St. Louis Cardinals: 5 Realistic Trade Deadline Candidates
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
2. Mark Lowe, RHP, Seattle Mariners
Making pro-rated portion of $507,500 veteran minimum in 2015, FA in 2016
The Cardinals could use another reliable bullpen arm, and Lowe would be pretty much the perfect fit. He’s inexpensive, does not have any long-term contractual commitment, will have no expectation of being placed in a setup or closer role, and would presumably be pretty easy to acquire as the Mariners’ season continues to go down the tubes.
Lowe’s track to big-league success has been rather similar to Johnson’s in 2015, as he was brought into the Mariners organization as a minor-league free agent this winter after spending much of 2014 with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers and pitching briefly with the Cleveland Indians. Since Seattle called him up to the majors on May 4, however, Lowe has been absolutely dominant, posting a 0.62 ERA with a .221 opponent batting average, 1.14 WHIP, 38 strikeouts, and 10 walks in 29 innings.
He has maintained his velocity surprisingly well for a nine-year big-league veteran; though his slider has been his primary pitch in 2015, he’s thrown his fastball as hard as 97.5 MPH this year and still averages 94.7 MPH. Thus, he would fit in well with the group of Jordan Walden, Kevin Siegrist, and Trevor Rosenthal that is currently in position to handle the Cardinals’ late innings for the stretch run.
Lowe has a fair bit of playoff experience to draw on, as he was part of the Texas Rangers’ bullpen during their run of dominance in the early part of the decade. Granted, he hasn’t been fantastic in the postseason; as many will remember, Lowe actually played quite an important role in Cardinals history, as he gave up the 11th inning walk-off home run to David Freese in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series that allowed the Cards to advance to Game 7 and a World Championship. Especially if Lowe can be acquired for a minimal price, though, it might help to have another veteran reliever available to choose from, so that if injuries strike again, they won’t be forced to push a Sam Tuivailala or Miguel Socolovich into a playoff game if they don’t feel that they’re equipped to handle the pressure.
While Seattle has a lot of leverage, considering that Lowe will be one of the top bullpen arms on the market, the return probably won’t be spectacular for him in any case. The Cardinals could probably acquire him for a package centered around one of their many middle infield prospects: perhaps Juan Herrera, Breyvic Valera, Oscar Mercado, or Malik Collymore.
Next: 1. Adam Lind