Texas medical staff to examine Lowell!

Possible deal with Red Sox pending review of right thumb.

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers should know by the end of this weekend if they are going to trade for Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell.

The Rangers worked out a deal during last week's Winter Meetings that would send catcher Max Ramirez to the Red Sox in exchange for Lowell, but the trade has been held up pending medical reviews.


Now Lowell is scheduled to be examined by Texas' medical staff this weekend. The biggest concern is a sprained right thumb that was a problem for him at the end of this past season. Lowell will be examined to see if the thumb will require surgery. If so, it will be up to the Rangers whether they want to complete the trade.

"Nothing's changed at this point," general manager Jon Daniels said Friday.

Lowell, who turns 36 in February, is a 12-year veteran who hit .290 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs for the Red Sox in 2009. He had a .337 on-base percentage and a .474 slugging percentage while playing 107 games at third base and eight at designated hitter.

The Rangers are looking for a right-handed bat who can both DH and back up at both corner infield positions. David Murphy is expected to be the Rangers' primary designated hitter at this point and Chris Davis is at first.

Both are left-handed hitters, and the Rangers want a right-handed bat to go with them. But they also want a viable option at third base in case Michael Young goes down with an injury again. He missed most of September with a strained hamstring muscle, and the Rangers struggled to replace him with a combination of Davis, Esteban German and Omar Vizquel.

Lowell has never played first base before in his Major League career. He has played 1,470 games at third base, 15 at designated hitter and nine games at second base for the Marlins in 2005.

Lowell is a four-time All-Star third baseman who had his best season in 2007, when he hit .324 with 21 home runs, 120 RBIs and a career-high .879 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He finished fifth in the American League Most Valuable Player voting and was the MVP in the World Series when the Red Sox swept the Rockies.

Lowell played in at least 150 games in four consecutive seasons from 2004-07 but played in just 113 games in '08 and 119 games in '09 while dealing with a variety of injuries that included a sprained thumb, strained right hip and strained rib-cage muscle.

He enters the final season of a three-year contract at a salary of $12 million for 2010. The Red Sox are expected to pick up $9 million of that salary.

Ramirez played in 76 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City this past season, hitting .234 with five home runs and 43 RBIs in 274 games. He is currently playing for La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League and hitting .240 with 13 home runs and 34 RBIs.

The Rangers acquired Ramirez from the Indians on July 27, 2007, for outfielder Kenny Lofton. In '08, Ramirez hit .347 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs in 81 games in the Minor Leagues and .217 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 17 games with Texas.