Jed Lowrie

[ougiqbxy]

The Oakland Athletics want to play Franklin Barreto. The Brewers would like to move Keon Broxton.

 

Lowrie has one year remaining on his deal to help bridge the gap to Hiura while there's some upside the A's could explore with Broxton. Would a straight up swap be fair to both teams?

[tigerbrew]

I wouldn't mind trading Broxton for Lowrie straight up, I'd do this trade.

 

In a world where teams are reducing payroll, removing Lowrie's $6M salary would probably make it a fair deal.

[DR28]

Hell yes, Jed would be perfect 2B for us!

 

Fits in perfect in the 6 hole.

[TJseven7]

He's really only had a couple good years. 28 29 33. Isn't good defensively anymore. Last year was incredible but its so much of a 1 off that I'd think it would be strange for 33 34 to be break out seasons.

 

Basically history says dont trust him to be any better than what we have. Lowrie just had a villar 2016 year at 33 years old with a track record that says otherwise.

 

At 6 mil we are most of the way there... just give me 2 war every damn year neil walker.

[brewmann04]

i dont really see a need to add Lowrie

[JohnBriggs12]

Broxton has an option. Stick him in AAA as insurance/depth. Walker isn't going to cost much more than $6 million AAV over 2 years.

[Eye Black]

Has anybody taken note of how impressive Jed Lowrie has been so far this season? I would say there is nearly 100% chance Lowrie is going to get traded this season. IMO, he would be an excellent upgrade over Eric Sogard’s roster spot.

[reillymcshane]

Lowrie has been great this year. He was quite good last year as well. He's a solid defensive player - equal to or better than our current options. And his offense is better. Lowrie is a switch hitter who tends to hit lefties a little better than righties. Not huge splits, so you can easily play him full time if you want.

 

The big problem is the A's are .500, so they probably aren't in selling mode just yet. But down the road, he probably will be available. And I doubt he would cost too much since he's a FA after the season.

[adambr2]

Yeah, good call on this, Lowrie looks like he would have been a great add and likely will still end up being available at some point.

 

2B is one of the few clear holes on this team and looks like a very possible trade acquisition sometime this season. Villar should/will get til June or so to show some kind of rebound, but the clock is ticking and if 2B is still a weakness by then I would look to address it.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Spring Training would have been the ideal time to add him. I'm kind of surprised something like a Broxton-for-Lawrie swap didn't happen. Makes good sense for both sides.

[tmwiese55]

I thought of him before the year as an option of this years NEil Walker pickup to cover 2B if Villar flops. Looked at his info and just couldn't be convinced that he all of a sudden figured it out at age 33/34 and assumed he'd tail off this year. But if he keeps this going up to the deadline, why not.

[Greenleaf1]

My guess is it would take at least one good prospect plus Keon to get him now, and not sure it's really worth that for what will probably end up being a 2-3 month rental. He's playing out of his mind right now, and while I would still expect him to be a good pickup, his price is likely overinflated by this strong start.

 

That said, it's pretty obvious we'll be in the market for a 2B at the deadline this year if one of Villar/Sogard/Perez can't improve enough to hold it down this year, so we'll see what his price looks like in July.

[Outlander]

He could be a rental though. However, like last year the Brewers can give Villar his chance into summer but at some point they will want to upgrade.

[trwi7]

Spring Training would have been the ideal time to add him. I'm kind of surprised something like a Broxton-for-Lawrie swap didn't happen. Makes good sense for both sides.

 

Made and continues to make no sense for Oakland.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Spring Training would have been the ideal time to add him. I'm kind of surprised something like a Broxton-for-Lawrie swap didn't happen. Makes good sense for both sides.

 

Made and continues to make no sense for Oakland.

 

That .167 average Boog Powell is throwing up is doing that much for you? Or the .091 Smolinski is batting? Trading for Broxton is not a "go for it" move. It's a "put a legit big leaguer in our outfield relatively inexpensively" move. And it makes sense.

 

But, please explain your rationale.

[trwi7]

The A's couldn't give a single crap about a "legit big leaguer" so they can win 76 games instead of 74. Lowrie actually has legitimate value and could net a good prospect yet you think their move should be to trade him for a soon to be 28 year old? It's insane to me. Trading for a Broxton is fine when you're giving up a nobody like Jason Rogers for him. Trading an actual good big league player for Broxton is dumb, no matter how much their other outfielders may be struggling.

[timpep]

I'm very confident if Broxton for Lawrie happened Broxton would be worth a good bit more WAR in 4+ years of team control than Lawrie would for them. Broxton is absolutely good enough to start or be a great 4th outfielder for a lot of teams. He would probably be worth more in trade given a couple years of starts than Lawrie is now.

[adambr2]

The A's couldn't give a single crap about a "legit big leaguer" so they can win 76 games instead of 74. Lowrie actually has legitimate value and could net a good prospect yet you think their move should be to trade him for a soon to be 28 year old? It's insane to me. Trading for a Broxton is fine when you're giving up a nobody like Jason Rogers for him. Trading an actual good big league player for Broxton is dumb, no matter how much their other outfielders may be struggling.

 

Given Lowrie's 6M salary, his age, and the horribly deflated free agent market, I would guess that his preseason surplus trade value was pretty much zilch. Yes he had a very nice 2017 but that was preceded by 2 really mediocre years and his projections this year weren't great.

 

Even now it would take him putting up nice numbers for pretty much the entire first half for me to feel good about giving up more than a Tyrone Taylor rebound type prospect.

[jerichoholicninja]

Dustin Fowler is just hanging out in AAA, probably until the A's can get another year of control out of him. Broxton does nothing for them.

[homer]

Broxton just doesn't seem like a Beane type.

[brewerswinNLcentral]

are we talking lowrie to replace sogard AND villar or just villar. i am ok with villar this year. i think he will put in a solid season

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

are we talking lowrie to replace sogard AND villar or just villar. i am ok with villar this year. i think he will put in a solid season

 

I think Lowrie would replace Sogard and Villar, as there would be no reason to hang onto Villar as a utility guy. His defense just isn't good enough to warrant that.

 

I, too, am hoping they stick with Villar and see what they ultimately have in him. His speed is needed in the lineup.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The A's couldn't give a single crap about a "legit big leaguer" so they can win 76 games instead of 74. Lowrie actually has legitimate value and could net a good prospect yet you think their move should be to trade him for a soon to be 28 year old? It's insane to me. Trading for a Broxton is fine when you're giving up a nobody like Jason Rogers for him. Trading an actual good big league player for Broxton is dumb, no matter how much their other outfielders may be struggling.

 

I think you are seriously overestimating Lowrie's perceived value. Take a look at similar trades over the last few years. Walker is a very similar player, and the Brewers got him for a nothingburger non-prospect. Also, comparing Broxton's value now to when the Brewers got him is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

 

Now I get the argument that the A's may not want to trade for a legit big leaguer, but that is a whole separate argument about tanking and whatnot.

[Outlander]

are we talking lowrie to replace sogard AND villar or just villar. i am ok with villar this year. i think he will put in a solid season

Could be both, will have a much clearer picture in a couple of months but I am expecting Villar's numbers to look pretty similar to where they are now which is not very good.

[tmwiese55]

I continue to wonder why we want nothing to do with Broxton on our big league team and sent him down last year, yet we think other teams will give up good things for him.