Requium for Mike Lowell

Hi, I'm Joe Derive and this is sports.

You really have to feel bad for Mikey Lowell. Ya, he's called Mikey and that name better reflects how the clubhouse feels about it. He's a gem, the 2007 MVP and one heck of a classy guy. I mean it, he's a rare breed in the world of Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriquez. This guy has class and I mean class. He doesn't back stab and he goes out there every day feeling like a broken man but never acts it. He's a guy that every team needs -- the guy that can show everyone else that pain is something that doesn't stop you from entering the field.
Instead the Sox have made a ton of motions to dump him, after he was the MVP for 2007, after he took a lousy contract and after he endured a year of pain and grief struggling to recover from major surgery but what do the Sox do -- dump him.
Now I know, I'm a reporter and I'm not supposed to feel or get involved. I'm supposed to report but it digs at you knowing that this team needs Mike and Theo Epstein acts as if the spreadsheet formulas don't add up but you can't have character as a line on a spreadsheet. You can't and so it gets ignored. J.D. Drew, with all due respect is always fighting pain and he doesn't have half the determination of Mike Lowell.
So I rant but the biggest mistake the Sox are doing is getting rid of Mike Lowell. You hurt the team and you send a message to that team -- don't stick around -- we don't want you. Maybe Manny Ramirez acted like a lousy immature child but he had a point -- the Sox need to listen to their players and treat them with the respect they deserve and nobody deserves more than Mike Lowell.

I'm Joe Derive...