You lost me there. This isn't a popularity contest. The FO has shown they don't care about trading a fan favorite. Point is, if they trade Lowell, no ones not gonna watch the team anymore, or give up their season tickets. They will make the move that they believe improves the team now and for the future. And for the most part, the FO has been good at what they do.
Pedroia is just about the only untouchable on this team. I don't mean to say that they would trade anyone else on the team easily. But Pedroia is probably top 2B(close to it) in the AL, there's not much room to improve. Every other position has better players somehwere in the league.