Lowe to test free agent market at end of contract per Boston Herald

Trinka, you may recall, was heartbroken when Derek, her hubby of seven years, left her and their kids in 2005 to shack up with then-Fox Sports Net reporter Carolyn Hughes.

Word from La-La, where Lowe now pitches for the Dodgers, is that Derek and Carolyn are still together but, as yet, have not announced any wedding plans. The Lowes’ divorce was final last Christmas and Trinka walked away with an estimated $5 million, including the house in Fort Myers.

As for Derek, he is telling pals that he won’t be re-upping with the Dodgers when his $36 million, four-year deal runs out in 2008 - that he wants to test the free-agent market.

File Under: The Lowe Down.

http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=1005824&format=text

kennerbuggy:

This comes as no shock given who Lowe's agent is.

So, this opens the door for a possible rotation in 2009 of:

Penny
Schmidt
Billingsly
Kuo
Kershaw?

minndodger:

Trinka, you may recall, was heartbroken when Derek, her hubby of seven years, left her and their kids in 2005 to shack up with then-Fox Sports Net reporter Carolyn Hughes.

Word from La-La, where Lowe now pitches for the Dodgers, is that Derek and Carolyn are still together but, as yet, have not announced any wedding plans. The Lowes’ divorce was final last Christmas and Trinka walked away with an estimated $5 million, including the house in Fort Myers.

As for Derek, he is telling pals that he won’t be re-upping with the Dodgers when his $36 million, four-year deal runs out in 2008 - that he wants to test the free-agent market.

File Under: The Lowe Down.

http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=1005824&format=text

I think we can let him go after next season and not skip a beat. So much can happen between then, but we have alot of guys that will be coming up in '09 & '10. He's been awesome for us, but like KB said, we should be inking Penny long term.

[quote][cite] kennerbuggy:[/cite]Salaries for top players look to be on the upswing again, and Lowe should be one of the top arms available when he becomes a FA. If getting top $ wasn't important to him he wouldn't have signed up with Bora$$.

We know the drill - there is no home-team or current team discount with a Bora$$ client. That player WILL go FA at first opportunity unless his current team offers him as much or more than Bora$$ expects him to get in the FA market. PERIOD.

We owe Schmidt about $17M for 09, and will probably be paying Penny $12M or better that same season, which means that we will be close to $30M for just those two pitchers. Lowe figures to get at least $12.5M/yr in the FA market. Even if Lowe were willing to stay with us for a more "modest" salary we'd have to commit to paying something over $40M for just 3 SPs, and I don't see it. Lowe being a Bora$$ client just makes the decision of who to keep out of Penny & Lowe that much easier.

I thought Penny should have had great trade value last off-season as he is one of few SPs who have the talent to become an ace. However, no team seemed to think he was worth what it would take to get him as there was no guarantee that he would further develop. Well, now he has ascended to probable ace-hood and his price is stratospheric. Some teams blew their best shot, while we lucked out in keeping him.[/quote]

We still have to wait and see how Penny does in the second half, but indications are very positive at this point. As for his 2009 salary, we hold a $9 million option. I still believe it's Schmidt, Penny, Billingsley and a couple of other young guns, possibly Kuo and Elbert and maybe by mid-season Kershaw in 2009. Should be fun!

kennerbuggy:

ceyheyjay:

kennerbuggy:

Salaries for top players look to be on the upswing again, and Lowe should be one of the top arms available when he becomes a FA. If getting top $ wasn't important to him he wouldn't have signed up with Bora$$.

We know the drill - there is no home-team or current team discount with a Bora$$ client. That player WILL go FA at first opportunity unless his current team offers him as much or more than Bora$$ expects him to get in the FA market. PERIOD.

We owe Schmidt about $17M for 09, and will probably be paying Penny $12M or better that same season, which means that we will be close to $30M for just those two pitchers. Lowe figures to get at least $12.5M/yr in the FA market. Even if Lowe were willing to stay with us for a more "modest" salary we'd have to commit to paying something over $40M for just 3 SPs, and I don't see it. Lowe being a Bora$$ client just makes the decision of who to keep out of Penny & Lowe that much easier.

I thought Penny should have had great trade value last off-season as he is one of few SPs who have the talent to become an ace. However, no team seemed to think he was worth what it would take to get him as there was no guarantee that he would further develop. Well, now he has ascended to probable ace-hood and his price is stratospheric. Some teams blew their best shot, while we lucked out in keeping him.

We still have to wait and see how Penny does in the second half, but indications are very positive at this point. As for his 2009 salary, we hold a $9 million option. I still believe it's Schmidt, Penny, Billingsley and a couple of other young guns, possibly Kuo and Elbert and maybe by mid-season Kershaw in 2009. Should be fun!

Which would mean Lowe goes sooner or later, but won't be here in 2009. Seems pretty simple to me.

Sooner means we get some talent in trade. Later means we get a couple of draft pix. So, Lowe's value to us is both what we get from him while we have him and what we get for him when he leaves. If we can't get enough for him in trade we keep him for the term and get draft pix. If a good trade offer comes in for him the balance may switch to him being more valuable to trade.

Committing right now to keeping him thru the 08 season no matter what is just as foolish as committing right now to trading him for anything we can get.

My guess is that we can already get a lot in trade for him, but that it makes no sense to trade him with Schmidt being such a question mark. My further guess is that we will find it makes sense to trade him in the off-season, for a power hitting corner OF and move Billz into the rotation to replace him. Ethier might also go in trade, perhaps along with Lowe for that bopping corner OF - who would be taking Ethier's place in any event.

There is always the third option, dealing him for young talent and taking the money saved on his contract and signing the aforementioned bopper. Torii Hunter wouldn't disappoint me at all.

TBoneShelby:

grabarkewitz:

kennerbuggy:

ceyheyjay:

kennerbuggy:

Salaries for top players look to be on the upswing again, and Lowe should be one of the top arms available when he becomes a FA. If getting top $ wasn't important to him he wouldn't have signed up with Bora$$.

We know the drill - there is no home-team or current team discount with a Bora$$ client. That player WILL go FA at first opportunity unless his current team offers him as much or more than Bora$$ expects him to get in the FA market. PERIOD.

We owe Schmidt about $17M for 09, and will probably be paying Penny $12M or better that same season, which means that we will be close to $30M for just those two pitchers. Lowe figures to get at least $12.5M/yr in the FA market. Even if Lowe were willing to stay with us for a more "modest" salary we'd have to commit to paying something over $40M for just 3 SPs, and I don't see it. Lowe being a Bora$$ client just makes the decision of who to keep out of Penny & Lowe that much easier.

I thought Penny should have had great trade value last off-season as he is one of few SPs who have the talent to become an ace. However, no team seemed to think he was worth what it would take to get him as there was no guarantee that he would further develop. Well, now he has ascended to probable ace-hood and his price is stratospheric. Some teams blew their best shot, while we lucked out in keeping him.

We still have to wait and see how Penny does in the second half, but indications are very positive at this point. As for his 2009 salary, we hold a $9 million option. I still believe it's Schmidt, Penny, Billingsley and a couple of other young guns, possibly Kuo and Elbert and maybe by mid-season Kershaw in 2009. Should be fun!

Which would mean Lowe goes sooner or later, but won't be here in 2009. Seems pretty simple to me.

Sooner means we get some talent in trade. Later means we get a couple of draft pix. So, Lowe's value to us is both what we get from him while we have him and what we get for him when he leaves. If we can't get enough for him in trade we keep him for the term and get draft pix. If a good trade offer comes in for him the balance may switch to him being more valuable to trade.

Committing right now to keeping him thru the 08 season no matter what is just as foolish as committing right now to trading him for anything we can get.

My guess is that we can already get a lot in trade for him, but that it makes no sense to trade him with Schmidt being such a question mark. My further guess is that we will find it makes sense to trade him in the off-season, for a power hitting corner OF and move Billz into the rotation to replace him. Ethier might also go in trade, perhaps along with Lowe for that bopping corner OF - who would be taking Ethier's place in any event.

There is always the third option, dealing him for young talent and taking the money saved on his contract and signing the aforementioned bopper. Torii Hunter wouldn't disappoint me at all.

I'd do Lowe for Maybin from the Tigers. But that would make Hunter redundent unless we dealt Pierre. Plus, Hunter really isn't a middle of the order hitter, he is very streaky.

I like Hunter's defense and the fact that he has put up good numbers playhing a park that isn't conducive to power hitters. Yes, he can disappear at times, but he also shows marked improvement over the years. Can't say that about Andruw.

Now, if we move Pierre (hope, pray, kajole), then signing Ichiro makes wonderful sense. But there is no reason to sign Ichiro, otherwise. He is too similar to Pierre in many instances (lack of patience, doesn't work the count) and he is also a better option (can play defense, some pop in his bat and can still hit over .300). My question would be "How many leadoff hitters do we need?"

I think both Andruw and Torii are in decline, and why are we even talking CFs when we are stuck with Pierre? I certainly don't agree with past mentions of moving Pierre to LF, where his lack of most things offensive would make him a total zero.

I can see going after Torii, or Ichiro or whoever as being a better option to play CF then Pierre, but Babu wasn't that patient. He spent on Pierre. He's ours. Live with it. Move on.

If we are going to improve our offense via trade it will be a bopping corner OF or 3B, or perhaps a 1B. If we get a bopping OF Ethier goes to the pine or another team. If we get a bopping 3B Meat goes to another team or the pine, and LaRoche is excess. If we get a bopping 1B Loney goes to the pine or another team. We certainly don't need another lead-off or #2 hitter, with Turtle and Abreu around, especially by overspending for a vet in steep decline and/or who is over-rated like Pierre was (by somebody in our org anyway) and ends up fighting Pierre for the #8 spot.

I say we dangle Lowe (and Bora$$) to the Yanks in the off-season. Perhaps we send them Lowe, Ethier and some shiney things for Bobby Abreu, serious $/yr toward Abreu's contract and a couple of their better pitching prospects not named Hughes (Dellin Betances, etc.) We plug Abreu and his career LH .900+ OPS bat in RF, and the emerging Matt Kemp in LF. Maybe hit Kemp 3rd, behind Turtle or Tony Abreu and ahead of Bobby. Bat Loney 6th with a RHB between he and Bobby. I don't think we did that bad sending a high-$ SP to the Yanks previously, and they are usually more than willing to part with a good arm who is more than 2 weeks away from helping in the bigs.

kennerbuggy:

I think both Andruw and Torii are in decline, and why are we even talking CFs when we are stuck with Pierre? I certainly don't agree with past mentions of moving Pierre to LF, where his lack of most things offensive would make him a total zero.

I can see going after Torii, or Ichiro or whoever as being a better option to play CF then Pierre, but Babu wasn't that patient. He spent on Pierre. He's ours. Live with it. Move on.

If we are going to improve our offense via trade it will be a bopping corner OF or 3B, or perhaps a 1B. If we get a bopping OF Ethier goes to the pine or another team. If we get a bopping 3B Meat goes to another team or the pine, and LaRoche is excess. If we get a bopping 1B Loney goes to the pine or another team. We certainly don't need another lead-off or #2 hitter, with Turtle and Abreu around, especially by overspending for a vet in steep decline and/or who is over-rated like Pierre was (by somebody in our org anyway) and ends up fighting Pierre for the #8 spot.

I say we dangle Lowe (and Bora$$) to the Yanks in the off-season. Perhaps we send them Lowe, Ethier and some shiney things for Bobby Abreu, serious $/yr toward Abreu's contract and a couple of their better pitching prospects not named Hughes (Dellin Betances, etc.) We plug Abreu and his career LH .900+ OPS bat in RF, and the emerging Matt Kemp in LF. Maybe hit Kemp 3rd, behind Turtle or Tony Abreu and ahead of Bobby. Bat Loney 6th with a RHB between he and Bobby. I don't think we did that bad sending a high-$ SP to the Yanks previously, and they are usually more than willing to part with a good arm who is more than 2 weeks away from helping in the bigs.

I don't know about Abreu. Yeah, his numbers look okay, but there something lacking in his game. Whether it be the lack of huge power or the fact that his waistline is beginning to look like David Wells', I have some trepidation in going after Abreu. The only player I would overpay for is Miguel Cabrera - the rest have too many fleas to get me excited.

Abreu is a possible FA anyway. Has a club option of 16 million (which I doubt the Yankees pick up):

Bobby Abreu of
5 years/$64M (2003-07), plus $16M 2008 club option

* acquired in trade 7/06
o Yankees to pay salary remaining on Abreu's contract (about $4.4M for 2006, $15M for 2007 and $16M salary or $2M buyout for 2008)
o Phillies to pay Abreu about $1.5M to waive his no-trade clause

Throwdeuce:

Abreu is a possible FA anyway. Has a club option of 16 million (which I doubt the Yankees pick up):

Bobby Abreu of
5 years/$64M (2003-07), plus $16M 2008 club option

* acquired in trade 7/06
o Yankees to pay salary remaining on Abreu's contract (about $4.4M for 2006, $15M for 2007 and $16M salary or $2M buyout for 2008)
o Phillies to pay Abreu about $1.5M to waive his no-trade clause

I had assumed the Yanks had to exercise the 08 option to get the trade done.

There was talk a few weeks ago of the Yanks trying to trade Abreu for Jermain Dye, who I think goes FA after this season.

Lowe shouldn't be traded for a guy who isn't at least signed thru 08, as is Derek.

I, for one, would be open to trading Lowe due to the fact that he is going to test the free agent waters after next year but only if we get bet a significant power bat in return.

IMO, Lowe has been a very productive player for the Dodgers and has given The Blue some great years. I also think that since he doesn't rely on hard stuff to be effective that he has a greater chance of delaying a steep decline in his production for a few more years. I think if he went to free agency and re-upped with the Dodgers, it wouldn't be the worst thing to do, especially if the contract were structured like Schmidt's (3 years).

However, being a Boras client, I am pretty sure he will want 5+ years and gobs of money, so I am not sure he will be a reasonable re-signing.

On a positive note, with guys like Penny (would like to re-sign him), Billz, Kuo, Elbert and Kershaw developing, we should have a good portion of our rotation set by the time Lowe is ready to test the water, maybe we will end up just having to sign a vet to be the 5th starter so we won'y have to go crazy on the years and dollars ie. re-sign Wolf after '08 to 3-year deal if he continues to improve this year and the next.

But I don't think we are going to be in a position where we will need a whole bunch of starters to replace.

Or maybe if we pass on Lowe, we free up the like $9 mill I believe and we can go after a true ace like Johan Santana. With Nomar's and Kent's money also off the books after '08, it will leave Ned with a nice little war chest (probably around $30 mill) to play with in free agency or extending some of our talented kids to long-term deals and saving money on them in the long run.