Veteran infielder Jed Lowrie is off the market. He has reportedly signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets to improve their infield. Lowrie has spent three straight seasons and five of his last six with the Oakland A’s, developing into an interesting offensive threat each of the past two seasons. It remains to be seen how much the 34-year-old veteran has left in the tank after setting career-high marks in 2018.
Jeff Passan of ESPN shared the details on Twitter:
Jed Lowrie’s deal with the New York Mets will be for at least $20 million, league sources tell ESPN. Lowrie is reunited with Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, who served as his agent for years, and brings even more depth to New York’s infield.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 10, 2019
Jed Lowrie Signs with the New York Mets
Lowrie is an intriguing case after his past two seasons with the A’s. He has only appeared in more than 100 games a season four times throughout his career, two of those being 2017-18. Over the past two seasons, Lowrie has slashed .272/.356/.448 while averaging 18 home runs, 43 doubles, 83 runs scored, and 84 RBI. By comparison, his career slash line is .262/.335/.414. He averaged just 89 games, seven home runs, and 19 doubles the first nine years of his career.
Lowrie is undoubtedly a productive veteran, but which player is he closest to? He set career-high marks in games (157), home runs (23), RBI (99), and bWAR (4.8) in 2018 while finishing well above his averages in other areas. He was worth the same amount of bWAR from 2017-18 that he was from 2008-16 (8.8).
Predicting Lowrie’s value moving forward proves incredibly tricky. It is possible, and likely, that he will not be able to reproduce his 2017-18 numbers moving forward. However, he still is a veteran with a valuable skill set.
Adding Lowrie to Mets infield looks to be a good move on a solid deal. His versatility allows him to play multiple positions and could be used in a utility role moving forward. Lowrie’s offense will bring a boost to the lineup when he does start and the ability to come off the bench late in games on days he doesn’t.
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