Mike Lowell: Attitude Problem?

by mike42 on Jul 31, 2005 6:38 PM EDT in News and Rumors

In this week's edition of The Sporting News (August 5th edition, page 42 in the Inside Dish article) there's a note about Mike Lowell. It says:

Marlins 3B Mike Lowell began the week with the seventh-lowest on-base/slugging percentage among major league regulars, and suddenly even his makeup is in question. Most consider Lowell a high character player, but one executive said that Lowell is not all that well-liked by his teammates. "He's a good guy, but he wears his emotions on his sleeves, and his emotions tend to be tied to his success," one agent says.

I've never heard such a thing about Lowell before. In thinking about this for a little bit, I feel like this has more to do with Mike's performance this season than his attitude. This is something of a "What came first: the chicken or the egg?" type of an argument. Did Lowell's attitude go downhill first, or was it his performance? Since he's (for the most part) been in a season long slump, it seems easy to jump on the guy for having a poor attitude.

By that I mean that a guy who "wears his emotions on his sleeves" is a good thing, at least when things are going well. In his own clubhouse, Dontrelle Willis is a much-loved example of this; nearly everyone seems to love Willis' free-spirited and fun-loving attitude. Last year, everyone (or least it seemed) was enamored with the Red Sox and their "idiots" philosophy. Had the Red Sox been losing, taking shots of Jack Daniels' in the clubhouse before games would probably have been frowned upon, but they won, so it's joked about.

Maybe I'm wrong about Lowell, but he sure seems like a nice enough guy. If nothing else, he's stayed on the right side of the law. Given that, it seems a little unnecessary to pile on the guy about his demeanor when he's in the midst of the worst season of his Major League career. Sorry that I wasn't able to find a link.

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Probably an overstatement

I'm sure that Mikey has been a bit tough to deal with this season. And why wouldn't he? I'd be surprised to find too many pro athletes who aren't going to respond negatively to the type of season he's had, given his past success and the salary he makes. Makes sense to me.

Always up or down, never down and out...

by StrandedX02 on Jul 31, 2005 6:51 PM EDT reply actions

Mike seems to be

good friends with Jeff Conine, they're always throwing ball together during pre-game and i've heard that they hang out a lot when on the road. If Jeff is friends with Lowell, i cant see how anyone else should have a problem with him. Conine mite be the poster boy for a fan friendly player, how could someone so nice to the crowd be such good friends with a clubhouse cancer?

F Leiter!!

by jsprt05 and a 1/2 on Jul 31, 2005 6:54 PM EDT reply actions

Rough year

Yeah, I'd forget about this. Sounds like a columnist looking for a story. Of course he's frustrated! Name one good team player in sports history who could have this kind of slump and NOT show some pain.

"I'm not as deep and complicated as people think." -Mike Tyson

by seamusfurr on Aug 1, 2005 2:11 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Mike Lowell: Attitude Problem?

Last year I remember Lowell stating the truth a couple times in tough spots, rather than showing support for his teammates. Perhaps that is what they are talking about.

by rferry on Aug 1, 2005 10:51 AM EDT reply actions

Truth?

What is this... truth thing you speak of?

Stop? Hell, the buck doesn't even SLOW DOWN here!

by danielfred1235 on Aug 1, 2005 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Truth?

On a show with Hank Goldberg last year, Lowell said the Marlins weren't getting sufficient production from the catcher position and how much he missed Pudge. While true, it ignored the hard work of Redmond and Treanor.