15 replies to this topic

[BosRedSox5]

Derek Lowe said he'd love a reunion, Cherington says he hasn't ruled it out.

I figure, why not. The season is in te toilet anyway. We're not going anywhere this year. May as well bring back one of the 25 and remember the good old days. Besides, he can't be worse than Cook.

[Lose Remerswaal]

No.

this isn't a "let's remember 2004" season, the team is still in the playoff mix and Derek Lowe has been worse than Aaron Cook.

[E5 Yaz]

And they can't "sign" him anyway. He hasn't been released. They can try to work a trade, or put in a claim if he goes on waivers.

Not worth the nostalgia tour

[Toe Nash]

If they're giving up on the season it would make more sense to play some players under the age of 30 who may have a future. You'd chase Lowe if you thought he could help you this year. It seems like that's unlikely.

If you want to remember the good ol' days they have DVDs and stuff.

[dbn]

Only if the sellout streak becomes endangered.

[reggiecleveland]

They already have a sinkerballer

[Red(s)HawksFan]

At this point, I think the only reason to sign Derek Lowe would be to a one-day contract so he can retire as a Red Sox, a la Nomar. He stopped being an effective starter two years ago.

[Van Everyman]

He stopped being an effective starter two years ago.

Well, a few months ago anyway. Cafardo:

Lowe was 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA, but is 2-9 since with his ERA ballooning to 5.52...Lowe has had more stretches where he’s gotten off kilter the last two years, but if you know Lowe, and it will be interesting to see which teams will understand this, once he gets his mechanics right he tends to go on a good roll

Sounds like a dude Bobby could get something out of.

[SoxScout]

Lowe is on with Mazz now, says after his first bad start he tinkered and has never got back what he had in April and May. He tried to fix it over the phone with his own pitching coach but it didn't work, so he is heading to Florida to work with him for a week. He says Boston is his number one destination, but you can't go knock down the door of a team and say here you are without being wanted.

Says no one will have to push him out of the game, when he loses his stuff, he is gone, but he had it going so well earlier that he wants to fix it.

Edited by SoxScout, 02 August 2012 - 04:26 PM.

[Papelbon's Poutine]

He can't force boston to sign him, obviously, but once he refuses assignment he'll cost the prorated minimum. I think he'd probably be open to a MiL deal, stash him in Pawtucket for a couple weeks and see what he had left for September. Even if he never pitched an inning I think itd be cool to have him on the t though Breslow
Will have to give up his number!

(null)

[Rasputin]

If he'll accept a stint in the minors to figure things out, I'm okay with it because he'll be cheap and it can't hurt.

[bombdiggz]

Derek Lowe has a K/BB ratio of 0.91. Worst ratio in the ML amongst qualifiers.

I'll always love hime for 2004, but as hard as it is to believe, that was almost a decade ago.

As far as a rotation spot, no thanks. I'd be happy to buy him a beer though.

[crystalline]

this isn't a "let's remember 2004" season, the team is still in the playoff mix and Derek Lowe has been worse than Aaron Cook.

If you want to remember the good ol' days they have DVDs and stuff.

I agree with these sentiments.

Derek Lowe has a K/BB ratio of 0.91. Worst ratio in the ML amongst qualifiers.

However this stat is misleading. Lowe is a sinkerballer and so he has a lower K rate than other pitchers. His career average K/9 is about 6. He's at 3.31 right now, ranked 43/43 of qualifying pitchers in the AL. If he was at his career average he'd only be at 37/43.
I'm not debating he's been bad - but K/BB ratio isn't the best indicator of performance for sinkerballers.

for reference:

		Age	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
34	Clay Buchholz	27	BOS	9	3	.750	4.75	18	18	0	1	1	0	115.2	117	64	61	16	41	0	77	10	2	2	495	93	1.366	9.1	1.2	3.2	6.0	1.88
35	Jason Vargas*	29	SEA	12	7	.632	3.71	23	23	0	1	0	0	153.0	133	64	63	25	42	1	100	1	0	4	611	102	1.144	7.8	1.5	2.5	5.9	2.38
36	Jerome Williams	30	LAA	6	7	.462	4.82	18	14	3	1	1	1	104.2	116	59	56	13	29	1	69	3	0	1	449	79	1.385	10.0	1.1	2.5	5.9	2.38
37	Jeremy Hellickson	25	TBR	6	6	.500	3.23	19	19	0	0	0	0	111.1	99	46	40	18	40	3	72	3	0	2	469	117	1.249	8.0	1.5	3.2	5.8	1.80
38	Bartolo Colon	39	OAK	7	8	.467	3.78	20	20	0	0	0	0	123.2	136	54	52	15	20	2	78	1	0	0	520	104	1.261	9.9	1.1	1.5	5.7	3.90
39	Matt Harrison*	26	TEX	12	6	.667	3.19	20	20	0	3	2	0	135.1	134	49	48	11	36	0	81	1	0	1	554	140	1.256	8.9	0.7	2.4	5.4	2.25
40	Rick Porcello	23	DET	8	6	.571	4.65	21	21	0	0	0	0	122.0	155	69	63	8	31	2	73	5	0	4	539	90	1.525	11.4	0.6	2.3	5.4	2.35
41	Scott Diamond*	25	MIN	9	5	.643	2.93	16	16	0	1	1	0	107.1	111	41	35	9	15	2	59	4	0	7	438	140	1.174	9.3	0.8	1.3	4.9	3.93
42	Henderson Alvarez	22	TOR	7	7	.500	4.43	20	20	0	1	1	0	126.0	142	68	62	20	30	0	48	3	0	1	535	97	1.365	10.1	1.4	2.1	3.4	1.60
43	Derek Lowe	39	CLE	8	10	.444	5.52	21	21	0	1	1	0	119.0	156	79	73	8	45	3	41	3	1	5	542	70	1.689	11.8	0.6	3.4	3.1	0.91

edit: better tableization

Edited by crystalline, 02 August 2012 - 07:33 PM.

[bombdiggz]

However this stat is misleading. Lowe is a sinkerballer and so he has a lower K rate than other pitchers. His career average K/9 is about 6. He's at 3.31 right now, ranked 43/43 of qualifying pitchers in the AL. If he was at his career average he'd only be at 37/43.
I'm not debating he's been bad - but K/BB ratio isn't the best indicator of performance for sinkerballers.

I'll quibble. Sure sinkerballers don't strike a lot of guys out. No doubt about that. But, this trait also means that if they plan on being successful they can't be issuing a lot of free passes because they have to deal with contact and the BABIP gods, given their sub par K rate. The fact that Lowe has regressed significantly in both his K/9 and BB/9 compared to his career averages is why I cited his abysmal K/BB ratio. However, if you would prefer that I decouple the two metrics and say that he is walking almost a full batter more per 9 vs. his career average (3.4 to 2.7) and is striking out batters at half the rate of his career average (3.1 to 5.8), I'm happy to decouple them. Taken seperately both are evidence of declining skill, it's just magnified by the abysmal K/BB rate.

[crystalline]

I'll quibble. Sure sinkerballers don't strike a lot of guys out. No doubt about that. But, this trait also means that if they plan on being successful they can't be issuing a lot of free passes because they have to deal with contact and the BABIP gods, given their sub par K rate. The fact that Lowe has regressed significantly in both his K/9 and BB/9 compared to his career averages is why I cited his abysmal K/BB ratio. However, if you would prefer that I decouple the two metrics and say that he is walking almost a full batter more per 9 vs. his career average (3.4 to 2.7) and is striking out batters at half the rate of his career average (3.1 to 5.8), I'm happy to decouple them. Taken seperately both are evidence of declining skill, it's just magnified by the abysmal K/BB rate.

Fair enough, thanks. The guy is 39 so it was bound to happen soon.

[Manramsclan]

God no.

He's washed up. Damon was just released by Cleveland as well. Please tell me we don't need to start a thread for him too.

Can we all agree that the worst thing that this team could do, is bring in two older players on a nostalgia tour?

This team needs to look forward not back. Even if the white flag is raised, I would rather that they bring up kids to see how they respond in the majors than to trot out retreads.

Edited by Manramsclan, 03 August 2012 - 02:52 PM.