Lowell trade is off, needs surgery

Yesterday Mike Lowell was in Texas to have a physical that would finalize the trade that would send the 34 year old third baseman to the Rangers for catching prospect Max Ramirez. His physical revealed that Lowell needs radial collateral ligament surgery. This find cancelled the trade and Mike Lowell will remain in Boston. The surgery will take place after Christmas and should require 6-8 weeks to recover. He should be ready by the first or second week of Spring Training.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe had this to say with Mike Lowell staying in Boston it presents some interesting dilemmas, here are his scenarios.
Option A: Lowell plays third base.
Option B: Lowell plays first base with Kevin Youkilis moving to third.
Option C: Lowell becomes a right-handed DH and occasional infielder.
Option D: Lowell shows he can play in spring training, gets traded again.
Option E: Lowell gets released.

"The interesting dynamic will be how Lowell handles returning to the Red Sox knowing that Theo Epstein was willing to trade him to Texas for a Triple-A catcher coming off a bad season. The general impression is that Lowell is a pro's pro, but how would you feel if your boss ran you out then took you back 11 days later because he had no choice? This marks the third time in recent years that the Red Sox tried to take Lowell out of the mix. There were trade discussions with Colorado in 2006; the Sox tried to sign Mark Teixeira in 2008 and now we have the aborted trade to Texas. He's bound to be a little miffed. "