No interest in Noah Lowry?

The guys over at MLB Trade Rumors initiated a brief discussion this afternoon about some of the remaining free agent starting pitchers that are still unsigned even as the first month of the season nears a close. Like most who’ve discussed the subject to date there was a focus on the four big names amongst those without contracts – Jarrod Washburn, Pedro Martinez, Braden Looper, and John Smoltz. While it seems as though many have covered (sometimes time and time again) these four pitchers and where their respective paths may end, I’d like to ask about one of the other names on the list of remaining free agents.

Noah Lowry.

Drafted in the first round (30th overall pick) of the 2001 draft out of Pepperdine University, Lowry signed shortly after the draft and moved quickly through the San Francisco Giants minor league system, making his Major League debut with four short September appearances in 2003. The southpaw bounced back and forth between the Majors and AAA throughout the 2004 seasons but did manage to make 16 appearances (14 starts) in a Giants uniform. His fourth start earned him career victory number 1 as he hurled a complete game shutout against the Cincinnati Reds. That year the Giants went 10-6 in Lowry’s appearances with the rookie posting a 6-0 record, a 3.82 ERA (115 ERA+) in 92 innings, with a K/9 rate of 7.0.

Despite the modern day obsession over pitch counts and innings limits for young starters, Lowry seemed to arrive just at the forefront of that line of thinking and would see his workload increase dramatically in 2005. Over 204.2 innings across 33 starts (just over 6.2 innings/start) he posted a 13-13 record, a 3.78 ERA (113+), while increasing his K/9 rate to 7.6 and lowering his HR/9 rate to 0.9.

The following April the Giants signed their young left-hander to an extension that covered his three arbitration years and contained a club option for his first year of free agency. Lowry struggled that season to a 7-10 record with a 4.74 ERA (95 ERA+) in 159.1 innings (27 starts). It would be his poorest year-to-date while he battled a number of nagging injuries – mild oblique strain in April forced him to miss a month and elbow trouble caused him to miss most of September. The 2007 season saw a marked improvement as he posted 14-8 record in 156 innings (26 starts). His ERA improved to 3.92 (114 ERA+). But again, his season was cut short due a forearm injury.

August 29, 2007 Lowry started for the Giants at home against the Colorado Rockies. He would give up 7 hits, 7 ER, 3 HR, while walking four batters. He would be pulled after two batters in the fourth inning. The Giants would lose the game 8-0. Lowry hasn’t started a game since then.

The forearm injury that cost him the end of the 2007 season would cost Lowry the 2008 season as well after surgery to repair what the Giants team doctors diagnosed as exertional compartment syndrome. After sitting out the entire season, he once again had to go under the knife in the Spring of 2009 in order to alleviate continued shoulder problems associated with the original injury. That May he was rediagnosed as having thoracic outlet syndrome and most questioned whether the initial surgery should have been done at all.

As early back as December we started to see rumors about potential interest in signing Lowry for this upcoming season scattered about MLB Trade Rumors. Some of that interest ended up amounting to nothing as many teams simply filled their needs via other avenues. But there hasn’t been any active interest in signing him even as we come to end of the first month of the season.

There are a number of teams that currently have a need in their starting rotation and a 29 year old left-hander with the track record that Lowry has should at least be able to find a minor league deal somewhere, shouldn’t he? As far as I can tell he hasn’t had any setbacks in recovering from injuries and I don’t recall any announcements that he was retiring.

They say you can never have enough pitching. With the money that team’s just throw away when they release ineffective/aging/overpaid players there ought to be a few hundred thousand dollars available to take a flyer on Lowry rediscovering some of his potential.