Derek Lowe is returning to his Fort Myers home for a “tune-up” and that’s all he thinks he needs to get back on track after the Cleveland Indians designated him for assignment Wednesday.

Lowe said he will go back and work with his longtime personal trainer Chris Correnti, the man who also worked closely with Pedro Martinez for many years when they were all together with the Red Sox. Correnti did outstanding work with both Martinez and Lowe during their Red Sox years, but was allowed to leave. The Red Sox haven’t had someone of Correnti’s credentials since.


“Of course I would,” responded Lowe when asked if he’d like to return to the Red Sox. “I just need to go back with Chris and get my stuff right again. I know I will. I know I can pitch like I did the first two months of the season.”

In a radio appearance on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show Thursday morning, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington indicated there is some interest from the Sox.

“Derek obviously had a great run here,” Cherington said. “We’ll take a look at it. But we still need to focus on the guys here. We have great respect for Derek and what he did. We’ll take a look at it. If it makes sense to pursue, we’ll do so. That will be on the agenda today. But we still feel like we have the potential solutions internally for our rotation.”

Lowe, 39, had really struggled and pitched to a 5.52 ERA in 21 starts for Cleveland this season. The righthanded sinkerballer gave up seven runs on eight hits, two walks and a balk over 2 1/3 innings in Cleveland’s 8-3 loss Tuesday night. He had lost four straight, had a 15.88 ERA in his past three starts and an 8.80 ERA in his past 12.


But his good stretches are very good.

Lowe was 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA, but is 2-9 since with his ERA ballooning to 5.52. He is 174-156 with 85 saves in his career with Boston, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta and Cleveland.

The Indians dumped Lowe to make room for rookie righthander Corey Luber. Lowe has had more stretches where he’s gotten off kilter the last two years, but if you know Lowe, and it will be interesting to see which teams will understand this, once he gets his mechanics right he tends to go on a good roll and his veteran presence could really be helpful..

Lowe is still throwing a lot of ground balls – about 60 percent – but he’s walked way too many batters - 45 in 119 innings. The Indians took on $5 million of his $15 million salary from the Braves this offseason. The Braves no longer had room for Lowe, but lamented the deal earlier in the season when Lowe was going good.

Lowe does not believe he’s reached the end of the road, but just a bump, he knows he can get through after working with Correnti.