Jed Lowrie to Return This Week
by Ben Buchanan on Jul 20, 2010 7:55 PM EDT
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PrintAccording to ESPN's Joe McDonald, middle infielder Jed Lowrie will join Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, and Manny Delcarmen on the long list of returning Red Sox players this week when he is activated tomorrow.
After a hot start with the club in 2008, Jed Lowrie has been battling with a broken wrist which seems to have been grossly mismanaged, shutting him down for most of 2009 as well. Lowrie was likely set to start the year with the Red Sox, but had his plans derailed by a case of mono which left him sidelined until a few weeks ago.
A switch hitter, the wrist injury had sapped Lowrie's effectiveness from the left side of the plate leading to horrible production despite no significant career splits in the minor leagues. Lowrie has been extremely successful in his surprisingly short 10 game rehab stint, managing a line of .367/.447/.600 between Lowell and Pawtucket including some great numbers from the left side.
Lowrie will likely provide a true backup infielder for Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia for the rest of the season, and perhaps take over some of the fill-in duty while Pedroia is still on the disabled list.
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Can he take Hall with him when he goes?
And then Hermida as well once he comes off the DL?
And really, it’s ok if MDC stays away a little longer.
One inning? Some sample size you’re banking on there. For that, you might as well move Hall to the bullpen. But velocity was down last year, too, and with an xFIP of 5.04 and a BABIP of .238, he’s not likely to get much better results than he’s gotten — if anything, he’ll get worse.
And he’s starting to look injury prone. He’s already had Tommy John surgery, his arm fell apart last August, and now his forearm blew up this year. For a guy who throws as few innings as he does, he’s looking like a last-arm-in-the-bullpen kind of guy, and for someone who is supposed to throw in the mid- to high-90s but can’t seem to strike anyone out, that’s not a good sign.
yeah sorry, I was kidding
I always try to type in sarcasm and forget. That was just what TC kept saying the last few days on the pregame show.
In one day the guy goes from almost getting traded to being promoted to the MLB.
"If I was being paid $30,000 dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400."- Ted Williams
"man, this team they just suck so bad"- gizmosandy
Twitter: @BoldandBrash
It just seems like when someone is traded,
they are not in the immediate plans
"If I was being paid $30,000 dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400."- Ted Williams
"man, this team they just suck so bad"- gizmosandy
Twitter: @BoldandBrash
by BoldandBrash on Jul 20, 2010 8:55 PM EDT up reply actions
yeah this is true, but its rare that so many different positions are needed at once
This does ruin the piece I’d started writing about why they should bring Lowrie up…
I'd say he deserves at least a shot there, unless he just can't hit at the big league level now
because his defense is miles ahead of Hall. Plus he’s a switch-hitter, and his offense has potential to be better than Hall’s is (not that it necessarily will be but he sure looks hot in the minors). Possibly most importantly, with him on the roster, we legitimately finally have someone who can play backup shortstop on the team- let’s not forget that Scutaro has had an injury most of this year which he’s just been playing through.
what do you mean now?
he couldn’t hit at the big league level before. maybe if he’d stop trying to be a switch hitter and just hit righty he’d do a lot better. just seems to me that when lowrie is at the plate, he’s more interested in playing in the dirt with his foot than focusing on the task at hand.
He could hit at the big league level up until he broke his wrist.
It’s no coincidence that his left handed splits suddenly took a massive dip when he broke his left wrist.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jul 20, 2010 10:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't believe so.
But it was easilly observable at the time.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jul 21, 2010 1:20 AM EDT up reply actions
don't get me wrong here
i’m not trying to rag on lowrie, so don’t think that. i just don’t want to get my hopes up for a big turnaround and then get disappointed.
He had a broken wrist for a good portion of '08 and didn't recover properly during '09, so look at it this way:
His career .303 wOBA would have him as the ~20th best hitting shortstop in the majors this season. His .326 from just 2008 would put him in the top 10, just ahead of Jeter. And you can estimate that he was around .350 before the apparent injury, according to this:
That would put him 3rd behind Rafael Furcal [didn’t realize he was having such a good year with the bat] and Hanley Ramirez.
I realize that I’m talking about small sample sizes here, but still. And you can look at his minor league numbers to see that he would likely be able to put up something similar to what we’ve seen, given that he’s recovered fully from his injuries/sicknesses.
You’re probably right about the switch hitter bit, based on his splits from 2008. I dunno how much the wrist injury would have skewed them though – FanGraphs is sadly lacking in daily splits graphs. :(
The splits thing is incorrect
most of his big league career he played with a broken left wrist. Obviously, that’s a ridiculously huge impact. There aren’t daily splits, but if you look at his minor league splits, in 2008, they were pretty much the same, before that, they flip-flopped based on where he had a better BABIP. Healthy, he should have no problem as a lefty.
all i’m saying is that he is more than obviously a much better hitter from the right side. maybe he will come out and prove his mettle as a lefty and i hope he does, honestly. we could use a good switch hitter, but face facts here…as a switch hitter he’s going to be hitting left the majority of the time, and if he can’t do it, broken wrist or not, it’s not going to help the team at all
all i’m saying is that he is more than obviously a much better hitter from the right side.
And what I’m saying is that you’re basing this on a horribly skewed sample. Jed Lowrie has, in the past, hit very well from the left side when his wrist is not broken, and very poorly when his wrist is broken. It’s just not really a condemnation of a player’s ability to point out that they’re not exactly killing it with a broken wrist.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jul 21, 2010 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Finally! :D
Now I can start worrying again that something else will go wrong and I’ll still look like a moron who doesn’t know when to give up hope. Ah well.
Ask and ye shall receive.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
I thought that might happen.
Patterson’s a veteran, more versatile, and Shealy hadn’t shown anything at all so there was no reason to wait for Lowell to return.
I say we give Jed a shot! As for Patterson….don’t let the food hit ya on the way out.
by Fenway302 on Jul 21, 2010 2:00 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Well I am holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed that Jed finally stays healthy
Ben,
Even though we lost last night things are beginning to look good as the 2010 MASH Unit slowly returns to the field. I know you are his biggest fan so here’s to hoping the ‘Glass-man’ stays healthy and lives up to the potential he demonstrated in 2008. I assume he is the starter at second until LaserMan returns. He can also provide relief to Scutaro and Beltre who are banged up so he is a great addition to the bench providing real IF depth. If he proves himself I have to wonder if he will become a regular, traded down the stretch or in the off season? He does have upside – just his injury record leaves us all guessing as to his durability. I have no doubt he has the right atttitude as he keeps battling injuries and illness – hopefully he is here to stay. I wanted to trade him in 2008, but I have no problem eating humble pie concerning Lowrie if he stays in the game! We just need to keep him away from the kissing booth or too near the Locomotive on the 3rd baseline!
"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry, you know anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?" - Crash Davis
I'm surprised at the responses Patterson is getting here
I mean, really, he’s not a very good player, but to date with the Sox, he’s hit 2 homers, 2 triples, and a double in only 37 at bats with a ton of speed while playing what’s looked like good defense to me. I’m not suggesting he should be a regular or anything, but such negativity towards someone who (admittedly in a very small sample size) has produced better than Scutaro, Hall, or McDonald seems a little much
He of .275 OBP?
I just sort of see through it. He really shouldn’t be playing on this team. If you took out those two HRs (I know, I know, he did hit them and all) his OPS drops to below .500. For a guy who before that game only had 6 career HRs, I’d call that game pretty lucky.
Maybe he plays good defense but his bat is a massive liability in the lineup.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
Well yes, Patterson is more “versatile” than Shealy but Hall is supposed to be our “versatile” guy, we weren’t supposed to have two of them, now we have three since Lowrie can play pretty much the entire left side of the IF. Shealy is another guy that shouldn’t ever have been on this team.
We just were rooting for Patterson to go because the awesome suck of Shealy hadn’t sunk in yet, only 7 ABs compared to Patterson’s 37.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
I don't think there were a ton of people begging to send Patterson instead of Shealy.
It’s more a matter of “Wait, that guy is even on the team?”
Patterson has had a few big hits in a tiny sample size. The problem is he sucks, and given any significant time, will show us why and how.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jul 21, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions
yeah I know he sucks, not saying he should stay
just some of the comments I’ve seen around seem downright unnecessary for a guy who has contributed in his short amount of time on the team.
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