Derek Lowe agrees to terms with Atlanta
It's reportedly a four-year, $60 million deal, which vastly exceeds the four-year, $36 million he just completed with the Dodgers. He'll undergo a physical exam on Wednesday, with the contract becoming official if he passes. Here's the story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/01/13/braves_lowe.html
That's not an Andruw Jones signing, but it's close.
The bad news for the Dodgers is that Atlanta's first-round pick is protected (#7), so they will only receive the sandwich pick and the Braves second-round pick for Lowe.
Pretty funny that Lowe blasted LA for not being intense like the east-coast, but took the highest-money offer in apathetic Atlanta anyway. Of course, we all knew his true colors as long as $cott Bora$ remained his agent.
And I don't get the reference to Blimpie by FireColletti - Lowe didn't suffer any downturn in his performance; in fact, he remained very steady, which is his strength. I would agree that four years is too long for a pitcher of Lowe's age, but he does have a good chance of aging well.
Lowe's not as bad as Jones, but Atlanta spent way too much for him. He's not ace material. He's not likely to get hurt, but he was steady, not an ace with the Dodgers. He basically took a solid 2nd half of last season and rode it to $15 mil per year. The years prior he was solid but unspectacular, not worth $15 mil.
"He basically took a solid 2nd half of last season"
More like outstanding 2nd half of last season.
"The bad news for the Dodgers is that Atlanta's first-round pick is protected (#7), so they will only receive the sandwich pick and the Braves second-round pick for Lowe."
Considering it was basically between the Mets and the Braves, it worked out for the best as K-rod is ranked above Lowe.
Hey Tony how about doing some actual reporting for once & find out the real reason the Dodgers never wanted Lowe to return--that the McCourts did not like him because of his courtship with Carolyn Hughes that broke up Lowe's marriage of many years (see LA Times). That Jamie McCourt provided Lowe with counseling because she thinks she is a marriage and family therapist & she thought Lowe was off his rocker. Come on Tony give us something more than the Dodgers press releases.