Just saw this from Nick Cafardo on the Boston Globe’s Extra Bases blog:
Could it be that the only options Mike Lowell has at the moment are to join the New York Yankees as a first baseman on 4-year, $52 million deal or stay with the Red Sox and accept a 3-year deal in the $36-$39 million range?
That could very well be the case.
Phillies GM Pat Gillick reiterated to the Philadelphia media on Thursday that’s he’s not in the market for a third baseman. Too bad for Lowell because other than Boston, Philadelphia is by far the best ballpark for Lowell to hit in.
The Angels and Dodgers appear to be focussed on landing Florida Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Who ever loses out on the jackpot might be interested in Lowell, but so far it doesn’t appear that interest has developed.
The Twins would love Lowell, but don’t feel they can afford him.
The MVP of the World Series is scheduled to make an appearance an appearance at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
So let’s recap the day. The deals that were supposedly offered by the Braves and Cardinals weren’t to be. The Angels are going after Miguel Cabrera. The Yankees have offered Lowell a 4-year deal to be their first baseman since the ARod deal is pretty much a done deal. And the Red Sox offer hasn’t changed at all.
Basically, it comes down to whether or not, Lowell wants to stay in Boston for less money or go the Yankees for one more year and another $13 million. One thing to keep in mind is that Lowell came up through the Yankees system and played in 8 games with them in 1998 before being traded to the Florida Marlins.
I know the Red Sox are hell-bent on not offering aging veterans anything longer than a 3-year deal and they’ve had pretty good luck with that (Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon). But we can’t let him go to the Yankees.
Losing Lowell’s bat in the lineup will make it very hard to replace 21 home runs and 120 RBIs batting behind Big Papi and Manny.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with this.
