He probably deserves better than that, too, but given the events of the past year, it's hard to imagine how Lowrie could dig his way out of the hole he's buried himself in.
In spring training of 2009, he was the team's starting shortstop. The job was his to lose — and he lost it.
In April, Lowrie went down with a wrist injury, so both Nick Green and Julio Lugo took over. In July, the Red Sox spent big money on 19-year-old Cuban import Jose Iglesias. In August, the Red Sox went after Alex Gonzalez, supplanting both Lugo and Lowrie for the time being.
Then, a week ago, there was Marco Scutaro.
Scutaro, signed last Friday by the Red Sox to a two-year, $12.5 million contract with options for 2012, is yet another indication that Jed Lowrie plays no part in the Red Sox' long-term plans for filling the shortstop position. Lowrie has yet to hit the prime years of his career — he's just five years removed, in fact, from being named Pac-10 Player of the Year as a college senior — and it looks like he's already been rendered obsolete in Boston.
At first glance, the Red Sox' plan looks fairly transparent. Scutaro will hold down the shortstop job next season and in 2011. By that point, Iglesias will have two years of pro baseball experience in the States, and the Red Sox can assess whether he's ready to make the leap to the big club. If so, they call him up; if not, they opt into another year of Scutaro to tide themselves over.
Nowhere in this plan is there any need for Jed Lowrie.
Maybe Boston is tired of waiting for a healthy Lowrie to come around. The young shortstop battled wrist injuries for all of this past season — first going on the disabled in April with a left wrist sprain, then coming back in July only to return to the DL in August with ulnar neuritis. Even when on the active roster, Lowrie wasn't 100 percent — the once-potent switch hitter lost some strength in his left arm, rendering him a shadow of his former self at the plate.
After portions of two seasons in the major leagues, he hasn't exactly compiled dazzling numbers — the .235 average, .313 on-base and .265 slugging scream backup. But with only 328 career at-bats under his belt with the Red Sox, Lowrie still deserves more time to prove what he can do. And if you believe Theo Epstein, he'll still get it.
"I still believe in Jed Lowrie," the Red Sox GM told the Boston Globe last week. "He’s a really good player who hasn’t had a chance to show it at the big-league level because he hasn’t been fully healthy. I think the best is yet to come from him."
But how?
How can the Red Sox use Lowrie, if they're sinking eight figures into supplanting him now, and they've got a rising star ready to replace him later? Is Lowrie destined for a career as a utility man, filling in from time to time when injuries arise?
He deserves better than that. But it doesn't look like he'll get it in Boston.
It's hard to imagine a scenario that ends happily for Lowrie in Boston. Either the Red Sox give up and trade him, or they bury him on their depth chart, denying him the chance to reach his full potential. For his own sake, you almost hope Lowrie doesn't stick around Boston for long. He can accomplish much more for himself elsewhere.
