Former All-Star second baseman Jed Lowrie tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he’s retiring after 15-year Major League career and a professional career that spanned parts of 18 seasons. Lowrie tells Slusser that he’s “gotten to the point where I listen to my body and when I think about playing another 162, I don’t want to do that.” He adds that he’s looking forward to spending time with his young family and is already an assistant coach with his daughter’s softball team.
Now 38 years old, Lowrie was the No. 45 overall draft pick by the Red Sox back in 2005. The Stanford product reached the Majors three years after being drafted, hitting .258/.339/.400 in 81 games as a rookie with the Sox in 2008. He spent parts of four seasons in Boston before being traded to the Astros in exchange for reliever Mark Melancon.
That stop in Houston wound up being for just one year, as the Astros traded Lowrie to the A’s on the heels of a solid .244/.331/.438 showing and netted Brad Peacock, Chris Carter and Max Stassi in that swap. He’d spend the next two seasons in Oakland, performing at a high level (.272/.334/.405) before reaching free agency and signing back with the Astros. In a full deja vu sequence, Lowrie spent one season in Houston and was traded to Oakland a second time — this time in exchange for righty Brendan McCurry.
Lowrie spent the next three seasons in green and gold, culminating with a 2018 All-Star season that saw him club a career-best 23 home runs. That standout campaign helped Oakland secure a postseason berth, though the 2018 A’s fell to the Yankees in the one-game Wild Card format. Lowrie went on to ink an ill-fated two-year deal with the Mets, with whom he was limited to just nine games due to ongoing knee troubles. Lowrie reached free agency and once again signed with the A’s, making good on a minor league deal and reemerging as the team’s regular second baseman. He signed one final deal with Oakland for the 2022 season but was limited to just 50 games.
Overall, Lowrie spent parts of seven seasons in Oakland, four in Boston, two in Houston and two in New York (though he was on the injured list for the bulk of that time). He’ll retire as a career .257/.330/.406 hitter (103 wRC+) with 121 home runs, 292 doubles, 17 triples, 590 runs scored, 594 runs batted in and eight stolen bases. He made an All-Star team and reached the postseason in six of his 15 seasons as a big leaguer.
Given his obvious talent, he’d surely have further padded those totals had he been able to avoid the injured list with more regularity, but health troubles followed him throughout his career. Lowrie most notably was plagued by a torn ligament in his thumb, a capsule tear in his knee and a broken finger in his right hand, amid several other nagging injuries. It’s easy to wonder what might have been with better health, but Lowrie’s career was still valued nearly 20 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, and just shy of 16 WAR per Baseball-Reference. He was regularly an average or better hitter when healthy, peaking with particularly big showings at the plate in 2010, 2013 and 2017-18. All told, he banked more than $60MM in salary over the course of his career and will be remembered particularly fondly for his time in Oakland.
What’s next for Lowrie isn’t clear, but he tells Slusser that he “loves the game too much” to simply ride off into the sunset. Lowrie adds that he has a “deep-rooted obsession with seeing the game continue to evolve, continue to get better, continue to promote participation and see it thrive because it’s the best game in the world.” Best wishes to Lowrie in whatever path he takes in the next step of what sounds like a lifelong baseball journey.
mets legend!
Came here to comment exactly this lol
Lowrie says his body no longer wants to play 162 games. But it never did so this is nothing new. When did Lowrie play 162 games? Never!
He only had five seasons where he played more than 97 games.
He was a solid player coming up but the Sox traded him primarily because he couldn’t stay healthy.
What a disaster that trade was. I’m happy for Melancon that he put it back together, but pitching well in Boston would’ve been nice too
K
The Red Sox have horrible luck trading for relievers
If I recall (and I’m too lazy to research it), Melancon bombed in maybe the first 3 weeks of that season, but was decent the rest of the year. But his start to the season was so horrendous, his ERA remained pretty bloated to season’s end.
Lowrie more or less punched his own ticket out of Boston. When he had chances, there would be injury/illness from ordinary, to odd from mono onward and the Sox grew tired of waiting on him, regardless of the talent.
Missing 3/4 of the 1 season from mononucleosis.. forget which 1 exactly.. ’09 perhaps? When he was being counted upon imo put him out of the good graces of the brass.
I’m sure it’s more in the context of a 162 game schedule. It’s probably all the workouts, practices and traveling plus spring training then however many actual games you’re in.
Is it too late to sign with the Mets?
The Astros need to replace Altuve. Perfect fit.
No wait….. it’s not a replacement if the replacement is always hurt too.
Happy Retirement Jed.
I’m hoping he does one of those moves where he signs with a former team so he can retire in that uniform. The humor of him retiring in a Mets uniform never having played for them would be great. Not that the Mets would ever go for it, unless they appreciate the humor.
Stole $20 million from the Mets.
Jason Bay 2.0
He still had to say he was a New York Met so he earned it
Nobody forced the Mets to sign him.
And Brodie VW didn’t have to pay him out of his pocket. If Jed and BVW were a thorn in the Wilpon’s paw that got them to sell, then he’s a Mets Hall of Famer in my eyes.
Bay didn’t steal any money from the Mets. Bay was born to play at Fenway with his swing enhanced by the Wall, and the Wall minimizing his defensive shortcomings. It was just the opposite in Citifield, and Minaya chose to ignore that.
Joe, Bay I also believe was using (if I’m wrong bad on me) and after his season in Boston I think is when the league started to crack down
How about Bobby Bo? I wonder if the Mets are the worst at bad contracts?
Angels are close 2nd
Every team that spends has them.
The Yankees also have a track record of handing out terrible contracts.
Yes, but at least Bay actually played.
377194 – Totally Agree.
2 years $20,000,000
7 at bats $2,857,000 per at bat
1 walk $20,000,000 per walk
0 hits, 0 hits, 0 hits
Stolen $!!,!!!,!!!
Jed only ‘played’ for the Astros and A’s
Pretty sure him playing 162 games at any point in his career was an impossibility.
But to have a 14-year MLB career overcoming his numerous injuries throughout is quite remarkable.
Next MLBTR chat host?
He was a legendary Met
I remember when he, John Lester, and Jacoby Ellsbury were supposedly going to the Twins for Johan Santana….instead, they received an island of misfit toys from the Mets.
Carlos Gomez was in the trade if I remember correctly.
Yes he was
His best years were with Oakland, good solid player. Too bad he couldn’t give the Mets the same, but that’s not on him, it’s just bad luck.
“Four years too late” – Mets fans, probably
It’s 2023 with a new owner pushing all of his chips in. They’re probably past that.
next mlbtr player chat?
Most of comments here are coming from people who have never played a sport past high school P.E. class at most.
Definitely assuming a fact not in evidence there skippy…
So they can’t have opinions?
And a lot of people who played sports are terrible at analyzing them.
He deserves a spot on the A’s Mount Rushmore.
I am just here for the Mets jokes. He seems like a great dude and I wish him the best though.
Yet another awful trade by Bloom. Oh wait.
I thought he retired in 2019
What happened in New York is on the Mets former regime. BVW signed him for unknown reasons and he got hurt in ST. Lowrie wanted to have surgery to repair the knee and the Wilpons wouldn’t sign off on it. Just bizarre. Lowrie was not to blame.
It definitely was. I remember nobody involved was talking about it but it’s completely understandable why Lowrie stayed quiet.
Jed Lowrie is the biggest dog in Mets history. They chose him over DJ. After sitting out a whole year, he came to spring training in a knee brace, showing that he didnt want to play. He should be in jail. Robbed the Mets of 20 million dollars
That was on the Wilpons. He wanted to get knee surgery after the 2019 season when rehab wasn’t working. They didn’t allow it and threatened Lowrie with filing a grievance if did. He had surgery as soon as the Mets’ 2020 season was over and was able to come back to play for the A’s in a few months.
@YankeesBleacherCreature yeah defend the guy who got paid 20 million for doing absolutly nothing. Its obvious he decided to take off year one and then was planning on having a good second season till he found out the season got shortened due to covid, decided to extend his vacation to two years. Dont be gullible. The Wilpons were not the best owners but this guy is a bum
nbcsports.com/bayarea/athletics/jed-lowrie-admits-…
Was he was a bust for the Mets? Sure. But that was not entirely Lowrie’s fault. Covid didn’t hit us until Feb. 2020. Lowrie wanted surgery in late 2019. If you choose to be willfully ignorant of the facts and stick with your position along with insulting him, then there is nothing more for me to say.
@YankeesBleacherCreature the article came out April 2021 after the fact. This is just what Jed Lowrie said. He never came out publicly in mid 2019 and said “I need ankle surgery and the wilpons won’t let me”. Don’t fall for this guys BS. California guy that didn’t want to play in NY so he decided to take a 2 year vacation and disrespect the fans
In the 2019 season, Lowrie was attempting rehab to come back to play which evidently made very little progress. This stuff happens to pitchers often hoping to prevent TJS but need to eventually go under the knife. It’s possible Lowrie didn’t want to create a media stir and team disruption by publicly commenting after the Mets rebuffed him. Going public wouldn’t make the Wilpons to change position. Nor is every player outspoken to the press. He chose to speak in 2021 bc he was finally ready to play. You do you, man.
Congrats Jed on a great career. See you in Cooperstown!
Tickets are $29.99
He was traded to Oakland as part of the Andrew Bailey trade. Not to Houston
That is incorrect. Josh Reddick was part of the Andrew Bailey trade. If only there was a place on this website where you could look up transactions. 🙂
“Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed,
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed.
And then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground come a bubblin’ crude.
Oil, that is.
Black gold.
Texas tea.”
Didnt realize that he was traded twice by the Stros within several years.
The title of his audio book should be this: “Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed.”
Wow. It’s been a long career. I kinda wish the Red Sox kept him longer but I’m sure whoever we traded him for got us 07 or 13. Hard to remember that far back.
Dang I was hoping to see him bounce back and forth between As and Astros at least another 3 times : (
Dude tended to go on vacation after signing nice contract.
So many clutch hits. Kept us afloat for a while after losing Cespedes and before Olsen and friends came up.
Always though that a name like Jed Lowrie belonged at the OK Corral..
$60 million, he certainly made the most of it. Good for him.
In other news: Robin Yount, Wade Boggs, Graig Nettles & Tris Speaker are retiring as well…
I enjoyed watching Jed play in the AL West and glad he got his big pay day with the Mets. It was too bad he was injured with them. He was a better than average player and fun to watch.
He also set the Oakland Athletics’ single season doubles record in 2017 with 49—not too shabby, given the team’s 54 seasons in the East Bay Area.