When a guy has a 9.00 ERA in low-leverage relief situations over 13 innings (a decent sample size for a long-relief guy), he's usually skating on thin ice.
When that guy is a 39-year-old, near 40, and is in his 17th season, that guy's days are usually numbered.
Derek Lowe has done a lot in his career — led the league in wins and saves in separate seasons, won World Series and tons of other stuff — but his brief time with the Rangers should be coming to an end sometime pretty soon, after another poor outing on Sunday.
For whatever reason, Rangers manager Ron Washington led Lowe in the game after the Rangers had taken the lead in the previous half-inning, and Lowe, of course, quickly surrendered it by giving up two runs on two hits. That racked his total up to 13 earned runs on 16 hits in 13 innings.
With Cory Burns' call-up after Alexi Ogando's DL placement late last week, it was assumed Burns would be sent back down on Monday when Josh Lindblom would be called up to start in place of Ogando. That still could happen, but who knows? Regardless, Lowe's days with the Rangers seem to be numbered as the only thing probably keeping him around being his veteran presence and bulldog attitude that he's long been known for.
But clearly, that bulldog has lost some of his bite and there might not be room on a first-place team for Lowe anymore.
