By DSR Staff
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
January 6, 2013

[Editor’s Note: After a one-year hiatus, the DSR has revived our year-end awards given out to the Detroit Media. Instead of one long article presenting all of the recipients at once, we will be rolling these out over the next few days. And yes, the Raggie Trophy is a Detroit snow globe, a “Made in Detroit” coffee cozy and one of Moss’s wife’s unused tampons.]

Worst Detroit Sports Beat Writer

John Lowe — Detroit Free Press

This was an awfully tough category for the committee to determine when you consider that most of the brain-dead imbeciles who spew misinformation in Detroit are employed as beat writers.

If you constructed a monument for the “Honorable Mentions” in this category, it would be as vast as the Vietnam Memorial. And more depressing.

Tom Gage. Chris Iott. Matthew B. [Aggressive] Mowery. Vince Ellis. Chris McCosky. Helene St. James. Ted Kulfan. And that doesn’t even include the paid shills who aren’t eligible for this category because they aren’t journalists. Tim Twentyman, Jason Beck and Keith Langlois.

The category went down to the wire between John Lowe and Vincent Goodwill and ended up a split decision.

In awarding Lowe and his doofus hat the Raggie over GoodSHILL, the thinking was the following:

1) GoodSHILL had already received a Raggie for Worst Twitter Account.

2) Most of GoodSHILL’s damage is done on Twitter and not in his articles.

3) The Pistons are the red-headed stepchild of Detroit sports, while the Tigers are the DSR’s primary focus.

4) John Lowe hasn’t just been epically awful over the last twelve months; he brings a four-decade history of dumbing down Detroit sports fans to the table. If this vote was basically a dead-heat, the tiebreaker went to Lowe for his creation of the horrid “Quality Start” stat and for his 2012 tenth-place MVP vote for Raul Ibanez.

We know that this is an Award for 2013 only, but the committee (read: Moss) is unable to throw out prior prejudices. Also, if you don’t like it, sue us in the World Court.

Anyway, while GoodSHILL is a menace to the Twitter World, Lowe specializes in shitting on his audience in “Live Chats” hosted on the Free Press websight™ (Terry Foster).

And Lowe is EVERYTHING that is wrong with the old-school baseball writers; they despise the sabermetic movement and are desperately attempting to hold onto power until kids like Chris Cotillo graduate from college.

If anything solidified this honor for Lowe, it was his chat discussion on December 5, 2013. This was Lowe’s first chat after the disastrous Doug Fister trade to Washington, D.C. Before anyone could even ask Lowe a question about this awful deal, Lowe attempted a preemptive strike with this four-point defense of the trade, which might have come directly from Dave Dombrowski’s coat pocket.

1. Trading Fister clears payroll room that helps the Tigers make a bid to sign Scherzer to a long-term deal before next season starts. Dave Dombrowski said yesterday the Tigers now believe they have the capability to do that (although he didn’t refer to Scherzer directly by name).

2. The Tigers are really lacking in starting-pitching prospects in the minors, especially ones they believe can come up and help them this year if a starter goes down. So Robbie Ray gives the Tigers someone who might be a better starting pitching prospect than anyone they had. Dombrowski seems him as insurance for next year’s rotation. The Tigers also used their first seven picks — seven — in last June’s draft to take college pitchers. That was also a tacit admission they need to get more pitching into the farm system.

3. The Tigers had that beautiful thing, a starting-pitching surplus. Unless you think Smyly will be a big dropoff from Fister, then the Tigers were wise to use Fister to try to clear money for Scherzer and to improve the pitching depth in the minors.

4. And Smyly has a chance to be the first steady lefty starter since ’06, in a park made for lefty starters. The Tigers this year, like the ’84 Tigers and ’54 Indians, had a magnificent rotation without a lefthander. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to keep going without a left-hander. And Smyly will look nice starting in the road parks with the short porch to right (such as against Prince in Texas, eh?).

As bad as GoodShill’s obsession over Trey Burke is, this is actually more offensive. First, Lowe spends ZERO time discussing the fact that Dombrowski didn’t receive anywhere near full value value in return for Fister.

Lowe goes on to mention that the Tigers needed young pitchers in their farm system, as evidenced by the team taking seven — SEVEN college pitchers in the first seven rounds of the 2013 draft. Well, if Dombrowski added all of those college pitchers, why the fuck did he also need to trade one of the Top 20 starters in the majors for Robbie Ray? A guy who scouts label a “project.”

This dolt never mentions that the Fister trade actually hurt the 2014 bullpen due to the fact that the team’s best relief pitcher in 2013 is now in the starting rotation. There is about zero chance that Ian Kroll will be as effective as a 2013 Drew Smyly.

Finally, this argument that the Tigers needed a lefty in the rotation is so fucking intellectually dishonest.

The Tigers are coming off a playoff run where their starters were setting records on a nightly basis and were almost unhittable. Yeah, THAT was the team’s problem. That they didn’t have a lefty in the rotation.

JUST RETIRE ALREADY, YOU FUCKING RELIC!!!!!!

Then, this shitbag fossil responded to a user’s question about DD not getting value for Fister:

How do we know they could have gotten more? If Dombrowski hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt by now, no one ever will. Jeac08, please see my comments at the start of the chat. What the Tigers got in return was hardly the only important element of the deal. Dombrowski said there were some teams that wanted Fister but didn’t have what Tigers wanted. And as I recall, when Tigers got Fister, some folks were wondering why Tigers gave up “so much” for him. Dombrowski has been a GM for far longer than most of the trade critics have been critics. If the Tigers sign Scherzer, I think you can say this was a good trade.

This motherfucker NEVER criticizes anything the Tigers do. NEVER. Unfortunately, his last name doesn’t rhyme with “shill.”

He’s also a total Don Kelly slappy. In one chat this year, Lowe asked a commenter why he would call Kelly a “never was.” Ummm, maybe because Don Kelly is a “never was.”

Of course, the advanced-metrically-challenged Lowe refused to accept that Prince Fielder had a lousy 2013 season because his traditional stats were still “good.”

Prince Fielder is fifth in the American League with 83 RBIs. He’s on a pace for 112, which would be five more than he had last season and six above his career average.

But because Fielder’s average and homers have dropped, a perception has arisen that he’s not producing as usual. Of the six longest homerless streaks of his career, three have come this season.

Yep, there was a perception that Fielder wasn’t producing. Not TONS of actual stats that PROVED it.

This is also the moron who embarrassed himself at the Joe Nathan press conference by asking the new Tigers closer why he picked 36 as his new number. Well, SOMEONE had to ask that crucial question since David Solano wasn’t in attendance.

Congratulations, John Lowe. You managed to separate yourself in a category that includes Officer Barbrady, the star of the film “Bring it On” and a guy whom the DSR had to SHAME into getting a passport so that he could cover the Pistons in Toronto.

That’s true quality.

Honorable Mention: Tom Gage, Chris Iott. Matthew Mowery, Vince Ellis. Chris McCosky, Helene St. James and Ted Kulfan.

Best Sports Talk Radio Show — “The Discussion” with Matt Dery
Worst Sports Talk Radio Show — “The Drew Lane Show” 
Best Local TV Anchor — Lindsey Hayes — Fox Sports Detroit
Best Media Twitter Account — Tony Paul — @TonyPaul1984
Worst Media Twitter Account — TIE (@TerryFoster971 and @VGoodwill)
Worst Article/Column of the Year — Pat Caputo — Oakland Press
Best Article/Column of the Year — John Niyo — Detroit News
Best TV Broadcast Team – George Blaha and Greg Kelser — Fox Sports Detroit
Worst TV Broadcast Team – Mario Impemba and Rod Allen — Fox Sports Detroit
Best Radio Broadcast Team – Dan Miller and Jim Brandstatter — 97.1
Worst Radio Broadcast Team – Dan Dickerson and Jim Price — 97.1 Best Beat Writer – David Mayo — MLive.com
Worst Beat Writer – John Lowe — Detroit Free Press
Worst Columnist – Jeff Seidel — Detroit Free Press
Worst Media-Related Restaurant Disaster – Coming Soon
The Jamie Samuelsen Award – Jamie Samuelsen — 97.1 and Detroit Free Press
Craig Monroe Memorial Award —  Bill Shea — Crain’s Detroit
Best Columnist – John Niyo — Detroit News