There have been rumblings that the Twins, Rangers and Angels are holding talks with the Red Sox concerning 36-year old 3B/1B Mike Lowell. Lowell has played in 30 games for the Red Sox this year and he is 17 of 79 (.215 avg, .666 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 2 homers and 12 RBIs. Don’t let his struggles fool you as he has had a very productive career for the Red Sox. Lowell has now played in 569 games in his five years with the Red Sox and he is 615 of 2,105 (.292 avg, .823 OPS) with 275 runs scored, 77 homers, 360 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Personally I think that Lowell still has something left but he’s blocked in Boston for playing time and he’s not happy about it. I see Lowell getting traded soon but I don’t think the Red Sox will get much back in return for him.

With the way that David Ortiz is struggling at the plate it’s time to start only playing him against righty starting pitchers. He has played in 20 games this season for the Red Sox and he is 12 of 70 (.171 avg, .680 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 4 homers and 7 RBIs. Big Papi has looked helpless at times this season as he has already whiffed 25 times this year. The Red Sox should start Mike Lowell at DH against all lefty pitchers right now and maybe even more than that down the road if Ortiz continues to hit poorly. Lowell has played in 14 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 13 of 41 (.317 avg, .903 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homers and 9 RBIs. Lowell is hitting too well to be sitting on the bench for the Red Sox who are having problems scoring runs so far this year.

Starting RF J.D. Drew is off to a slow start for the Boston Red Sox this season. He has played in 7 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 4 for 22 (.182 avg, .536 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. Drew needs to get the bat going because the Red Sox can’t afford both he and David Ortiz to be slumping at the same time. Jeremy Hermida is around this season for the Red Sox and he could start stealing at bats away from either Ortiz or Drew if they continue to struggle.

LF Jacoby Ellsbury, RF J.D. Drew and DH David Ortiz all got dominated by Yankees’ pitching in the first series of the year for the Red Sox. Ellsbury played in all 3 games and he was 3 for 15 (.200 avg, .467 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 1 stolen base. The Red Sox need Ellsbury to jumpstart the Red Sox’ lineup at the top and I think he will get going against the Royals this weekend in K.C. J.D. Drew was also frigid with the bat playing in all three games in which he was 2 for 12 (.167 avg, .334 OPS) with 1 run scored. I think that Drew will also get going this weekend in K.C. Big Papi (David Ortiz) is off to another rough start and he let reporters know just how he felt about them when they asked him about it. Ortiz has played in 3 games this season and he is 1 for 11 (.091 avg, .258 OPS) with 1 RBI. The season is only three games old so I wouldn’t look to much into the numbers these guys put up against the Yankees. The Red Sox can’t afford to give Ortiz as much time to get his bat going as they did last season because they don’t have Jason Bay around anymore to pick up the slack.

While the Red Sox have only scored 1 run in two games against the Angels two players have really stuck out as reasons why. “Big Papi” is 0 for 8 with 4 whiffs as he doesn’t seem to have a clue against the Angels. The Angels have been making Ortiz look like the player he was in the first half of the season. Mike Lowell also is looking his age against the Angels as he is 0 for 7. Maybe the Red Sox should shake things up in the next game and let Varitek play while shifting Martinez to 1B and Youkilis to third base to try to jolt the offense.