NL Wild Card: Will Derek Lowe Cost Braves Wild Card and World Series Hopes?

If you are a Braves fan, you can thank Derek Lowe for costing your team a shot at a World Series. Even worse, the 38-year-old overpaid pitcher may cost the Braves the NL Wild Card.

I know what you are thinking: How does one pitcher, who only plays once every five days cost a team a World Series? And, did the Braves ever really have a shot at winning a World Series over the likes of the Phillies, Yankees and Rangers?

Simply put, the answer is yes.

The Phillies may have had the better starting rotation, but not by much. The Braves starters were almost as good before the All-Star break, sporting a 3.11 ERA, which was good for second in the MLB. 

We all know the Braves had a much better bullpen with Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel. As a whole the Braves staff was better.

The truth is, the Braves were one of the best teams in baseball until three weeks ago. So, what happened?

Derek Lowe happened. Minus one good September in 2010, Lowe has been a major disappointment since coming to Atlanta.

Lowe is making $15 million this season. That's tops on the Braves roster. He even makes more than Mr. Brave himself, Chipper Jones, who by the way has been fantastic in the second half and was primed for a World Series run.

Lowe's huge salary made things hard on the Braves come trade time. If they kept Lowe, that left little room in the budget to bring in a big bat. But, he was pretty much impossible to move since there aren't many teams looking to add a below average starter for that kind of money.

So, the Braves told everyone they had faith in Lowe's ability to repeat last Septembers strong performance. With injuries to Atlanta's top two starters, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson, they really needed some solid outings from Lowe.

That didn't exactly happen. In the month of September Lowe has a 10.13 ERA and hitters are batting .419 against the Braves' righty.

It all came to a head in Lowe's last outing on September 16th against the Mets. With the Cardinals closing in on Atlanta's dwindling Wild Card lead, the Braves were in need of a win against the Mets. Derek Lowe lasted just 2.1 innings giving up nine hits and six earned runs.

Braves fans were officially sweating. Cardinals fans had to be woken up and reminded that they still had hope.

With Scott Boras representing Jurrjens and Hanson, don't expect either one of them be in a hurry to return and help the Braves down the stretch. There's no way Boras will let them risk coming back too early. They both have big payday's coming.

The sad thing is that Baseball is and always will be a business first. The Braves have millions tied up in Lowe and that will be the reason for him taking the mound. It definitely isn't because he gives them the best chance to win.

He's already cost the Braves a chance at a World Series. This current Braves rotation will get abused in the playoffs. Let's just hope Hanson returns and Lowe doesn't cost Atlanta a Wild Card that three weeks ago seemed a certainty.