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Why It Wouldn't Surprise Me To See the Twins Pick Up Derek Lowe

By Jesse Lund
It's been a long, long year for Derek Lowe.
It's been a long, long year for Derek Lowe.

As teams begin to see their fortunes begin to materialize out of the haze that is the 2012 crystal ball, they start to make some decisions about their future. Rebuilding teams will try to trade players; contending teams will try to acquire help. Almost every team will do their best to trim the fat from their roster whether it's because of this season or the next. This was the case as the Indians cut ties with Derek Lowe.

Lowe hasn't had a good season, by any stretch of the imagination.

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Derek Lowe 8-10 21 21 1 1 0 0 119.0 156 79 73 8 45 41 5.52 1.69

More walks than strikeouts. More hits than you can shake a stick at, unless you can shake sticks with your feet. His ERA was only 5.52 because his 60% ground ball rate minimized the extra-base hits.Unfortunately that doesn't completely cover up the gaping hole left by a .321 opponent batting average.

Why can I see the Twins possibly taking a flyer on Lowe? Because I imagine that they might want to limit the exposure of some of their younger pitchers. Brian Duensing is back in the rotation, which probably isn't ideal. Cole De Vries and Sam Deduno have pitched well but it's not always easy to get a feel for how confident the organization is with young or inexperienced pitchers.

It's not about Lowe being better than Duensing, De Vries, or Deduno. He'd be just as bad for us as he was for Cleveland. If this would happen it would be more about finding balance for those three guys and getting them in the best position possible, and then using Lowe as the warm body that allows that to happen.

Personally, I think Duensing belongs in the bullpen. I'm perfectly happy allowing De Vries and Deduno to keep starting for the time being. But if the Twins agree and want to put Brian back in the 'pen, they need to find another arm for that fifth starter's spot without bringing up a guy like Liam Hendriks who clearly needs to spend another few dozen innings in Triple-A. Maybe Lowe is that guy.

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