One of the most interesting parts about the Lucroy situation is that he used his no-trade clause and vetoed a trade to the Cleveland Indians.
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The road to the trade was not simple for either team, as the Rangers had previously pulled themselves from consideration as recently as Sunday when an initial trade was put in place with the Cleveland Indians. It was a move that sent shockwaves, and rightfully so. The deal would be centered around the Mets own catcher Travis d’Arnaud, whom many Mets fans seem to be getting exhausted of. As late as this afternoon, the team was said to be working on acquiring him, but the Texas Rangers landed him and reliever Jeremy Jeffress instead. Converting on 27 of his 28 save opportunities, Jeffress has proven to be one of the most reliable closers in baseball this year.
Lucroy later confirmed the news himself with a tweet.
Lucroy can also hit as well, as he is slashing.300/.360/.484 this season with 13 home runs and 50 RBI’s. In 76 games as AA this season, Brinson has hit.233/.277/.430 with 11 home runs and 10 steals and owns a.275/.343/.486 slash with 72 home runs and 81 steals across five minor league seasons. He sat out Saturday’s game as the trade talks were completed and was not in the lineup Sunday despite the trade being off.
Jeffress was having a stellar year from the mound in the closing role.
Jeffress had 26 saves with a 2.27 ERA in 46 appearances for Milwaukee this season.
Susac, 26, was batting.273 (57-for-209) with 8 HR and 36 RBI in 58 games at Triple-A Sacramento this season.
Brinson, 22, a raw but athletic center fielder with speed and power, is MLBPipeline.com’s 21st overall prospect (fifth among outfielders).
With few offensive skills remaining, Kendall played two years for the Brewers before moving on to Kansas City.
Top pitching prospect Luis Ortiz is the second prospect heading back to the Brewers.
As for Ortiz, the right-hander is the team’s best pitching prospect and No. 63 among all Major League Baseball prospects. Ortiz has a 4.08 ERA in Double-A. Only 20 years old, Ortiz has a mid-90s fastball and a low-80s slider, which are both plus offerings. MLB Pipeline offers the potential ceiling of a #2 starter.
Even if the GM was unable to strike a deal before the deadline, Stearns could have announced he wasn’t going to give away an all-star player simply for the rebuild. This one appears it will go through.
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Lucroy and Braun were in dramatically different contract stages entering the season.
