Jed Lowrie Trade: Expert Reaction From Around The Web

We here at TCB aren't the only ones to talk about the Jed Lowrie trade. Here's a collection of reactions from around the Internets...

Here's from klaw:

Lowrie's inability to play a full season is somewhat offset by his low cost, and the Astros have had so few chances to convert veterans into impact guys -- instead taking quantity wherever they could -- that this return, while very solid, feels just a little disappointing.

And from FanGraphs:

For Oakland, the 2013 infield just got better, and deeper. The team’s better able to absorb an individual disappointment, improving the team’s odds of staying in the race in the division. For Houston, the organization has more talent in it now than it did a day ago. That’s the Astros’ top priority, and they can worry about surer bets down the road, when they’re not these Astros anymore.

And an interview with Jeff Luhnow from CSN Houston:

From Athletics Nation:

So yes it hurts to lose Chris Carter. And if you believe Brad Peacock will be a "solid #3 SP" then that's a big loss too; whereas if you believe he will be a "good relief pitcher" it's not that big a loss at all. Max Stassi is a nice prospect, but hardly a "selling the farm" level one.

You have to give up talent to get talent, and the A's most definitely gave up talent to get Lowrie. It's when you remember how good Lowrie sounded in November -- and he hasn't gotten any worse since then -- that the trade starts to look good.

From Baseball Nation:

Leaving aside how it might look to the fans, it made ultimate sense to trade Lowrie for whatever the market might bear.

And it seems to me that three moderately talented young players is probably all the market would bear. I think the only questions is whether you'd rather have three moderately talented young players for Lowrie, or one brilliantly talented young player instead. But that assumes that some club would give up a Grade A prospect for an injury-prone infielder with no real All-Star potential. And that's probably a faulty assumption.

Both clubs did about as well as they could, doing what they needed to do.

Finally, from Baseball America:

Traded for the third time in his career, Carter has intrigued his acquiring teams—the Diamondbacks, Athletics and now Astros—with his plus raw power, which he put to good use last season in belting 28 homers between Triple-A and the big leagues. Strikeouts come with the territory, and Carter fanned in roughly 32 percent of his plate appearances last season in Oakland, which prorated over 600 PAs works out to 194 whiffs. He won't have much value if he's not collecting extra-base hits and bases on balls, so making quality hard contact is imperative. Carter has no minor league options remaining, so his acquisition might signal the end of Rule 5 pick Nate Freiman's time with Houston, seeing as both are righty-hitting first basemen.