Milwaukee Brewers all-star catcher and Ragin’ Cajun alum Jonathan Lucroy was going to be traded to Cleveland today, but chose to exercise his no-trade clause.
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Cleveland is on Lucroy’s no-trade list, but if he approves the trade he has the chance to play for a contender and catch an extremely talented pitching staff featuring Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. He has a friendly club option for 2017 at $5.25 million that likely would be excersided.
According to reports, the Brewers would receive four players from the Indians if Lucroy signs off on the deal. Fans even made a hashtag and everything to encourage Lucroy to waive the clause, but apparently he doesn’t like the idea of getting a haircut with Matt Underwood.
The Indians were especially interested in Lucroy after losing catcher Yan Gomes to a separated AC joint in his shoulder, expected to be out until late August or September. Instead of a -1.2 WAR, Lucroy has been worth 2.8 so far this season on his own, contributing positively both offensively and defensively. Whether that includes another major trade between now and Monday’s non-waiver deadline remains to be seen. In return for Lucroy, the Brewers were set to acquire four prospects – with prized switch-hitting catcher Francisco Mejia and outfielder Greg Allen as the centerpieces.
The Mets were ready to move on from Lucroy (.299 average, 13 homers, 50 RBIs) on Saturday evening, convinced that the price tag was too high.
As of last night, the Rangers had emerged as the biggest player for Lucroy, according to multiple reports.
One of Lucroy’s most accomplished attributes, experts say, is his ability to frame pitchers’ pitches – effectively using his body and skill to make pitches outside of the strike zone appear as though they are strikes. Gomes was having the worst offensive year of his career and his backups, Roberto Perez and Chris Giminez, were the worst offensive collection of catchers in the American League.
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I think when it comes out, everyone will understand why…. If that’s going to happen or not, I don’t know.
