Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy blocked his proposed trade to Cleveland after the teams had reached a preliminary agreement on a deal sending the two-time All-Star to the Indians. The Cleveland Indians had a deal in place to land Lucroy, but the catcher shot that down with his no-trade clause.
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The claim that Lucroy rejected the deal to Cleveland because they wouldn’t guarantee him the starting position next season when Yan Gomes returned from injury always seemed silly.
Sports first reported Monday afternoon just before the 4 p.m. trade deadline that Lucroy is headed to the Texas Rangers.
Brinson, who has spent most of the season at the AA level, has hit 11 home runs and has hit for a.237/.280/.431 line.
Jeffress, 28, has a 2-2 record with 27 saves and a 2.22 ERA (11 ER/44.2 IP) over 47 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. The 30-year-old Lucroy, who’s under contract for $5.25 million in 2017, is batting.299 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI in 95 games this season.
The trade for Carlos Beltran was one thing, with three prospects going to the Yankees from Single-A or short-season ball.
Over the last few weeks, especially, but dating to the offseason, really, Brewers fans had come to grips with the fact that the best catcher in franchise history would likely be traded as part of the club’s major rebuilding process. Center fielder Travis Jankowski went 3-3 in the game, as the Padres belted out 10 hits off Brewers pitching, 8 of those off of starter Jimmy Nelson. A former first-round pick (30th overall) out of Sanger High School in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft, Ortiz is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-hander.
Lucroy, a catcher his entire Major League Baseball career, is now headed to another first place team in Texas, who sit atop the AL West by six games.
Ortiz was selected by Texas in the first round (30th overall) of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft.
Lewis Brinson, at 22 years old, was ranked the #16 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America and MLB.com and #15 by Baseball Prospectus.
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To make room on their 40-man roster for Lucroy and Jeffress, the Rangers designated catchers Wilson and Bryan Holaday for assignment. He was batting.273 with eight homers and 36 RBI in 58 games at Triple-A Sacramento this season. He possesses a 2.62 ERA in his minor league career, while logging 127 strikeouts in 137.2 innings of work over three seasons.
