It doesn’t appear Mets infielder Jed Lowrie will end up playing for the club this year, Tim Britton of The Athletic relays. The regular season is only a couple weeks from ending, but manager Luis Rojas said Wednesday he’s not sure whether Lowrie is participating in baseball activities.
“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Rojas said of Lowrie, who Britton notes has been eligible to come off the 45-day injured list for a week.
Lowrie has missed all but nine games since last season as a result of leg problems, including to his left knee this year. Since signing a two-year, $20MM contract with the Mets before 2019, Lowrie has totaled zero hits over eight plate appearances. That obviously wasn’t what the Mets had in mind when they picked up the switch-hitting Lowrie, now 36, off two straight healthy and highly impressive seasons with the Athletics.
Lowrie spent his best seasons in Oakland at second and third base (primarily the keystone), but New York hasn’t been without solutions at those positions during his prolonged absence in 2020. The Mets have mostly given second to a resurgent Robinson Cano and third to J.D. Davis, while Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme have been among those to fill in at those spots when necessary. The club’s still a disappointing 19-24, but it’s certainly not because Lowrie has been unavailable. And after back-to-back frustrating seasons, it seems likely the Mets will wave goodbye to Lowrie in free agency during the upcoming winter, ending what has been a regrettable union for the club.
Al Hirschen
Is it true that he ,Lowrie has put a group together to buy the Mets?But he’ll be a absentee owner
king beas
^ that was a good one props to you
jallopy
Hilarious
trendysayings
Mets don’t need him anyway, unless he’s coming back to be a pitcher
scottymo17
Free money Lowrie.. enjoy … bye
Rich Hill’s Elbow
Just retire already…
bravesfan
He’s still owed a solid Amt of money to basically not play at all. Mets have an outstanding ability to sign guys, hurt them, rarely play them, and pay them way too much
jim stem
Does Lowrie actually GET his full contract? If so, talk about ‘highway robbery’!
skip 2
Sadly every penny!
T_Rexx2
Yes but usually insurance pays for a lot of it
AHH-Rox
Not the full 20 million, but only because the 2020 salary is prorated due to the shortened season.
HALfromVA
Maybe they can get Lowrie to pay the rest of the Bobby Bonilla contract.
Bill
Shocker.
getrealgone2
and that’s the end of him
Oooof
That contract was a really sweet way for Brodie to congratulate his 34-year old former client on playing full seasons for the second and third times in his career.
johnnydubz
But that would be a conflict of interest and after seeing how baseball has handled Astros,Yankees,Red Sox that possibly could never happen
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
$2.5MM per plate appearance for his Mets career…
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
Actually, thinking on it, this season is of course prorated, so the Mets actually got a bargain!
dave frost nhlpa
Difference maker.
bobtillman
“Daddy, what’s the definition of a dysfunctional organization?”
“Well dear, when you ask the manager about a player, and he says ‘I don’t know what he’s doing'”.
Briffle2
Right, what a swindle on Lowrie’s part. Making millions and apparently has no contact with the team so obviously he’s back home chilling. If I was the Mets I’d make the guy stay in camp and rehab at the very least.
I’m still maintaining that he’ll be back next year with Oakland and play 140 games.
Joggin’George
Lowrie is not “at home chilling”. He’s suffering from an injury that requires massive rehab. Probably harder work than if he was healthy. He’s injured. It’s not like he wants to be injured. I don’t get the hate for him on this board.
of9376
Where is he rehabbing? His own manager just said he doesn’t even know what he’s doing.
Briffle2
Good question. Cosmodeus must know more than Lowrie’s manager.
Joggin’George
Do you seriously think Lowrie is sitting at home doing nothing? He’s been to training camp, he’s sought to return in the recent past, therefore he must be, or at least recently have been rehabbing, which is hard work.
txman22
He’s probably hanging with Cespedes on his FL ranch.
Briffle2
Do they even know each other? With how often the two were hurt, were they even with the team at the same time?
MafiaBass
They played together on the Athletics on 13-14 until Cespedes was traded for Lester
Oooof
Maybe they met at holiday parties when they had the same agent: Brodie Van Wagenen.
jolink65
I can’t believe there was actually a time when Mets fans were arguing that Lowrie was a much better signing than LeMahieu. That argument could not have aged any worse.
Ducky Buckin Fent
Totally forgot about this guy.
Turned out to be a bad signing. Happens to every team & GM.
Anyway, I’m glad to see Robbie is playing well.
angt222
Even if he was healthy to play, he’d be taking away at bats from Gimenez or Guillorme so let him heal up.
joepanikatthedisco
“I don’t know what he’s doing”… priceless!
solaris602
Has to be a top 5 quote of the year. In the never ending New York sitcom Brodie would have chimed in from across the room and said, “Oh, I have Jed on the phone now, and we’re talking extension.”
SalaryCapMyth
Lowrie is a free agent after this season. Will be interesting to see what kind of offers he gets. I won’t be surprised if he retires. Sucks for Mets fans. Would have been nice if the money could have gone to a productive player.
Joggin’George
He’s done. He’ll retire. I feel pretty secure in this prediction. He probably wouldn’t even be ready to play next year.
4WSsince04
Only a stupid GM would sign him considering his history……wait a stupid GM did hire him for for way too much. It should have been a smaller salary with big incentives….
mets1536
Keep Laughing…
You won’t Be in 2021
New OWNER
WILL SPEND BIG!!!!!
Briffle2
They can spend a billion dollars and it won’t matter if they’re signing a bunch of Jed Lowrie’s.
SalaryCapMyth
I’m kind of on your side. A new owner is exactly what the Mets need. It’s difficult imagining Cohen being WORSE than the Wilpons but if I were you, I would dial the expectations back a little. You are setting yourself up for dissapoontment.
What if Cohen DOESN’T spend all that much money? What if instead he decides to just take it all down and rebuild, the only money added to payroll being bad contracts for the sake of better prospects? Maybe consider a wait and see position with a dash of optimism.
Joggin’George
I don’t get the Mets fans always calling for the team to spend and complaining that they’ve been cheap. First of all, they have a very high payroll already. Secondly, big contracts are more often a burden; they don’t equate to winning.
Bill
Absolutely. The Mets have spent plenty of money. You can make the case that they have not spent wisely, but they aren’t cheap. This contract alone should be proof of that.
Roll
i actually posted this in another thread. If you remove the money they get back from insurance to wright and cespedies they are middle of the pack in payroll usually in the 15-17 range.
Only once in the past i think it was 15 years or 20 years were they in the top 10 ( i couldnt figure out if opt outs included in this year opening day salaries or not but if it didnt this year would make 2 ). they have even had years the pirates were ahead of them in payroll. For the largest media market that would be pretty cheap.
Oooof
Hopefully the owner brings in a new GM so the money isn’t going to the GM’s former clients.
Ronk325
How can a manager “not know” the status of a player in his organization?
solaris602
He probably knows his status full well but didn’t want the opportunity to diss him as he’s heading out the door to pass by.
ChangedName
He’s only a year away from another successful stint with the A’s.
ham77
Jed’s dead baby. Jed’s dead.
Larry David's Joe Pepitone Jersey
Yogi Berra had more hits as a Met than Jed Lowrie
Ducky Buckin Fent
Yessir.
But…Lowrie is tied with you and I on the Mets All Time list for base hits.
Uh?
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
I like that! I plan to use it someday!!
Ducky Buckin Fent
My gift to you, @hubcap.
4WSsince04
Finished Met career PA 7, Hits 0, Walks 1……hay at least he got on base once…..
Shoe in for Met HOF as least affective signee ever…
Mlb1971
I wish there were more incentive based contracts in the mlb. Walk year….playing hard for the next contract….
rudyrudnick
the mets wasted their money on him and cespedes too
Bill
Cespedes’ contract did not turn out well but it was a good signing at the time.
Yes, in retrospect it was a bad deal for them but you couldn’t have known that at the time.
rudyrudnick
homer the mets mascot had more hits than lowerie as a met LOL
Bill
Homer???
rudyrudnick
HOMER WAS A DOG THE METS MASCOT BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE METS MY ATTEMPT AT HUMOR
of9376
Rojas with the subtle jab at Lowrie. Basically calling him out for being a fraud.
Joggin’George
I don’t understand why the manager’s statement of ignorance is being held against Lowrie. It’s just Rojas saying he’s out of the loop and doesn’t have any info. That’s on the manager and the organization. It gives us literally no information about the player.