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The Cleveland Indians traded a minor leaguer to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Derek Lowe.
Lowe who went 9-17 with an era of 5.05 in 34 starts this past season led the NL in losses. He went 0-5 in a crucial playoff push for the Braves which saw the team lose their wildcard lead to the eventual World Series champions St. Louis Cardinals.
Lowe was traded for left-handed pitcher Chris Jones of the Kingston (A) who went 7-1 last season with an era of 3.36 in 43 appearances.
Even though he will be turning 39-years-old next season and is coming off of a mediocre year, Indians GM Chris Antonetti hopes he can be a mentor to a staff that dealt with injuries and inexperience which kept them out of the playoffs last season. Antonetti said "His experience will complement a very young rotation. One of our goals was to improve our starting pitching." With the loss of Carlos Carrasco for next season due to Tommy John surgery it opened up a spot for Lowe.
Lowe agreed to a 4-year $60 million deal with the Braves back before the 2009 season but has not pitched as well as both sides would have hoped. The Indians will only have to pay $5 million of the $15 million coming to Lowe in 2012.
In his career Lowe is 166-146 with an era of 3.94 with the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves in 15 seasons. His 334 games started since 2002 is the most in baseball over that 10-season span.
From The Sports Mind Of RB:
For the Cleveland Indians this trade makes lots of sense, not only do they pay very little for Lowe but they could get a bounce back from him in the final year of his deal. The Braves realized this deal was not working for them and they have a plethora of young talent in the minors just aching to make it to the bigs.
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