When Jed Lowrie showed up to New York Mets‘ camp this weekend, he did it with a large brace in his left knee. It is surprising, given that the soreness in the area goes back to roughly a year. The brace, according to MLB.com, ran nearly two feet from his left ankle up to his mid-thigh.
The infielder was able to do some baseball-related activities, however. On Sunday, he fielded ground balls and made a few throws to second base. After that, he left to prepare for the Mets’ first day of full-squad workouts Monday.
What will happen with Lowrie? What will the Mets do with him? The team was reportedly shopping him around over the winter but there were no takers. He is in the final year of a two-year, $20 million contract he signed before last season.
Lowrie did speak about his injury to reporters, but he did so without going to specifics. The entire offseason is now on the books and he wasn’t able to get healthy, nor specify which kind of knee injury he currently has.
The Mets should be getting worried
Reporters asked him if he is 100 percent, to what he replied: “I’m just excited to be here, get back out on the field with the guys and just take it day by day. We’re just going to manage the symptoms right now,” he said. He’s clearly not 100 percent.
The press asked him which were the symptoms he spoke about. The infielder didn’t want to “get into specifics” but conceded that it was his left knee.
Lowrie can rake when healthy. He can play good defense, too. In his last healthy season, which was 2018, he slashed .267/.353/.448 with 23 home runs, 99 RBI and 5.0 fWAR. That’s why the New York Mets signed him as a free agent.
However, 2019 was a lost season for him. He finished the year 0-for-7 with a walk for the Mets, losing several months of play due to a variety of ailments, including his left knee.