The Rangers were able to keep several of their other top young players, including Jurickson Profar, Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo, out of the deal.
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The Texas Rangers made a huge splash at the trade deadline with its biggest move coming out of Milwaukee, where the team acquired highly coveted catcher Jonathan Lucroy and right-hander Jeremy Jeffress.
According to Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network, the Rangers and Brewers are finalizing a trade to send catcher Jonathan Lucroy to Texas. Please see our terms of service for more information.
Jonathan Lucroy #20 of the Milwaukee Brewers gestures to the crowd while batting in the eighth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park on July 31, 2016 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lucky stopped a trade to the Cleveland Indians earlier in the day.
Hamels a year ago voided a proposed trade that would have sent him from Philadelphia to Houston. The Mets have used three different catchers this year. Clearly we parted with a lot of very quality major league talent.
Lucroy, 30, is hitting.299 with 13 homers and 50 RBI this season.
Plus, the 30-year-old Lucroy has a contract with a $5.25 million team option for 2017 and Jeffress won’t be eligible for free agency until 2020.
In the meantime, the Rangers bolstered their lineup with Carlos Beltran, who is having a monster year, batting.304/.344/.546 with 22 home runs and 64 runs batted in, making the addition of Lucroy an even sweeter deal for the forerunners of the AL West. “For someone to reach out and come get me, it’s a really good feeling”.
The Brewers were put in a spot when they had a deal in place to deal Lucroy to the Indians and Lucroy nixed the deal.
Phil Bickford has appeared in 17 games this season for San Francisco’s two Class A affiliates, combining for a 5-6 record and 2.71 ERA with 105 strikeouts and 27 walks in 93 innings. “But we were able to bring back, we think, some high impact future talent, and so we’re pleased with that”, said Brewers GM David Stearns.
“While it is extremely hard to part with players the caliber of Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress, we are excited to add more young and talented players to the organization as we continue to build toward future winning seasons in Milwaukee”, Stearns said in a release. Brinson was the team’s 2012 pick, Ortiz was the team’s 2014 selection and Tate was the fourth overall pick in 2015. A 1st round selection by the Rangers in the 2014 June Draft out of Sanger High School (CA), Ortiz began 2016 going 3-2 with a 2.60 ERA (8 ER/27.2 IP) in seven appearances with High-A High Desert, before going 1-4 with a 4.08 ERA (18 ER/39.2 IP) following a promotion to Double-A Frisco.
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The NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs added more depth to their bullpen, acquiring right-hander Joe Smith from the Los Angeles Angels just before the trade deadline.
