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Lowell trade is off 12.19.09 at 9:10 pm ET
By Rob Bradford

Mike Lowell will have surgery on his right thumb after it was determined he has a torn radial collateral ligament. The surgery will take place shortly after Christmas, with the recovery time approximately 6-8 weeks. The diagnosis means the trade between the Red Sox and Rangers, which would have sent Lowell to Texas along with $9 million for minor league catcher/first baseman Max Ramirez is off.

To read what awaits Lowell and the Red Sox click here.

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  • Steve

    Thanks. The Sox need Lowell in the clubhouse and at the plate… This was My X-Mass GIFT

  • Zach

    Say helloooo again to having 2 DH’s on the team!

  • ron

    Well we have our MVP back woooooot woooooot

  • jeff

    This upsets me…. and it should upset everyone else. Lowell while great in 2007 has stolen the sox money the last few years. If the thumb was so bad why did he not have surgery after the playoffs? I want to know that? Now we have to keep the aging bum. And he will have surgery after christmas. well the start of spring training is 6 weeks away. Lowell you are handcuffing the sox. He has only played 113 and 118 games respectively the last 2 seasons. He is not worth what he is being paid. Huge mistake by theo signing this guy after 07. Maybe we can just straight out cut him. All you lowell apologist can now jump all over me for hating this guy. but the numbers dont lie. he has done nothing the last 2 years.

  • http://weei Linda

    Best News I heard all day. So glad the trade got nixed. He will be back and will show them what he can do.

  • Canadian Healthcare

    Jeff I agree with you that he should have known months ago if he needed surgery…For crying out loud was he on some kind of waiting list in Canada waiting to see a doctor or something?

  • http://weei jim dimacher

    Jeff, 17 hr’s, 75 rbi’s and a .290 ba in 113 games is not bad. If he can give us a full season and play adequate D he’ll be better than anything else the sox can come up with. Next year he’ll be gone so I’m sure he’s going to want to play well in a contract year. There’s nothing wrong with having Mike Lowell on your team.

  • T Cal

    This type of situation happens time and time again. Can someone tell me why professionals “wait” till just before a season is to get under way to disclose an injury which will prevent them from performing. There should be some type of rule which would compensate a team, say take players money away if this happens.

  • jeff

    Jim,

    The big question there is “IF” He is going to be behind now with this surgery. He does not want to be a part time player for the sox. He bitched last year with his platoon situation. He is not the ultimate club house guy. I thank him for 2007, but 36 year old guys with a bad hip and limited range and now a bum thumb not what i want to see at 3rd everyday. Its time to move on. And im not saying youk to third and agone to first cause thats not going to happen. But having a young Kotchman at 1st who had some decent seasons with the angels and youk at third was a nice defensive start with some offensive upside. Now you are almost obligated to have lowell at third and with his decrease range our run prevention philosophy could be shot. And as much as i respect Tito you know he is going to stick with lowell because he is the veteran… And knowing Tito it will work out but i really thought this was a great trade for us. A player who is 10 years younger with big offensive upside for a old 3rd baseman the club doesnt want. its not going to play out well

  • tdmtown

    look people, mike lowell just doesn’t have range anymore.
    Even at the end of last year he didn’t.
    Instead of “step, step catch”, mike patented the “swivel and fall” defensive method and anybody who actually watched the games knows this.
    Was the injury his fault?? Probably not, he PROBABLY kept in good shape and the hip was just a fluke. But maybe not. Either way the Sox have gotten at BEST 50% of the 24+ million they have paid him and decided he wasn’t an everyday player anymore(or not worth the risk)

    NOW he needed surgery and wasn’t getting it until THE RANGERS figured out he needed it???? Wouldn’t a “Professional” do everything to be 100% for the team paying him a HUGE salary?
    If this hadn’t been discovered we were probably looking at a season where Mike falls down(again) on his thumb and is hobbled(again) for the season,
    but INSISTS on playing because he wants to “be on the field” even if it hamstrings the team.

    Way to be a “pro” mike, atta boy.

  • Sasha

    I think that now that we have Lowell back i think he will come to Spring Training and if he is healthy he can show interested teams that he can still play and maybe a team can work out a trade with the sox.. but until then they will keep him and Tito can have his Mikey Lowell.. so spring training is just over 2 months away there is a lot of time to figure stuff out :)

  • tdmtown

    Oh, and the AWESOME part is that he can be over the surgery by spring training,
    he won’t be able to hit until he’s healed. So AT BEST he’ll be way behind when he reports.

    Awesome Mike, AWESOME!!!!

  • annie

    Lowell,

    I hope your thumb feels better soon. But, you better not complain about having a bench role this year. If you’d wanted a more substantial role on ANY team (Rangers or Sox), you would have gotten your operation SOONER. If you start the season on the DL and watch while Kotchman, Beltre, or whoever gets your ABs, it’s your OWN FAULT. YOU KNEW YOUR THUMB WAS IN TROUBLE AT THE END OF LAST SEASON, and you are responsible for your own fate.

  • kris

    why don’t some of you take a chill pill and wait it out. 2007 WS MVP played hurt last year and still batted better than 3/4 of our lineup. he was a guy with a serious injury who still wanted to be out there. that is a guy with heart. do i want a player who breaks a nail and wants to sit out, or a guy who wants to play. maybe he put off getting the thumb fixed because he’s smarter than they are. he probably knew a trade would be coming and knew the thumb would not pass the physical. well, good for him. hope the surgery goes well so he can join the sox for spring training.

  • Arendell

    This maybe a blessing. Lowell is good when healthy. So let him try to fully heal till spring training opens. RS want to save $$, See how it is for a week or 2. Then if it is (and will be) not right. Get it sliced and Diced. 60 day dl ( 6- 8 weeks healing time) do a full body re-hab with him in Ft Myers. Game action. the whole bit. It will then be late May or early June. Who is hurting, next. As we now have a healty healed Ex Ws MVP player ready to go or trade which ever we need most. And will get more than what ya can get now!!
    I would like Mike to stay but if he must be moved for the good of the whole so be it. But we can Deal from strenght and not weakness.

  • mike

    Guys are you seriously saying he bitched? There arent many more people who are more classy then mikey. Hes a true standup guy how dare you all say that about him. Being 36 doesnt mean you cant throw a baseball are you all dumb? and look at his stat lines, even last year he put up good numbers. come on people, if your gonna try to talk baseball at least know wtf your talking about. If you dont, leave.

  • tdmtown

    yeah jackhole, it has been made CLEAR that he bitched about playing time.
    Pull your head out of your butt and PAY ATTENTION.

  • Brian From Framingham

    Great Guy, but has to go. Too expensive to sit on the bench and The Sox aren’t getting any younger. I don’t blame him for wanting to be an everyday 3rd baseman. He’s a competitor in every sense of the word and I respect that. The Sox got much more out of Mike Lowell then they would have ever dreamed. He was thrown in the Josh Beckett trade as a salary dump and ends up becoming WS MVP. You can’t beat that. So, Lowell got another ring and 3-year $37.5M contract. Not bad.

  • HeavyDuty

    As much as I love Mike Lowell, he’s a detriment to this new lineup that’s built on speed and defense. It was painful to watch Mike in the field last year playing hurt. He hit well but he clogged-up the base paths. I doubt very much if he’s going to play much if he’s still with the Sox opening day. I wouldn’t be surprised if Theo tries to unload Mikey to another team besides Texas if he can find any takers. And YES – it’s a known fact that Mike WAS very vocal in the clubhouse last year about his lack of playing time and his being platooned by Tito. Why does he wait until now to have surgery when his thumb has been bothering him for awhile? That part puzzles me.

  • BenInL.A.

    Since when does expressing the wish to play more = “bitching about playing time”? He’s a competitor, and wants to play, and was played more than he should have been too early in the year (according to Tito) but had to be because he was one of the only guys hitting! If the guy didn’t complain about playing time, then you’d have to worry. That’s how champions react to reduced time.
    Anyway… why is Theo hiding behind that pole? Oh, there goes Mikey. Sheesh, talk about awkward, huh?

  • Pump

    Hurrah Now we have a back up DH for when Pappi goes O Fer the month of Airil and May again.

  • Steve

    OK fellows. Mike will be playing first base . Let”s redirect our intentions on Left field. A.Kearns ? I like it.

  • JJ

    for all of you “Lowell got screwed”….how is it that Mike Lowell, great clubhouse guy, great teammate, loyal to the cause guy…..didn’t tell anyone his thumb was hurting him until he got traded and it came out on the physical? Are you going to tell me that a torn radial collateral ligament didn’t hurt? He didn’t notice it? C’mon..this guy was not going to take any of his off season time to get the surgery done, instead he was going to wait until spring training and then give the sox the old “ow, my thumb hurts” routine so he could take the spring off. Maybe he doesn’t want to play in the cold weather the first month or so of the season. This is not the act of a “good guy”….lowell supporters need to ask themselves the why he didn’t inform the team of the problem soon after the season ended and the pain didn’t subside or full range of motion didn’t return.

  • JJ

    regarding Austin Kearns, he is a MAJOR dog and couldn’t hit a beachball if it were thrown at him. I have watched him the last couple of years he in DC and he outright sucks.

  • JollyRoger

    This certainly look bad for both the Sox and Lowell.

    Red Sox can easily be accused of trying to trading damaged goods.

    On the other hand, Lowell could have been more upfront about the injury, had surgery
    n probably be ready for spring training.

    Either way should be interesting to see how the Red Sox explains this major snafu.

  • http://MLBTradeRumors.com MadMc44

    For all that want Mike cut–you of course know the Sox would be responsible for his salary whether he plays or not.
    Let’s look on the positive side–Mike said he could play first, we know he’s one of the best 3 rd basemen in the game when healthy. I for one was disappointed to see him traded a few weeks ago–having hit 17 homers and driving in 70 plus in 113 games with a.290–I would take that in a heartbeat from most healthy players.
    What’s the problem having a guy like ML be there as a backup 1 st and 3 rd. split duty as a DH with Papi and a bat off the bench. If he can put those numbers up again-GO FOR IT.
    For the trash some of you are talking I say you have short memories–we might not have made the playoffs last year without some of Lowell’s clutch hits. Hey I’m disappointed he waited this long to get the thumb fixed too. I would say this should not impact him too much in his rehab for his hip.
    I’m sure every physical therapist can give an opinion on the seriousness of the thumb.
    If Theo is intent on trading him he will find a trading partner now or when he gets healed if the Sox are willing to pick up 75 % of his salary–this gives Theo time to sort things out and see what a healed Lowell’s prescence would mean to our line-up. The last question I would ask–what was Texas thinking when trading for a guy with a gimpy hip and a sore thumb—maybe they see the value in a veteran that knows how to play the game hard. There’s a reason the trade didn’t work–maybe there’s a reason Tek and Lowell are still here–they both still have something to contribute and will.

  • JJ

    lets see…15 mil for 2 guys who are considered part time backups in lowell and tek. if i can get another team to take either off my hands and pay a portion of their salary I jump at it. you can replace both with minimum salary players and not hurt the team.

  • kris

    i’m surprised at how many of you don’t know the value that a player like mike lowell brings to the table. just look at his stats and think for a minute what it takes to play in the majors healthy, never mind with a hip so bad he couldn’t tie his shoes. he played hurt when needed unlike some who would never give that of themselves. people here are worried about his thumb yada yada. it is unfair of any of us to assume how or when he hurt his thumb. this will be in news forthcoming. we should just wait it out and hope for the best for a great guy who has done everything he could to help the sox since he’s been here. i for one appreciate everything he’s done for us. it’s the holiday season and i think everyone should look at the glass half full instead of it half empty. hope to see mike on the team this spring!!!

  • http://weei Ken

    Mike you really had trouble with your thumb. then why didn’t you pull it out of butt and get it fixed right after the season? dumb

  • George D

    Don’t be suprised if the sox release him……After all they were willing to eat 9 mil, what’s another 3 mil?

  • Charlie

    Mike Lowell is a class guy, he’s a leader on and off the field. I hope the Red Sox keep him.

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