FanHouse AdamLoewen

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.

I don't know much about Adam Loewen, except that his ceiling, at this point in his career, is Rick Ankiel. That's not a ringing endorsement, and is hence probably why I don't know very much about Adam Loewen. Go figure.

But this story is hilarious and sad at the same time: When the Orioles offered Loewen a chance to go back to their farm system and figure his life out as a hitter instead of a pitcher, he promised them that if they released him from his major league deal he'd re-sign with a minor league deal with the squad. But he didn't. And Jay Trucker of the Examiner is not pleased about it:

Though Loewen told the birds he would stay, and though he had already spent a lot of time in the cages with Orioles' hitting instructors, Loewen took advantage of his newfound free agency. Loewen signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, which came as a big surprise to those in and around the Orioles' organization.

For most of us, it's simple: Adam Loewen is an overpaid, underachieving, glass-armed, floppy-haired jerk. Let's hope he never takes a major league at-bat.

And ... pwned. Loewen's cash grab might have been a smart move, but it was also a cheap one, and he deserves this sort of verbal thrashing. Frankly, I'm very entertained by it. Can a player screw over a franchise more often? Please?

Adam Loewen was a promising pitching prospect who has to end his pitching career at the age of 24 due to a stress fracture in his left elbow ... a recurring injury that has hampered Loewen's progress before.

But notice I said "pitching career" and not "baseball career". Because Rick Ankiel has given all of those two-way players in college hope that if something doesn't work out on the mound, whether it be because of injury or extreme wildness, that it is possible to return to the majors as an outfielder. And that's what Loewen wants to do.

"I won't have to have surgery. If I did choose the other road with pitching, it would be a long road with no clear ending," Loewen said Saturday. "It's not a simple decision, but it's right there in front of me." (...)

"The good news is that we have a player that is very much a hitting prospect as well," Orioles president Andy MacPhail said. "And he has assured me he can still hit and wants to hit. So, the club is prepared to embark on that path with him. Once the season is over, we will start career No. 2 for Adam Loewen."

So what are Loewen's hitting credentials? Find out after the jump.