Mets add even more depth to their roster with Jed Lowrie signing

 The New York Mets made yet another unexpected move on Thursday when they inked veteran infielder Jed Lowrie to a two-year deal. Depth shouldn’t be a problem in 2019.

The New York Mets added another infielder on Thursday when they inked Jed Lowrie to a two-year contract worth a reported $20 million. The deal for the 34-year old utility infielder was first announced by Jeff Passan and Andy Martino.

Lowrie certainly does not lack for positional versatility. Over his career, Lowrie has played first, second, third, and shortstop but his most games logged are in the middle of the infield (508 at SS, 412 at 2B). His bat has been at its best lately with an OPS+ of 120 in each of the last two seasons. In 2018, Lowrie set career highs in home runs (23) and RBI (99) with the Oakland Athletics.

For what it’s worth, it should be noted that Lowrie was also a CAA client and his former agent was Brodie Van Wagenen.

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The question now is the backlog of infielders created. So where will Lowrie play? There are two possible schools of thought. Either the Mets stick Lowrie at second and slide recently acquired Robinson Cano to first. Or, Lowrie mans the hot corner at third which could mean Todd Frazier is on the trade block.

With the second scenario, I’m not sure how likely it is that Frazier gets moved before spring training starts so it may create a platoon for the time being.

While Lowrie provides the better bat of the two, Frazier can offer slightly better defense. It will be interesting to see what the next domino to fall is within the Mets’ collection of infielders.

What it could signal as well is Jeff McNeil being the odd man out. It’s tough to envision McNeil getting any sort of consistent playing time with Lowrie added into the fold.

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Van Wagenen has hit the ground running and has certainly provided a sizable shakeup to this roster. One would think he’s not quite done yet after pulling this signing off today. There’s still some work to be done to make the Mets a major contender in the National League.