Trade Rumor Put To Rest?

The much-rumored deal between the White Sox and Giants involving Joe Crede and Noah Lowry hit a bit of snag yesterday. And it didn’t have anything to do with the health of Crede.

Pitching in front of White Sox scouts for the first time this spring, Lowry decided to channel Rick Ankiel, Ricky Vaughn, Mark Wohlers and Chuck Knoblauch simultaneously in the first inning. Suddenly a pitcher that won 14 games for a last place team a year ago couldn’t hit the water from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lowry threw 24 pitches before the Rangers even took thebat off their shoulder. In all, he would walk nine of the 12 hitters he faced.

Having this kind of meltdown in the midst of a pressure-packed game in October is one thing, but this is spring training! As Alan Iverson famously once said, “we’re talking about practice!”

Was Lowry’s parade of walks attributable to a severe hangover? Did he suffer a rare type of amnesia which caused him to forget how to properly throw a baseball? Or was he intentionally throwing balls in order to avoid a trade to the White Sox.

Maybe it was the tendinitis in his wrist. If he was in that much pain, wouldn’t you think he would have pulled himself out before embarrassing himself in a preseason game rather than after walking nine guys?

In any case, if avoiding a trade to the Sox was his intention, I’m pretty sure he accomplished his goal. I’m not sure the Sox would even offer Mike MacDougal in exchange for Lowry after yesterday’s debacle. At least MacDougal, who has been lit up for five runs in just two innings this spring, has been throwing strikes.

This doesn’t mean the two teams won’t still make a deal involving Crede. I’m thinking though that the Sox will be taking a longer look at the younger prospects in the Giants system and possibly see what other teams might be interested in Crede as well.