Under-the-radar free agents the Blue Jays should look into

Jed Lowrie

The 37-year-old, switch-hitting infielder, Jed Lowrie, has been in the league since 2008 but is coming off his first full season of baseball since 2018. Lowrie posted fantastic numbers as the A’s second baseman in both 2017 and 2018, even finishing 20th in AL MVP voting in the latter. Following that career year, he left to sign with the Mets but had only 7 at-bats in 2019 before missing all of the shortened 2020 season due to injury. He returned to Oakland this past year and put up solid numbers, posting a 101 OPS+ over 139 games, splitting time between second base and DH.

Lowrie could fill the Jays’ fifth infielder role, as he’s played second, third, and short throughout his career. At this point in his career though, he isn’t the best fielder, finishing 2021 in the 22nd percentile for defensive outs above average (per baseball savant). His other statcast metrics were fantastic though, finishing in the red (above the 50th percentile) for every stat aside from sprint speed.

Despite his age (he turns 38 in April), these metrics show that his above-average 2021 at the plate wasn’t a fluke, and could be expected to put up another solid offensive season in 2022, particularly in depth role. His switch-hitting ability would also provide some much-needed diversity to the Blue Jays lineup, given how right-handed heavy it currently is. Lowrie shouldn’t command too much money on the open market, and at worst would provide some good competition in spring training, which makes the Blue Jays at least looking into him a no-brainer.