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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Option in the MINORs.

My mother always told me if you never have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. Which always provides me with a bit of hesitation when I write about the type of things that I am about to right about now. I'm sorry Mom, but Derek Lowe is not a productive member of the Braves rotation. Bluntly put, he stinks more than my day old gym socks. Lowe in his career has been tabbed as a sinker ball pitcher, a workhorse, and an ace. And if you don't believe me then how else can you justify the Braves handing him a 60 million dollar contract (over four years) unless you thought you were getting those three things. Heres my take, if this guy were a team player, and cared at all about his reputation as a player and teammate, he would offer to restructure his contract like Chipper has on more than one occasion. Why? Because he is the fourth if not fifth best starter on this team, and he should be paid like it. If for instance Lowe were being paid with Kawakami's contract, the Braves may have been able to go out and trade for a player who brings some offense to this team, and resign him to a longer deal. As it stands today, the 'sinker ball" pitcher is fifth on THIS STAFF in ground ball/fly ball ratio. And as far as being a workhorse? He has lasted more than six innings in a game one time in his past six outings. And well, Ace? How many major league teams would you say he could be the ace of the staff? One? Two maybe? Let me say this again, I have no problem with Lowe being the five starter on this team, but he should be paid like it. So what else could the braves do if Lowe were to lets say, disappear? There is a young man in AAA right now by the name of Mike Minor. You may know of him. The ACE of the undefeated USA national team, and Vanderbilt University rotation. The seventh overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft. The man who owns an 11 K/9 innings ratio in his minor league career. Minor is ready for the majors. Bringing 3.37 career minor league ERA, and 2.55 ERA in his recent dominant stretch at AAA, I would love to see him in the rotation as the year comes to the stretch run. That would give us a rotation that looked like Hudson, JJ, Hanson, Medlen, and Minor. What else does this move do? It puts a left hander in the rotation! Finally the Phillies LH heavy team could be neutralized by the Change up/Curveball combo Minor possesses from the left side. Not to mention this rotation could be in place for many years to come (avg. age of 25.8), with Hudson probably retiring a brave (and being replaced by Teheran). So to Derek Lowe, who's replacement is just a phone call away, I'm sorry but it just has to be said. You are not an ace.

6 comments:

  1. What would you do with Kawakami though? He hasn't pitched in forever. and its not like he's being traded any time soon.

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  2. Minor will get lit up in the majors. but so is lowe so i guess it doesnt really matter

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  3. How fast does minor throw? he cant throw much faster that like 90 right? kind of like glavine?

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  4. CD- Hopefully a trade of some sort that is purely for salary relief. we have a lot of depth that other teams envy.

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  5. Anonymous- Don't agree at all, the K ratio speaks for itself.

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  6. ESPN Scholar- He can hit 93-4 tops, but he rests around 90-91. And IDK about the Glavine comparison. It seems whenever there is a LH pitcher that doesn't necessarily throw hard people want to tag him as the next Glavine. But if by "like Glavine" you mean a polished pitcher as opposed to a thrower, then yes i suppose he is like Glavine.

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