Jed Lowrie to Astros: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

Free-agent infielder Jed Lowrie has signed a three-year contract with the Houston Astros after spending the last two seasons with the Oakland Athletics.    

The Astros' official Twitter account passed along the official report:

Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports noted more contract details:

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports provided the yearly breakdown of the deal:

Drellich also passed along what position Lowrie will be playing moving forward:

Lowrie sounded optimistic about the direction his new team is headed, via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com:

Lowrie has enjoyed solid production over the last two years after spending 2012 with the Astros. The 30-year-old hit just .249/.321/.355 last season but had 15 home runs and a career-high 75 RBI the previous year, which speaks to his upside.   

Richard Justice of MLB.com shared his thoughts on the move while also providing a comment from general manager Jeff Luhnow:

"

Other than Altuve, Astros infield offense was poor. Lowrie a nice upgrade. Carlos Correa? "Nice problem to have," Jeff Luhnow said

— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) December 15, 2014"

Last season, Lowrie took issue with his former and now current club. Former Astros pitcher Paul Clemens was ejected in April after plunking Lowrie in the seventh inning of a game.

Following that game, the infielder called the incident "flat-out embarrassing." The hit by pitch reportedly resulted from his decision to bunt in the seventh inning of a previous game.

However, the two main culprits from those antics, including former manager Bo Porter, are no longer with the team, as McTaggart notes:

In Houston, Lowrie may serve as a stopgap with Carlos Correa potentially taking over in the future. Correa suffered a season-ending injury last year but is still the Astros' top prospect, according to Baseball America.

Lowrie has familiarity with the Astros and joins a team that has already made several moves this offseason. Houston may be in the difficult AL West but is slowly adding talent to emerge as contenders in the division.

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