Lowell surgery: successful

[Dojji]

Lowell was on pace for a fine season before he got hurt (twice!) and still finished with 17 HR's and 73 RBI. On a 150 game pace that's somewhere around 22 HR's and 85 RBI even giving him room for his usual late season slump.

 

Will be nice to have him in the lineup again, that's for certain sure. Definitely missed him this October. A couple Lowell RBI's in either Game 2 or Game 7 would have seen us in the Series.

[BoSox21]

im curious, whens the last time there was an UNsuccessful sports-related surgery?

[TheKilo]

Possibly Tom Brady's

[BoSox21]

good point. Cant really think of any besides that though

[Dojji]

good point. Cant really think of any besides that though

 

That's because athletes who have unsuccessful surgery tend not to be athletes anymore.

[BoSox21]

or have successful surgery but dont have the discipline or desire to rehab

[Dojji]

That happens more than you might think in the minors. Possible it happened to catching prospect Jon Egan for us this year for an example.

[Gom]

Surgery will not help the fact that he is in decline.

[Dojji]

Mike Lowell is not in noticeable decline. He's hurt, but that's not the same thing.

 

If he'd gotten his usual 145-150 games a season in his power numbers would have been somewhere between 21 and 25 HR's and 80-90 RBI's. For a third baseman who hits in the lower middle of the order that's more than acceptable. His OPS "decline" is largely because of a career year last year combined with an inadvisable month plus of playing with a problem that impacted both his swing and his ability to run out grounders. (which I might add, if he'd gotten surgery at the time he might have been available for postseason play...)

[Cocos Disciples]

He is getting older, doesn't really excite me much. No way he ever puts up 2007 numbers again.

[Dojji]

But we don't need him to. 2006 numbers would be fine, and it was what he was in line for before his hip went.

 

The only thing I worry about with Lowell is a possible DEfensive decline.

[BoSox21]

Surgery will not help the fact that he is in decline.

 

People said he was done after 2005 too. I don't think he'll ever reproduce his .324/21 HR/120 RBI from 2007 but a .305/20 HR/90 RBI season from him wouldn't shock me one bit next year

[Cocos Disciples]

People said he was done after 2005 too. I don't think he'll ever reproduce his .324/21 HR/120 RBI from 2007 but a .305/20 HR/90 RBI season from him wouldn't shock me one bit next year

 

I would be pretty surprised by this myself. .280/15/80 is more what I expect.

[Dojji]

.270/.330/.480/.810, 20 HR's 40 doubles, 80 RBI's.

 

I fully expect Lowell to reach these standards.

[jacksonianmarch]

to say it is successful after surgery is one thing. What they mean is that they were able to anatomically realign the joint and the tendon and there werent any complication in the operating room. Whether or not this surgery is truly a success will be determined by whether the hip rehabs well enough to be useful, whether he avoids infection, etc. Those things may not be answered for half a yr or more

[jacksonianmarch]

Also, Lowell will be 35 prior to the season as well as rehabbing from surgery on the major weight bearing joint. While someone with Lowell's toughness will be tough to kill, sometimes father time and injury have a way of taking down someone's performance regardless of the heart (See Varitek). While I dont think he'll be useless this upcoming yr, I dont think he'll be the Lowell of yrs past. But we'll see. Recovery is so variable when the hip is involved that he could be relegated to bench duty or have a career yr. We shall see.

[BoSox21]

Mike Lowell is a very good hitter who is pretty much built for Fenway. The hip didn't apparently bother him swinging much, just on defense so I think we should be a bit more optimistic than expecting a .270-.280 batting average out of him

[Dojji]

Also' date=' Lowell will be 35 prior to the season as well as rehabbing from surgery on the major weight bearing joint. While someone with Lowell's toughness will be tough to kill, sometimes father time and injury have a way of taking down someone's performance regardless of the heart (See Varitek). While I dont think he'll be useless this upcoming yr, I dont think he'll be the Lowell of yrs past. But we'll see. Recovery is so variable when the hip is involved that he could be relegated to bench duty or have a career yr. We shall see.[/quote']

 

 

Said Varitek recovered from an injury to an even more crucial ligament (ACL for a catcher can be nasty) and came back the same year after a two-month layoff. The next year was his age-35 season and it was one of his better offensive and defense years.

 

I'd say that the chances of Varitek struggling as a catcher after an ACL injury, considering the load a catcher's knee bears, is far greater than the chances that Lowell's hip is going to keep him out of baseball.