The Athletics announced on Wednesday that they have re-acquired infielder Jed Lowrie from the division-rival Astros in exchange for minor league right-hander Brendan McCurry.
Lowrie, 32 in April, signed a three-year, $23MM contract with the Astros last offseason. He’s been with Oakland or Houston each season dating back to 2012, although the circumstances are certainly unique. The Astros acquired Lowrie in a trade with the Red Sox prior to the 2012 season, and Houston sent him to Oakland that winter in exchange for Chris Carter, Brad Peacock and Max Stassi. After a nice two years in Oakland, Lowrie signed the three-year deal with Houston last winter, but the emergence of Carlos Correa made him a bit superfluous for the Astros, thus leading to today’s trade.
Lowrie is owed $15MM over the next two seasons, including a $7.5MM salary in 2016 and a $6.5MM salary in 2017. His contract comes with a $6MM team option for the 2018 season that includes a $1MM buyout.
In 2015, Lowrie batted .222/.312/.400 with nine home runs, playing mostly third base but also logging some time at shortstop as well. Lowrie got off to a blistering start in 2015, hitting .300/.432/.567 through April 27 before suffering a torn ligament in his right thumb that required surgery. That injury kept Lowrie out of action through July 30, and while it wasn’t reasonable to expect him to maintain his April production, the injury likely sapped his production over the final two months. Lowrie hit just .194/.265/.341 after being activated, and the immediate impact made by Correa cost him his role as the team’s everyday shortstop, hence the shift to third base. With an offseason of rest under his belt, better 2016 production could be expected from Lowrie, who can help the A’s at any of the four infield positions.
The capacity in which Lowrie will be deployed by the A’s is unclear. Marcus Semien was the team’s primary shortstop in 2015, but his 35 errors were the most in the Major Leagues by a player at any position. Danny Valencia hit well enough in 2015 (.284/.356/.530) that Oakland seems likely to want to get him regular at-bats. Third base is probably the best spot for Valencia, but the A’s also have Brett Lawrie as an option at the hot corner. Lawrie, of course, has plenty of experience at second base (thus raising the possibility of a Lawrie/Lowrie double-play tandem), but some feel that Semien may ultimately end up playing second base. Lowrie could serve as a left-handed complement to Mark Canha at first base as well, considering that Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle recently tweeted that Ike Davis is likely to be non-tendered by Oakland.
McCurry, 23, was Oakland’s 22nd-round pick in the 2014 draft and rode a strong showing in 2015 to the No. 30 rank on MLB.com’s list of top Athletics prospects. The Oklahoma State product split the year between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, compiling a 1.86 ERA with 11.7 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. In total, McCurry has a 1.37 ERA in 91 2/3 innings as a pro (all coming out of the bullpen), although it should be noted that he hasn’t been moved through the system all that aggressively and has been more experienced than much of the competition that he’s faced. MLB.com notes that McCurry can spot a fastball that tops out at 93 mph on either side of the plate. His best pitch is a curveball, and while his upside is probably only that of a middle reliever, he has a high probability of realizing that potential due to his control and ability to succeed regardless of opponent handedness.
MLB.com’s Jane Lee was the first to report that Lowrie was headed back to the A’s (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
for who???
Brendan McCurry RP who has been extremely successful in college and low minors
Lol 2nd time the astros dealt Lowrie to the A’s. Lawrie throws to Lowrie covering 2nd. A’s broadcasters going to need to prep for that.
When in doubt, just say lowrie
I listened to Ray “Fossil” Fosse call an A’s game this year and he constantly referred to Bret Lawrie as “Bret Lowrie”, so I’m assuming Beane did this because I enjoys laughing at how senile his color man is.
Ray Fosse is annually one of the worst broadcasters in the game. It’s borderline pathetic.
“Hawk Harrelson” and any Yankee broadcaster are up there too.
I like Hawk Harrelson, only because he’s probably the most original broadcaster in the game, but I agree 100% that all Yankee broadcasters suck
I like the play by play for the Yankees TV YES network because he’s really neutral. He gets pretty excited for home runs from the opposing teams which I appreciate despite his scratchy voice. But yeah, hate the radio commentator
Al Hrabosky and Tim Mccarver say hi.
I completely agree as an A’s fan, but the fans on A’s websites seem to love him. I really don’t get it. I actually like Hawk (to the comment below). Rangers Tom Grieve is possibly the worst though.
He turns any situation into a story about being a catcher in the 70s – its ridiculous, that was 40 years ago now and barely any of it applies to the modern game. He also gets zero cultural references, I remember once he said he didn’t know what Saturday Night Live was – really???
Was excited to see Eric Chavez start to replace him at points in the year. If I watch A’s games on my mlb.tv and he’s on, I usually switch the broadcast to avoid him.
Probably got him cheap as Astros have Altuve and Correa. Switch hitter and he only played in 69 games for Astros last year.
He only played in 69 games last year because he injured his thumb sliding into home plate, and was on the DL for 3 months. I like Lowrie, but he’s injury prone for some reason.
guess that means the end of the Marcus Semeion experiment? Beane will never be able to live down that mistake of blowing up his winning team.
No way, Lowrie is probably going to play 2B for Oakland, Semien was brutal in the first half but got better once Ron Washington re-joined the team – remember he pretty much had never played a full season at SS before 2015.
If anything this means Danny Valencia is either the LF next year, or a goner.
Why put Valencia in left when hes a much better 3b. Semien should be the utility/super utility player where he can earn a starting spot if someone struggles
Valencia isn’t good at 3B though. He’s kind of bad everywhere he plays, both by UZR and by the eye test. At least Lawrie makes highlight reel plays every once in a while. I think Danny ends up on the Angels or White Sox, tbh
Poor guy keeps getting flipped between Astros and A’s. Wish he was still in Boston
I assume he owns a house in both cities, just goes back and forth?
I assume he thought signing a 3+1 year contract with Houston would mean he’d be in Houston a lot longer than one year!
What did Astros get in this and Hoes? Read in the other thread cash but..
Astros is dumping pay roll for a big name free agent.
Davis?
You gotta wonder if this has to do with Rasmus accepting his QO.
My bet is astros will sign 1 big name guy this off season. Could be for O’d day to solidify the bullpen
Are the Astros seriously ok with Valbuena at 3B?
I would think they hope Valbuena and Marwin Gonzalez can hold down 3B until Colin Moran is good to go.
I don’t think so. They wanted Rasmus to sign as a 1yr bridge, at least that’s what I read.
as far as the astros budget goes, there’s been a lot of talk of them non-tendering one guy out of carter, valbuena, gattis or castro, so maybe this is what they decided to do instead
That was my thought too. Serviceable enough player, but duplicitous now. Getting an arm with some (limited) upside was a good get too.
There has to be some cash going back to the A’s in this deal. For a team that just saved some cash by trading Jesse Chavez, a limited payroll, and other glaring needs…here’s hoping this deal leads to another!
Oh wow, the A’s gave up McCurry – he’s a very good relief prospect.
Based purely of stats, and with absolutely no prior knowledge of the guy, Brendan McCurry looks like a very solid return for the Astros in this deal.
Yeah, he’s a guy I’m surprised the A’s let go. He’s a name and I was expecting not to know the name of the return on the lowly Lowrie.
Beane looks to be loading up for the winter meetings.
I feel a feeling Valencia is going soon…..
Clearing salary for another move??
I don’t think the athletics would want to dump Valencia because of how he hit with them down the stretch, semiens defense although it got better was pitiful and seems more served to be a super utility player with the infield looking like Valencia, Lowrie, Lawrie and Canha
Good move
I like this deal for the Astros for the obvious reasons, Lowrie was expendible and they got a chance with a decent arm prospect. If you think about it, the Astros have kind of fleeced the A’s with Lowrie over the past few years. Receving Carter, Stassi, Peacock (yeah not much with him) and McCurry for just over $7 million.
Lowrie, 2013-2014: 5.4 fWAR, 2 playoff apps
Carter, Stassi & Peacock, entire careers with the Astros: 3.0 fWAR, 1 playoff app.
The Astros did not fleece Oakland in any way, shape or form on that trade. The A’s have won that trade with ease, sorry.
Now maybe Ray Fosse can stop saying that Lowrie and Lawrie are spelled the same. It’s been a year and he still thinks the only difference is the pronunciation.
I am a Mariner’s fan. I don’t understand what Billy Beane does now. He was smart and creative a few years ago but I think other GMs have worked out what he goers for and he has been fleeced too often.
Trading the eventual 2015 AL MVP has to be 1 step too far. Franklin Barreto better turn out to be a stud.
Josh Donaldson leaving and replacing him with Brett Laurie & Billy Butler… Jack Zurencik wasn’t that bad.
Time for a new GM or an ownership change.
“He was smart and creative a few years ago but I think other GMs have worked out what he goers for and he has been fleeced too often.”
He made the postseason every year from 2012-2014. He hasn’t been beaten in a trade since the Donaldson one, and even though the Jays have an extreme lead in the deal so far, we are years from seeing how that one shakes out – if Barreto turns into a star it will be even, and if Graveman and/or Nolin start 30 games in a season for the A’s and/or Lawrie finally breaks out the A’s might even have a shot at coming close to Donaldson’s fWAR total in Toronto. Going to take 3 seasons though.
Beane absolutely fleeced the Mets, Astros and Royals at the deadline, and the Jays in the Chavez trade too. Beane is 10x the GM Jack Z was, what an absurd thing to say, time for some to stop believing in silly narratives.
Donaldson was a big swing and miss. Can’t see Beane being asked to leave anytime soon
what could it take for the angels to get Lawrie from the a’s?