{"id":76481,"date":"2025-08-17T14:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/76481\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T14:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T14:00:08","slug":"red-sox-expected-to-show-interest-in-nathaniel-lowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/76481\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Expected To Show Interest In Nathaniel Lowe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathaniel Lowe\u2019s<\/a> tenure with the Nationals has come to an end. Washington placed him on unconditional release waivers this afternoon, the anticipated outcome after they designated him for assignment on Thursday. Waivers are a 48-hour process; those will be resolved no later than Monday.<\/p>\n

Another team could claim him and assume the remaining $2.33MM of his $10.3MM salary, but that\u2019s difficult to envision. In the likelier event that he goes unclaimed, the Nationals would remain on the hook for virtually all that money. At that point, Lowe would be free to sign anywhere. A new team would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum for the final few weeks of the season.<\/p>\n

Chris Cotillo of MassLive<\/a> writes that the Red Sox are likely to show interest once the veteran first baseman officially reaches free agency. \u00a0(To be clear, Cotillo is not reporting that Boston has any plans to claim Lowe off waivers and take on the remaining salary.) Money won\u2019t be a factor, as every team would be offering the league minimum \u2014 which comes off the Nats\u2019 remaining obligations. Assuming multiple teams are willing to offer Lowe a major league contract, he\u2019ll make his decision based on how many at-bats are available, the potential to contribute to a playoff run, and possibly geographical preferences.<\/p>\n

The Sox have used an\u00a0Abraham Toro<\/a>\/Romy Gonzalez<\/a> split at first base since Triston Casas\u2019<\/a>\u00a0knee injury. They were expected to pursue first base help before the trade deadline but didn\u2019t come away with any offensive additions. Gonzalez, a right-handed hitter, has more than held up his end. He\u2019s mashing lefty pitching at a .357\/.407\/.673 clip with six homers in 108 plate appearances.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez has a near-.900 OPS against southpaws in his career. He\u2019s a .220\/.239\/.342 hitter versus right-handers. He\u2019s only reaching base at a .270 clip against righties this season. Gonzalez has started four of the past six games (all of which have been against righties), but he shouldn\u2019t be playing regularly unless he holds the platoon advantage. That leaves a decent amount of playing time for the switch-hitting Toro. An offseason minor league signee, Toro is hitting .238\/.293\/.387 in 198 plate appearances from the left side of the plate. He\u2019d hit well in the immediate aftermath of the Casas injury but has slashed .194\/.252\/.287 over 32 games since July 1.<\/p>\n

Lowe is a lefty bat with a better big league track record. His stint in Washington was a disappointment, as he hit .216\/.292\/.373 across 490 trips to the dish. That\u2019s essentially a match for Toro\u2019s season. Between 2021-24, Lowe posted an impressive .265\/.352\/.435 showing in more than 2000 plate appearances against righty pitching. It\u2019s easy to see why the Sox would look to add him as a platoon partner with Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Toro is out of minor league options. The Sox are carrying three catchers on the active roster after claiming\u00a0Ali S\u00e1nchez<\/a> off waivers from Toronto this week. If the Red Sox were to sign Lowe, one of Toro or S\u00e1nchez would almost certainly be designated for assignment as a corresponding move. While Boston makes the most sense as an on-paper fit, teams like the Reds or Royals could also look for a first baseman or DH. A team that signs Lowe (or claims him off waivers) could theoretically retain him in 2026 via arbitration, but no club is likely to tender him the eight-figure contract that\u2019d require.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathaniel Lowe\u2019s tenure with the Nationals has come to an end. Washington placed him on unconditional release waivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[46739,49,48,462,46185,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-76481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-abraham-toro","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nathaniel-lowe","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}