Big Papi or Lowell

In a recent post, Tony Massarotti at the Boston Globe intimated that Mike Lowell might be a better solution at DH than David Ortiz. Here's the money quote:

"...but remember that Lowell finishing 2009 with a better batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage than David Ortiz. And even if Lowell has range at third base, he still has Hall of Fame hands that make him a better and more versatile defensive option than Ortiz."

So is Mazz correct? Is Lowell a better roster option than Big Papi? Well, his last point about defensive flexibility is a good one. If Lowell is healthy, he'd be a good back-up at third, and I would guess he'd be a good defensively at first (again assuming he's healthy). Ortiz is a defensive liability at first each time he takes the field (usually only in some interleague games).

But as a hitter? According to fangraphs.com (and in addition the comments made by Mazz), in 2009, Lowell was a superior bat to Ortiz (using Park Adjusted Runs Above Replacement as the metric): 5.3 to 3.5. Not a huge difference. Overall on Wins Above Replacement, Lowell was a little better: 1.2 to 0.8

But in 2008, the gap was even wider (WAR: 3.2 to 2.0 for Lowell). Lowell had a terrific year with the glove, but Ortiz was more valuable with the bat, though not by a huge margin. Of course, if you go back to 06-07, Ortiz was clearly more valuable, and substantially with the bat.

But this isn't 2007, and though Big Papi turned it on after those first few miserable months, he is not the basher of old. Depending on how the roster positions fall out, it might be better for the Sox to carry Lowell as the DH and let Ortiz go.

I hate to say it, but Mazz might be right.