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The Oakland A's acquired infielder Jed Lowrie and right-handed pitcher Fernando Rodriguez from the Houston Astros for first baseman Chris Carter, right-handed pitcher Brad Peacock and minor league catcher Max Stassi.

Lowrie batted .244 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in 97 games with Houston last year, posting career-highs in home runs, runs (43), hits (83), walks (43) and games played.

He led the Astros in walks and finished second on the club in home runs, despite spending nearly two months of the season on the disabled list.

The 28-year-old switch-hitter began the season on the DL with a sprained right thumb and was also out from July 15 to Sept. 10 with a sprained right ankle.

Lowrie committed just eight errors in 93 games at shortstop for a .980 fielding percentage, which was the best among National League shortstops with 70 or more games.

He spent the first four years of his career with Boston and is a .250 career hitter with 35 home runs and 159 RBI in 353 games over five seasons.

Lowrie has appeared in 240 games at shortstop in his career in addition to 83 games at third base, 34 at second base and 11 at first base.

Rodriguez was 2-10 with a 5.37 ERA in 71 relief appearances with the Astros in 2012.

Carter batted .239 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI in 67 games with the A's last year following a late June promotion from Triple-A Sacramento. He ranked third among American League rookies in home runs and walks (39) and was fifth in RBI, runs scored (38) and extra base hits (28).

Peacock spent the entire 2012 season at Sacramento, registering a 12-9 mark and a 6.01 ERA in 28 games, 25 starts.

Peacock was one of four players acquired from Washington following the 2011 season in the Gio Gonzalez trade and is 46-47 with a 4.32 ERA in 141 games, 126 starts, in five seasons in the minors.

Stassi hit .268 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI in 84 games with Single-A Stockton last year in a season cut short due to two stints on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle and strained right oblique.

Lowrie, an All-American hit .338 in his career at Stanford with 31 home runs and 162 RBI in 179 career games.

He was named a first team All-American in 2004 by Baseball America.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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