Audio: Dan Duquette Thought Derek Lowe Was Left-Handed
In 1997, then-Boston GM Dan Duquette traded reliever Heathcliff Slocumb to Seattle, a club en route to winning its second division title in three years, for pitcher Derek Lowe and catcher Jason Varitek. While there existed perhaps some justification for the deal at the time so far as the Mariners were concerned, it ultimately proved entirely one-sided: Slocumb threw fewer than 100 leauge-average innings for Seattle, while Lowe and Varitek produced approximately 46 wins over the next 20 or so player-seasons for Boston — including a combined seven wins during the Sox’ world championship campaign in 2004.
As Lowe revealed during the third inning of Wednesday night’s NESN telecast, however — of the Red Sox game against the Rays in Tampa Bay — it’s possible that Duquette was not entirely acquainted with Boston’s new acquisitions at the time.
To wit:
http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Derek-Lowe-LHP.mp3
Credit to the author’s colleague Robert J. Baumann for capturing the relevant audio.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Looking at Lowe’s minor league numbers, maybe the Mariners had him pitching left-handed until someone in the Red Sox clubhouse noticed that Lowe did everything else with his right hand, and suggested he try pitching that way.