Sentiment On Lowell Turning?

Even before the World Series was over, a clear majority of Red Sox Nation was letting it be known that Theo Epstein should re-sign Mike Lowell at any cost. Fans were saying if Lowell wanted a fourth year then give him it, losing Lowell would be worse then losing Johnny Damon or Pedro Martinez. This is pretty much what one read no matter where they were reading be it Yanks Fan vs Sox Fan, Surviving Grady or even the Boston Globe and Boston Herald websites.

The sentiment has appeared to change, at least a little. Yesterday the Herald reported that Mike Lowell has received a offer from the Red Sox that would guarantee three years.

The story certainly comes off as the Red Sox positioning themselves to the fans as the good guy doing everything they could to sign Lowell without harming the club in the future.

Fans have spoke out in response to the article and a sampling of the comments make it seem it's working at least to some degree.

From the comments section of the Herald story Tara said, "Don't be stupid Mike. Is it about Boston and baseball or about money. Budget your money well and retire rich and happy after 3 years. Red Sox Nation has shown the love, time to show it back."

Kevin added, "If the money is right, mike should sign this deal. Any team would be stupid to give him over 3 years. A "conservative" (and possibly smarter) offer by the sox would have been for 2 years."

Ron said, "Losing Mike Lowell is bad, but not the end of the world. A few years ago evryone wanted to sign Bill Mueller to a contract to play 3rd base and look what happened to him...The moral of the story, don't fall in love with the player(s)."

Meantime over at Yanks Fan vs Sox Fan Dionysus said "I think I'd give him four years. Im ok with that. Im pretty sure I am. Or I'm desperate."

The general consensus there seemed to be that the Red Sox offer was a take it or leave it message from the Red Sox Front Office.

The Boston.com message boards were busy with Lowell chatter with PrahaSMC saying "There's my off-season agenda. No Lowell, no ARod. Yes to fiscal sanity."

Robin_Graves said "Lowell's gone. He had a good year because Manny had a bad year. He got Manny's RBIs. That's the end of the story. I'm sure Lowell and his agent think a big raise is due. It's not. 2007 was an anomoly. Slim chance he gets 100 RBIs again with the Red Sox. No chance he hits .300."