A New Year, A New Project

I received the World Series DVDs for Christmas and have been watching a lot of baseball lately as a result. It's a sort of bittersweet experience; there's the residual fun and excitement but it's tinged with a whiny "I miss baseball." So, in order to sustain my baseball-deprived brain, I've come up with a project.

There are forty-four days (or forty-three depending on how you count) until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. There are also forty men on the active roster. Coincidence? Absolutely. But I intend to make the most of it.

Here's my proposal: Player profiles. Between now and Valentine's Day (or until I get bored and abandon the project), I will present a player per day. It's nearly perfect, especially given the fact that I'm allowed a few days to completely flake. Will my profiles be particularly erudite and insightful? Nope. But I need some way to occupy my mind.

Also, I know that your forty man roster isn't necessarily set at the start of Spring Training but I figure to start with the guys who are most likely to come back next season and work my way through. And if I get a couple of extra days at the end, well bully for me.

As an added bonus: It occurs to me that I won't have to spend so much time trying to come up with somewhat creative titles and this pleases me.

So, without further ado:

Mike Lowell (no. 25)

Born: February 24, 1974 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Height/Weight: 6'4", 205 lb.

College: Florida International University (major: Finance)

Contract: 3 years for $37.5 million (through 2010)

2003 and 2004 were Mike Lowell's years; his slugging average (.530 and .505) and his Home Run count (32 and 27) were the best numbers he ever posted. Offensively, though, had a pretty good season in 2007. His slugging average was .501 and he hit 21 home runs. His batting average (.324) was the highest it's ever been, his On Base Percentage (.378) was the highest it's ever been. His Runs Batted In was also his highest ever (120), but that has more to do with the players batting in front of you than an individual skill set. I think if you remove the anomalous 2005 season (which I know isn't a particularly unbiased way of doing things but whatever) his numbers are remarkably steady over the eight full seasons he has played.

Defensively, Mike Lowell was a slightly above average player in 2007 (his Fielding Percentage was .961 and the League Fielding Percentage was .957). It's mostly because he was charged with a career high number of errors (15) and for him just about an average number of putouts (105). He did turn more double plays (34) than he batted into (19).

A lot of Mike Lowell's value comes from his presence in the clubhouse. Supposedly, he's a unifying force for the Latino guys and the American guys (maybe that's why Gagne had so much trouble-he had no Mike Lowell to stand up for him). He's a classy guy. He's got a good sense of humor. He's smart (although I have no basketball affiliations, Emeka Okafor was a smarty and he majored in finance so, therefore, Mike Lowell must also be a smarty). Plus, to be all girly for a moment, he has a really nice smile.

I think offensively 2008 will see Mike Lowell putting up similar numbers to his career averages. A decent Batting Average (.280), an On Base Percentage of .344. If he were to hit 23 home runs then, I'd be wickedly impressed. Defensively, he'll probably slide closer to just league average.