On Monday, December 15, Astros GM, Jeff Luhnow, announces the signing of Jed Lowrie, to a 3-year $23 million contract. During the offseason, Houston is where Lowrie resides every year. After making $5.3 million in 2015, Jed gets a raise, as he will be making on average $7.6 million/year for the next 3 seasons. Reportedly he is expected to be the starting SS for Houston in 2015, and hopefully beyond.
What Jed Lowrie brings to the Minute Maid Park is a boatload of potential and an education from Stanford, which helps as it is always good to have a smart guy in the locker room. After the career year he had in 2013 putting up a .290 batting average with 175 hits, 45 doubles, and 75 RBI’s, he had a down year in 2014 only batting .249. 2014 was only his second full season though, because from 2008-2012 he only averaged to play in 71 games. What this means is that he has only had 2 true full seasons to prove himself, so he has not yet gotten the opportunity to really show how good he could be long-term. In his first full season, he played like a $12-14 million/year guy, but in 2014 he slipped back down to the type of player when he was making $1-2 million/year. Usually a player like this would not be worth $7.6 million/year, yet, but considering he is a switch-hitter who can play either SS, 2B, or 3B, and was a top 70 prospect when he was in the minors, a team like Houston can see value in his potential.
The Houston Astros have a good amount of infield options (4) to play 3B or short, but most all of them are young and aren’t all going to make it. So considering the 26.8 team average age of the Astros, Jed Lowrie will make out to be a good leader for these new prospects, as Jed himself was not too long ago a top prospect. The Astros are reporting right now that they plan to have Jed start at short, but that may change as one the other young stars (possibly Jonathan Villar) might take Jed’s job, as the new manager, A.J. Hinch (a former director of player development and vice president of pro scouting) could very well shape one of the other infielders, preferably Villar, into a rising star. Even though Hinch will have many possible lethal combinations to choose from in the infield, $23 million is a lot to spend on a 6th infielder whose starting role is not guaranteed. Yes Houston was last in the AL in hitting in 2014(.243 batting average), but their pitching wasn’t good either (4.14 ERA). The Astros’ GM started off with two nice moves this offseason by signing top relievers Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek, but to turn around and spend $23 million on a position player, was not the right move, as the Astros already have plenty of depth. The $23 million could have been spent on a starter like Jake Peavy or Kris Medlen, as the starting pitching should be #2 on the Astros offseason priority list.
Overall this trade is a C+ because after the 2013 season that Jed Lowrie had, he expects to start a full season to bounce back from the disappointing numbers he put up in 2014. Also the money was not well spent, in terms of what position to go after. Lowrie is a nice player who IS worth $7.6 million/year, but he is not the right fit for the Houston Astros.
