Jed Lowrie has always been at home with the Oakland A’s. After a disastrous two year sojourn with the New York Mets, he is back and healthy once again, solidifying second base while proving that he is still an important part of the lineup. But his tenure in New York did not need to be the disaster that it was.
According to Peter Gammons, Lowrie was looking to have surgery following the 2019 campaign to allow him to be healthy once again. The problem was that the Mets refused to allow him to have that surgery.
From @pgammo:
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 10, 2021
“Lowrie got eight plate appearances in 2019, none last season. The Mets declined to allow him to get the knee operation, he says. They threatened him with a grievance.” pic.twitter.com/EBAPEkFFxk
Jed Lowrie is the Oakland A’s gain
The entire situation just screams of the dysfunction that existed in New York with the Wilpon’s. Lowrie was doing his best to get back onto the diamond, and would have been fully capable of participating in baseball activities by March. With a brief time on the Injured List, had the regular season occurred when originally scheduled, he would have been ready to go.
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Instead, the Mets refused to allow him to get that surgery he needed. Instead of potentially being ready at the start of the abbreviated season, Lowrie never made an appearance in 2020. This led to an interesting moment as the front office had claimed not to know what was going on with the infielder, as though he had vanished from the planet as Yoenis Cespedes had.
Finally cleared to have the surgery in October once the Mets were eliminated from postseason contention, Lowrie is now healthy again. He has been one of the A’s most productive hitters in the early part of the season, taking what had been a major question mark at second base and solidifying the position.
Obviously, there is still a lot of time left in the season. There is every possibility that Lowrie will cool off or be injured yet again. But just the fact that he was able to not only get back on the diamond, but to be a productive part of the lineup, shows how badly the Mets handled his injury issues.
The New York Mets loss has been the Oakland A’s gain. Jed Lowrie is healthy and productive once again, and with a team that understands how to get the best from him.