The Angels have upgraded their outfield, acquiring Josh Lowe from the Rays as part of a three-team trade on Friday that includes the Halos sending left-hander Brock Burke to the Reds and Tampa Bay receiving infielder Gavin Lux from Cincinnati and Minor League right-hander Chris Clark from the Angels.
TRADE DETAILS
Angels receive: OF Josh Lowe
Reds receive: LHP Brock Burke
Rays receive: INF Gavin Lux, RHP Chris Clark
Lowe, who turns 28 in February, fits the bill of a left-handed hitting outfielder the Angels were in the market for. What position he might play, however, is a bit more unclear. The Angels have a clear need for a center fielder, and Lowe has played mostly right field, though he does have some experience in center and left.
“We really like Josh Lowe,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said during a Zoom call with reporters on Friday. “We think he’s got a chance to be an impact player. He’s done it in the past. He’s obviously had a couple of up-and-down seasons with injuries, but he’s a player we believe can play all three [outfield spots]. He’s been very productive against right-handed pitching, and we’re very right-handed as a club. So, the opportunity to acquire a player like this at his age and the years left [on his contract] made a ton of sense.”
Whether the Angels decide to platoon him with Bryce Teodosio in center or play him elsewhere, Lowe provides a much-needed boost against right-handed pitching. He is a career .266 hitter with a .772 OPS against right-handers over his five Major League seasons, as opposed to hitting just .181 with a .504 OPS vs. lefties.
Lowe enjoyed by far his best season as a big leaguer in 2023, when he hit .292 with a .835 OPS, 20 home runs, 33 doubles, 83 RBIs and 32 stolen bases in 135 games with Tampa Bay. He has struggled to replicate that success over the past two seasons, and a large part of that reasoning could be attributed to injuries. He dealt with oblique and hamstring issues in ‘24, then sustained another right oblique strain in his first game of last season that kept him out until May 15 in a campaign in which he hit .220 with a .650 OPS, 11 homers and 40 RBIs in 108 games.
Burke, who had recently agreed to a one-year, $2.325 million contract for the 2026 season with the Angels to avoid arbitration, was arguably the top-performing lefty in the Angels bullpen last season, posting a 3.36 ERA in 69 games with 52 strikeouts and 18 walks across 61 2/3 innings. His departure leaves the Angels with a need in the bullpen that could be filled internally or externally via free agency or trade.
“We’re still active in the free-agent market, and there’s still dialogue on the trade market,” Minasian said. “We’ll see how everything plays out over the next three or four weeks and what we look like when we show up for spring. We do have some left-handed arms we really like that if they had to pitch out of the bullpen, we believe they could. But we’ll see where the offseason takes us.”
A first-round selection by the Rays in the 2016 MLB Draft, Lowe is in search of a bounce-back season and should get plenty of opportunity to do so with the Angels, who could still look to add another outfielder or left-handed hitter before Spring Training.
“We’d still like to improve our offense,” said Minasian. “We still have some spots that we believe we can upgrade or at least bring in competition. There’s still a lot of good players out there. We’ll see how everything evolves over the next month.”