Trade Rumors

Via Andrew Baggarly on Twitter:

Stanford guy, switch hitter. Would be fit for SF if BOS needs relief. RT nickcafardo A few teams asking about Sox utilityman Jed Lowrie.

I don't go too far on the trade speculation thing, but I have a friend who has been a life-long Red Sox fan. Which means I've watched a lot of Red Sox games over past few years. So I am familiar with Lowrie as a player, and familiar with the fact that Boston needs a serious overhaul in the pitching department, and not just a Zito-Lackey trade. There were rumors within the last few months that the Bosox might be interested in Jonathan Sanchez, but  that clearly didn't happen.  Of other pitchers of interest, I doubt that they would be interested in Ramon Ramirez a second time through, but trading for Jeremy Affeldt seems a possibility.

What would the Giants get in Lowrie? He had a good run at the beginning of the season (a .389 OBP in April), which more than likely caught some scouts' eyes, but finished the season, after some trouble with injuries, with a .252/.303/.382 (AVG/OBP/SLG) line. That is not exactly eye-catching, but for the Giants' shortstop dilemma, we should be thinking platoon. In that case, how did Lowrie fare against left-handed pitching? In 2011, with 117 plate appearances, he put up a .330/.353/.523 line, which is fairly close to his career numbers: in 314 PA he put up a .326/.385/.534 line. Within the context of other potential candidates for utility infielder, Lowrie's strengths play to the Giants' weaknesses, without the steep price tag.