The Indians must have a thing for ground ball pitchers. They traded minor league left hander Chris Jones for Derek Lowe and the Braves will cover $10 million of the $15 million that they’ll owe Lowe in 2012. So in effect, they’re getting Lowe for $5 million in a one year deal. Lowe fell off of a cliff in the second half of 2011 but these kind of deals are pretty low risk.
The Indians liked the fact that Lowe got in his starts. He’s pushing 38 but he’s had 32 or more starts the last ten seasons. Not too shabby for a former closer. Of course the bad side of all that is that Lowe lost 17 games and he had an ERA north of 5.00 in 2011.
The guy they gave up is a left handed reliever. Jones struck out 66 in 72 1/3 but he was 23 pitching in A-Ball. This is a little more then a quick fix at the back end of the rotation but I like the chances that it’ll work.
