Consider another bullet dodged in Detroit.

I liked the interview. As usual your take is right on. The Lowe thing interests me. He certainly isn’t worth that kind of money for the Tigers. If the kids don’t fill out the rotation in a couple ofyears they are going to stink no matter what Lowe does.

The Dodgers, however, want to win now (depite what the LA media and the fans think). Lowe’s career ERA is still only 3.88, all in the AL, virtually all in Fenway. His tendencies fit Dodger Stadium perfectly. His post-season heroics and Boras got hime more money, but I think he’s worth the gamble for LA. Not for the Tigers.

Well, there are some valid points on D Lowe, but the comment that in 2003 he was a pretty good pitcher. I’m not so sure about that. He won 17 games, but had the best offensive support in MLB. His ERA was 4.47. And as the above comment noted his ERA for his career is 3.88 but the last two years are awful. Yes he will do better in Dodger stadium, but no where near close enough to justify 4 years at $9MM per.

David, as for him being pretty good in 03, well at least he wasn’t bad. His ERA+ of 105 would make him above average at least, even if only slightly.

Tim, great to have you back. We’ve missed you around here. And yes, I’m a UM guy through and through

I know you weren’t defending the terms of contract. In fact I think there are probably only about 4 people on the planet that could defend those terms (Depodesta, Boras, Derek Lowe and his wife).

Money aside (i.e., in a dream world), I think D Lowe might have actually been okay in Detroit. Aside from the park factors (which you have updated your research in your most recent post), I think that DLowe pitching in his hometown would be worth something to him, plus he would have been welcomed (I think) and he would have appreciated the Detroit media situation more than LA. LA is on its way to a disaster with the media, much like the environment he left in Boston. Very negative.

Plus in 2004 he had some success (relative to his awful year) against Central teams, granted in limited action. In 2003 he was very good against the Central (4.11 ERA vs. his 4.47 for the year).

But the real bottom line is that I was surprised to see Neyer defend that contract. Good luck to him and the Dodgers. I do like Derek Lowe and he did pitch some huge games to lead the Sox to the World Championship, but I have a feeling things are not going to go so well for him in Chavez Ravine. Will the Dodgers get 36 wins over four years for their $36 Million?