The Athletics announced Wednesday that infielder Jed Lowrie is returning to the organization on a minor league contract. The Excel Sports client will be in Major League Spring Training and compete for a job.
Lowrie, 37 in April, rejoins the A’s on the heels of a disastrous two-year stint with the Mets — one which fans would surely prefer to forget. It was an unexpected match at the time, but now-former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen signed Lowrie to a two-year, $20MM contract in his first season in charge of baseball operations for the Mets. New York already had a largely full infield mix, but Van Wagenen nevertheless brought in one of his former clients — surely in hopes of cultivating the type of depth that is so often seen on today’s championship clubs. As a switch-hitter capable of playing all four infield slots, it was reasonable to expect that Lowrie could provide value in a semi-regular role, even if there wasn’t a clear-cut starting position available to him.
As it turned out, though, Lowrie only tallied seven plate appearances over his two years with the team. A knee injury suffered in Spring Training 2019 wound up costing him nearly the entire season. It also set in motion a bizarre chain of non-updates on Lowrie’s medical status.
Even with a new front-office regime and new manager in place, the Mets were as vague and nebulous as ever in divulging information about Lowrie’s ailments. Timelines were always presented in muddy fashion, and the eventual reveal of Lowrie’s diagnosis proved similarly perplexing when Van Wagenen revealed this past summer that Lowrie had “posterior cruciate ligament laxity” in his left knee. Lowrie did not play in 2020.
While the circus-like nature of his tenure in New York is something both Lowrie and the Mets surely hope to put behind them, it should of course be pointed out that a healthy Lowrie is a very fine player. Lowrie landed that $20MM deal with the Mets after turning in a .272/.356/.448 batting line in 1325 plate appearances with Oakland from 2017-18. That performance earned him an All-Star nod in ’18.
Injuries have slowed Lowrie throughout his career, but from 2012-18 he was a decidedly above-average hitter, slashing .264/.338/.415 in more than 3500 plate appearances despite the bulk of those PAs coming at Oakland’s cavernous home park. He’s never been an especially strong defender at any position but has been playable at shortstop, second base and third base throughout his career. It’s unlikely that he can still handle shortstop at age 37 and with two seasons of knee injuries behind him, but Lowrie ought to be in the mix to win a roster spot and take at-bats at second base.
$10 says Lowrie stays healthy this year and also productive
Can’t take that.
Billy Conigliaro passed away. While I realize he wasn’t a star, it deserves mentioning. RIP Billy.
Uggghhh you’re probably right. Thief.
Not after the injury he had.
Unfortunately as a mets fan I bet you are right
Sorry did you say $10MM?
He can have a productive year and sign a big contract with the Mets
I rarely begrudge a player his money, but the guy owes the Mets.
Maybe when he retires he can spend a season in the stands dressed as Mr. Met. Call it even.
Odd take. They signed a 34 year old with 4 healthy seasons to his name, they knew the risk
@nate
Usually sure, that’s the right thought process. But Lowire flat out just disappeared. The team never was straight with what was going on w him. He wasn’t rehabbing an injury, he was practically just AWOL.
Thinking that a veteran player “owes” a team money based off a contract the team offered him is just plain wrong. Where were you when he was getting massively underpaid the first 6-7 years of his career? It doesn’t work like how you think it does. MLB owed HIM due to its backwards salary structure and bizzare “ownership” aka “team control” of players.
I think it was a joke. Color me wrong if Lowrie does indeed dress up as Mr. Met.
Reminds me on the Office when they decided to have the adult entertainer answer phones as they paid for an hour’s work, and they were getting it.
Jed should get a headset for himself.
@Mr. Met- Well how does Mr. Met feel about that?
LOL good luck on that. We all knew it was a bad signing. It’s not like he doesn’t have a history of injuries.
Brodie’d
Good ballplayer. Hope he can find some success again.
METS LEGEND, THX U FOR YUR SERVICE. YOU TORTURED MY NATS
I didn’t realize he was still playing.
Neither did he
How much y’all want to bet he doesn’t play more than 50 games
Oakland seems to be the only place he’s ever healthy in. Not saying it’s causation, but there is a strange correlation.
Lol
Will they name a street after him in NY?
@Barkerboy- Yes, Lowrie Street
You mean New York Met legend Jed Lowrie?
Mets miss him already!
Uggghhh I bet he plays 155 games this season
Welcome back Jed!
Just take the money and kerp your mouth shut, Mr. Lowrie!!
Hey Jed……clamp it!!!
He’s an A’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cespedes came back as well!
@hammertime510- Cespedes did say Bob Melvin was the best Manager he ever had. The A’s might have to go visit him at his rancho? He will go back to All-star form if signed by the A’s.
Cespedes is done. No bat speed, no durability, and if he loved Melvin so much why did the A’s trade him in the middle of his contract that even the Red Sox couldn’t get rid of fast enough?
Choo (to pair with his longtime teammate Andrus) is a way, way better idea. Plenty of DH ABs for him, and he can sub in RF if needed.
Encarnacion (another former A’s player for all of like 5 minutes before they made a bad decision to send him back to the Jays) is another one they should look at.
EE couldn’t bat a buck fifty last season. He’s done
PHONY….
20M VACATION FOR 2 YEARS
Yah, multiple injuries and surgeries are a glorious delight. Not to mention all of the physical therapy.
How do you know how to log on the site, but have no idea how MLB structures its salaries? It’s also not your money, you do not own the Mets. Wake up.
Yes I’m sure he injured himself and kept on doing it on purpose for two years, and then his plan all along was to sign a minor league contract after that.
Orrrrrr, an injury prone player was injured.
I believe one of the 10 Commandments is Thou Shalt Not Steal. And while there are many players who could confess to this, Chris Davis, Martin Perez, Jordan Zimmermann just to name a few, Lowrie just couldn’t overcome the myriad of injuries that he was going through. And to this day, I’m not sure what the maladies were but did read that he had a balky left knee. It’s not like the movie My Left Foot, which I think won an Oscar for best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), but there seemed to be more underlying issues with Lowrie. I like the minor league deal by the A’s for him just on the odd chance that there’s something left in the tank. I hate to even think this, but Lowrie should be made to give (at least) $17.5M back to the Mets.
Go after BVW for it, he used to be Jed’s agent.
Disgusting take, where is this energy when players are massively underpaid during their 20s? You are literally telling a millionaire to give money back to a billionaire, this is maybe the dumbest take Ive ever seen. You are not a good person in real life if you believe this.
Hey Marty, lighten up and get off your high horse.. Of course, if the bank teller runs after you in the parking lot and hands you money you have to take it.
Well that was fun for Mets fans. 8 plate appearances and no hits for $20m. Proving the point that even two year contracts can be bad. Honestly don’t know how he doesn’t at least think about giving some of that back. Maybe make a big charitable contribution in NYC.
Do you even know how taxes work? Do you really think Lowrie made exactly $20M? Agent fees, personal expenses, heaven forbid a divorce, etc, he probably made about $3M when all was said and done.
You also seem to think that money belonged to you? You arent a billionaire team owner, but do you think that one day you might be? You are never going to be. Stop it.
DOUBLES KING
I’m calling it – .270 with 15 HR and 75 RBI!
Yeah something about Oakland makes Lowrie and Cespedes thrive. Billy, let’s bring back Yoenis as well as see if we can catch lightning in a bottle
Great player for the Mets. They didn’t need to sign DLM instead. LoL. Mets probably bring back Eduardo Nunez.
The legend of Jed Williams will live on.
His salary should be donated to the Mets.
When will Mets retire his number?
If healthy, a better backup option than Villar who just stole $3.5-mil from the Mets. As did Lowrie. And Bonilla.
We passed up on DJL for this moucher, sneakiest player in the mlb
$20 million dollars for 8 plate appearances. No mystery why Cohen gave BVW the boot the moment he took over. Watch Lowrie end up on the opening day roster and platoon with Pinder at 2B
One Boston writer said years ago back in 2011 that Ned Lowrie will not play if he has a hangnail. He was a talented player with no heart whatsoever
Yeah but he was talking about his twin brother
One Boston sports writer Nick Cafardo said years ago back in 2011 that Jed Lowrie will not play if he has a hangnail. He was a talented player with no heart whatsoever. A could have been who stole money from teams.
Funny, as an A’s fan I just see him as a switch-hitter with better plate discipline than almost anyone else on our team.
Cafaro is now dead, guess he got a real bad hangnail.
He didn’t steal a dime from the Mets. They knew the risk when they signed Lowrie. Now if he didn’t play cause he’s a wuss and lazy that’s another story.
It is a figure of speech not meant to be taken literally.
Glad Jed is back in Oakland. This guy is a baseball player to say the least. I am almost sure he will rebound this year. I am a little bias though considering he is my 2nd favorite player. But for real he is a baseball player and Oakland did get a steal today.
This seems fitting.
Mets fans loved this guy, surprised they didn’t extend him after seeing how well he could handle New York. Haven’t heard this guys name mentioned in 2 years! Also, remember the Mets signed this guy over DJ Lemahieu. Ouch.
20 MM $ for 2 years of service at 2nd base that actually didn’t happen ’cause of injuries? not bad, not bad at all, Still, if healthy, Lowrie can definitely rebound in Oakland.
We will sign him every year until he’s 50
This guy is trash. Went to NY and hid from the media for 2 years with a “knee injury”. Funny how no one saw that on the Medicals before he signed. Also funny that he’s healthy enough to sign another contract.
If he plays this year, he should be required to pay back the Mets his entire salary!