Braves Sign Derek Lowe

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Braves signed Derek Lowe to a 4 year, $60M contract. Their info came from the Atlanta Journal Consitution story here.

Update from the NY Daily News:

The Mets have lost their top free agent pitching target to one of their division rivals – team officials were told Tuesday that Derek Lowe spurned the Mets to take the Atlanta Braves' four-year, $60-million offer.

The deal was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on its Web site and said that the pact will be finalized after Lowe takes a physical Wednesday.

The Mets had made a three-year offer worth about $36 million to Lowe, which did not impress the pitcher and lately Met executives grew pessimistic about signing the righty, who spent the last four years with the Dodgers.

Still, the Mets believe there are attractive alternatives and now GM Omar Minaya will turn his attention to Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf. Pedro Martinez lurks on the outside as a fallback option if the Mets cannot sign Perez or Wolf. Ben Sheets, a talented injury-risk, is also on the free agent market.

Right now, the Mets have Johan Santana, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Tim Redding in their rotation. Jon Niese and Bobby Parnell are potential candidates, too, though there is some feeling in the organization that giving them more seasoning in the minors is the best route for their development.

The Braves lost John Smoltz this winter and finished second to the Yankees in their pursuit of A.J. Burnett. But they've revamped their rotation adding Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Japanese import Kenshin Kawakami. Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo round out Atlanta's starting five. Tim Hudson could return from elbow surgery in the second half.

The 35-year-old Lowe, a sinkerballer, is 126-107 in 12 seasons in the majors with the Mariners, Red Sox and Dodgers. He won each of the clinching post-season games in Boston's run to the 2004 World Series title.