Thumbs Down: Mike Lowell Needs Surgery, Trade With Texas Off

The trade that was 11 days in the making will never happen.

An MLB source has told the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham that Boston Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell needs thumb surgery and the trade with the Texas Rangers is now off. Lowell will require surgery on the radial collateral ligament in his right thumb.

Lowell will have surgery after Christmas and is expected to need 6-8 weeks of recovery time.

So what does this mean for both the Red Sox and the Rangers?

For the Red Sox, it means that signing someone like Adrian Beltre is now most likely out of the question. Even if the Red Sox did trade Lowell, I thought Beltre would have been a long shot.

I think the Red Sox will go into the 2010 season with Kevin Youkilis at third and Casey Kotchman at first. Lowell will go into the season a pinch hitter off the bench and be the occasional DH against left-handed pitching.

The Red Sox were planning on using the $3 million they would have saved on the Lowell deal on a low-cost bench player like Xavier Nady. I am not sure Nady is a possibility anymore, but they still could pursue some bench help.

For the Rangers, they would still like to add a right-handed bat. Guys like Jermaine Dye and Vladimir Guerrero are options for the Rangers.

From the beginning, I really didn’t understand this trade for the Rangers. I know they wanted a right-handed bat, but they already have plenty of injury-prone players on their roster. Lowell would have just added to that list.

Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rich Harden, CJ Wilson, and Frank Francisco are all injury risks for 2010. Lowell would have joined them on the DL candidate list for sure.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make. I think will be the case for the Rangers.

I would also like to use this post to congratulate UMass coach Derek Kellogg and the rest of the UMass basketball team on a great win versus Memphis yesterday.

UMass wore sweat throwback uniforms (which they should wear all the time) dove for every loose ball, hustled beyond belief, and if you don’t know who Terrell Vinson is now, you will soon enough. He is a freshman, who is starting to establish himself as a man beast.

Great win boys!!! Now follow it up with a win at Boston College.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg