 75 RBI and a .290 average in roughly three-quarters of a season.

SPRING DEBUT

The man can still hit. And whatever diminished mobility he might have won't be as noticeable at first base as it would be at third.

The Marlins were represented among a dozen or so scouts watching as Lowell made his spring debut Monday -- and his debut as a converted first baseman. Apparently there is an interest. And should be.

Veteran Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield this week called Lowell ``by far the most professional guy I've ever played with.'' Lowell would be a welcome clubhouse presence for the Marlins in addition to being an answer at first, as opposed to the question marks there now in young guys Gaby Sanchez and Logan Morrison.

Morrison, 22, obviously needs further seasoning in the minors. He is hitting his weight this spring. Unfortunately it's his weight when he was 8 years old. (He was batting .087 as of Monday.)

Sanchez, more ready at 26, was hitting OK but had zero homers and one RBI his first six spring games. If he is the full-time future at first, I'm not sure the future is now.

EASY CHOICE

In which case, who would you rather have starting on the infield corners:

Lowell at first and Jorge Cantu at third?

Or Cantu at first and light-hitting Wes Helms at third?

Me, too.

Lowell is nobody's long-term answer. But for the Marlins -- this season, for the right price -- he would make the lineup, the team and the playoff chances all better than they are right now.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/1...mart-move.html

Interesting read.

[m26555]

FORT MYERS, Fla. — On Sunday morning, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez told reporters that Florida was returning Rule 5 draft pick Jorge Jimenez to the Red Sox. The Marlins decided that they wouldn’t be able to carry Jimenez on the major league roster all season, and so they returned the infielder to Boston, which had to repay $25,000 of the $50,000 it received when the Astros picked him in the Rule 5 process (before trading him to the Marlins as part of a deal for reliever Matt Lindstrom).

The move is one that could have other repercussions for the Red Sox and Marlins, assuming that this line of thinking in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel accurately depicts Florida’s situation:

“Jimenez was hoping to either beat out Jorge Cantu at third or get on the roster as a left-handed pinch hitter.

“The move also signals that the Marlins are content with either Gaby Sanchez or Logan Morrison at first base.

“If Sanchez and Morrison both struggled, then Cantu would have been moved to first, opening a spot for Jimenez.”

The Marlins, according to reports, have been monitoring Mike Lowell as a trade candidate this spring, in part because of corner infield uncertainty. But if the team is now confident with Cantu as its everyday first baseman and either Sanchez or Morrison at first, then it presumably would diminish the team’s interest in a move for Lowell, the franchise leader in home runs.

That is not to rule out the possibility of a deal. Even if the Marlins are committed to Cantu and Sanchez/Morrion, perhaps the Fish would remain interested in Lowell as a role player (if Boston picked up most of his salary). But the need for a corner infielder is apparently less glaring than might have been the case.

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/bos...f-rule-5-pick/

[nny]

So we're going to roll with two first basemen next year? That'll be interesting

[m26555]

lol. Yeah I noticed that too.

[Namaste]

Mike Lowell(notes) is the all-time home run leader for the Florida Marlins, but right now he's on another team's roster, the Boston Red Sox. Lowell made his spring debut yesterday and the Miami Herald is reporting that the Fish had a few scouts there to see if he was healthy enough for the team to possibly pursue to play first base.
The Marlins could move Jorge Cantu(notes) to first but currently have youngsters Gaby Sanchez(notes) or Logan Morrison(notes) slated to play the first bag. The Marlins certainly wouldn't want to pay Lowell the $12 million he is owed this year but they may be willing to take Lowell off the hands of the Red Sox if Boston is willing to pay the $9 million it had promised the Texas Rangers it would pay in a deal that went sour earlier this winter due to the poor condition of Lowell's thumb.
The 36-year-old Lowell looked like the thumb wasn't hurting him yesterday, playing three innings and getting one hit in two at-bats.

[nny]

If Lowell were to join the Marlins, the source says, he would fill the same corner-to-corner role currently held by Jorge Cantu: a potential starter at third base who occasionally spells the starting first baseman. That starter increasingly looks like Gaby Sanchez, who has hit .387 this spring and looked "more relaxed" at the plate and in the field, according the source.

So if we trade for Lowell, that means we trade Cantu as well? That Lowell wouldn't be replacing Gaby,but instead Cantu.

Considering Lowell is equal to Cantu with the bat, and Lowell is greatly better defensively, we get a better player there. Andddd if Boston eats all but 3 mil, and we then spend that extra 3 mil on someone like Pedro...

This could end up getting interesting.

[Big Z]

Probably Lowell to one corner and Cantu to another and maybe they'll trade Gaby for Lowell, I know he's been mentioned in trade talks to Boston before. I would love it if we trade Pinto for Lowell and deal Gaby for a LHP to take over Pinto's role.

[KnuckleBalls]

Considering Lowell is 8 years older than Cantu and has played in 72 less games than Cantu (in a league with a DH) in the last 2 seasons, I don't think you should consider Lowell a "replacement". Think, complimentary piece.

[nny]

I'm just going with what some "source" said, that he'd take over Cantu's role and Gaby would start.

[Swifty]

There's also a "source" out there that says the Red Sox should start hoping for Hanley's return to Boston, so anything involving the Marlins that's not from JCR is probably mildly retarded.

[nny]

Hence why I put source in quotation marks