John Farrell would have loved a guy like Mike Lowell at the hot corner for the Red Sox as the third base position was vacant most of the season.
Lowell was not only good for the Red Sox, but he was consistent. The Puerto Rican was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1998 at the age of 24. The Yankees would go on to win the World Series that game season.
The third basemen was traded to the Florida Marlins, where he would spend his next seven years with some of the highest highs and lowest lows. His first season in Florida, he discovered he had testicular cancer and he would miss the first few months of the season, but he would bounce back.
Lowell would win his first World Series ring in 2003 playing a crucial role. That season he played in just 130 games due to an injury, but still hit .276 with 105 runs batted in and 32 home runs. While Lowell was in Florida, he was named an All-Star three times before he was traded to the Boston Red Sox with Josh Beckett and Guillermo Mota in November of 2005.
The Red Sox mainly took Lowell because the Marlins refused to give up Josh Beckett without unloading Lowell’s contract, but the move paid off for the Red Sox and not so much for the Marlins.
Lowell proved to be effective in Boston as he played in 153 games his first season; driving in 80 runs and tagging along 20 home runs. In his second campaign for Boston, he played in 154 games, drove in 120 runs, hit 21 home runs and batted a career-best .324.
That same year (2007) the Red Sox would go on to win the World Series against the Colorado Rockies via a four-game sweep. Lowell was a crucial role on that year’s team not only in the regular season, but also the postseason as well where he batted .400 with a home run, four RBIs and and scored six runs. His performance was so vital to the Red Sox’ success he was awarded World Series MVP.
Lowell continued to play well in Boston, as the next season he placed fifth in the MVP voting. The third baseman played in Boston for another two years after this, retiring at the age of 36 with a pair of World Series rings, four All-Star game appearances, a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.
Like many of Lowell’s peers, he stays busy around the game of baseball. Today, Lowell works for MLB Network on the Emmy award-winning show “MLB Tonight.” He joined the network in 2011 and has worked as an analyst ever since. He has also written a book that is called “Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within.”
