QUINCY -- They turned out by the hundreds yesterday to present Derek Lowe a golden key to the City of Presidents and implore the Red Sox to re-sign the affable sinkerballer.
"We want to see Derek stay," Mayor William J. Phelan said amid a sea of Lowe supporters in the November chill at Adams Field. "He's obviously got many more years of good pitching in front of him, and he certainly proved what he was worth last month, no question about it."
Actually, Lowe acknowledged there may be serious questions about his future in Boston, even after he won the clinchers of all three postseason series to help the Sox capture the franchise's first world championship in 86 years.
Lowe, who filed Monday for free agency, said a number of teams in both leagues already had contacted him to express interest in signing him. But none were the Sox.
"It's probably more teams than people might think," Lowe said, declining to identify them or specify how many have expressed interest. "And they're pretty good quality teams, too."
The Sox have remained tightlipped about their strategy for dealing with their prospective free agents, most notably Lowe, Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek, and Orlando Cabrera. But there were strong indications that team officials initially have channeled their energy into trying to retain Varitek and Martinez. The Sox also have arranged to meet next week with Cabrera's agent, but they had no immediate plans to address Lowe's situation.
By last night, the Sox had exhausted seven of the 15 days after the World Series in which they have exclusive rights to negotiate with their free agents (other teams can express interest, but may not discuss financial terms until at least Nov. 12). And Lowe, who had expected to hear from the Sox within a couple of days after the World Series if they wanted to re-sign him, was reluctant to draw conclusions about the team's silence, though he indicated his "gut feeling" was not promising.
"One thing about playing in this city is that you can kind of see what's going on just by reading the paper," he said. "Since I really haven't seen one thing said about them wanting me to come back, it kind of tells you the writing might be on the wall as far as your career here."
Lowe said he has seen "all the negative stuff" about the Sox lacking interest in retaining him and has repeatedly heard "the misperception that I don't want to come back." He reiterated he would relish remaining in Boston as part of the core of players who helped win the Sox' first World Series since 1918, but he indicated that winning the championship could help ease the disappointment of moving on.
