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Lowe eyeing a big-money contract
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Published: December 1, 2008
BOSTON
He spent Thanksgiving with his family in Fort Myers, Fla., watching his beloved Detroit Lions lose again, working out like a fiend with former Red Sox and Pedro Martinez trainer Chris Correnti, and waiting for something to happen with CC Sabathia so the rest of the chips -- including his own -- can fall.
Four years after signing a four-year, $36 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- after the Red Sox cut ties with one of the best money pitchers in the game -- Derek Lowe, now 35, may make that deal look rather paltry, given the interest in the sinker-balling, rubber-armed righthander could be one of the surest things on the free agent pitching market this offseason.
While the list of teams interested in Lowe may be long, his list of preferred teams is far shorter. Boston, for sure, is high atop it.
"It's pretty easy to figure them out if you just sit back and go over the teams in baseball who win on a consistent basis," said Lowe. "If your No. 1 goal is to win, I would say there's only a handful of teams year in and year out that have a chance to win. Now, there are no guarantees, but there are teams who have a better chance than others."
Boston?
"Yeah, all because of what I just outlined," he said. "Even if I'd never played there. And I don't look at it as coming back, I look at it as who has the best chance to win. And they clearly do.
"If you're looking four or five years down the line, they fit the criteria of what I'm looking for. It's not just the fact I played there -- but, yeah, there were a lot of things I enjoyed -- but they're definitely a franchise that has a chance to win."
This Lowe doesn't bear much resemblance to the guy who left the Sox after 2004. Back then, his out-of-control personal life seemed to consume him. The Red Sox didn't want to deal with it and let him become a free agent. Lowe feels leaving was the best thing.
"I think I'm a lot better pitcher now, teammate now, than I was four years ago," he said. "Sometimes you have to learn, and I think getting out of Boston was the best thing for me.
"I was able to sit back and analyze what's going on. What's good, what's bad. And I think hopefully that's what happened. Sometimes you need a dose of reality as to why a team didn't want to keep you around.
"You have to be honest with yourself, and once you do that, it's all right to say I may have made some mistakes in my time there, as long as you can change them and understand them. And I think that's what has happened the last four years."
Does he feel the need to talk out the past with Theo Epstein and Sox management?
"No, I don't," Lowe said. "My ((2004)) regular season wasn't the greatest in the world. I don't think there were any grudges. I've always believed it's a business and people can do whatever they want. Just like we as players have choices. So there was never any animosity."
The view of his life now, compared with then?
"It's night and day," Lowe said. "The off-the-field distractions aren't there. It probably makes it easier for them because they know, ‘Yeah, we know what he can do as a pitcher but how about this or that?' All those doubts are gone, so all I have to do now is worry about playing the game."
Lowe has not had any conversations with Epstein, but he said, "I could easily do that at some point, but right now there's been no financial discussions with any team, so it's still early in the process."
Returning to the Dodgers hasn't been ruled out, but it doesn't seem to be a high priority, and while agent Scott Boras has talked to the Dodgers about Lowe, the pitcher's exit meeting with manager Joe Torre never came off.
Lowe remains the only active major leaguer with 10 or more years of experience who has never gone on the disabled list. He attributes it to working hard rather than blind luck.
"Chris comes over four days a week, and I work out for about three hours four days a week," he said. "We do so much stretching. We do so much agility work.
"There's more to it than just the luck of not being hurt. I have a routine and I stay with it all year long."
Because of that good health, he thinks about pitchers like Jamie Moyer, who will be 46 next season.
"I have zero timetable," said Lowe. "I'll always be honest with myself. As long as I can be a starter or closer and be competitive and feel like I can help the team, I'll keep going.
"Scott told me four years ago that I'd get another contract. I thought it was b.s. I said, ‘You're crazy.' Here we are again."
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