Lucroy, one of the games top catchers, is a major get for the Rangers, and he should be a big help towards improving the pitching staff, which was in need of help.
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Nothing but love and respect from our family. Lucroy has blocked his proposed trade to the Cleveland Indians.
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.
Lucroy pinch hit in his final game as a Brewer, walking off the field to a standing ovation in Milwaukee.
Daniels discussed the catcher with Brewers officials last winter and spring, and thought the chance to get him was done when the Indians had an agreement with Milwaukee. He sports a 2-2 record with a 2.22 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 11 walks.
“We lined up well with Milwaukee, kind of like a year ago with Philadelphia”, Daniels said.
Lucroy is a.284 hitter batting.299 this season with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs. Also, with Lucroy’s contract containing a team option for $5 million next season, it’s a safe bet he will return to Texas on a team-friendly rate. Lucroy himself later confirmed the news on Twitter.
Lucroy acknowledged the trade in a tweet on Monday.
The 27-year-old Smith is 1-3 with a 3.68 ERA this season in 27 games and 22 innings. He won’t unseat Sam Dyson for the closer role, but getting another late-inning guy pushes everyone else back and makes the group as a whole better. Ortiz was rated as the #3 prospect in the Rangers system by MLB.com. The announcement was made by General Manager David Stearns. It’s somewhat rare we hear of players actually exercising their no-trade clauses, but also unfair or at least unfortunate for Lucroy that his turn to do so should come at a time when practically every whisper uttered in an MLB front office gets reported and disseminated around the baseball-watching world. He was a first-round pick by the Rangers (#29 overall) in the 2012 draft, and despite an early slump and an injury this year, had returned to hitting well in Frisco this year. Ortiz, Texas’ 2014 first-round pick, went a combined 4-6 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 games between Class-A High Desert and Double-A Frisco this year.
Ortiz was selected by Texas in the first round (30th overall) of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft.
At 47-57 after a 7-3 loss Monday night in San Diego, the Brewers have played respectably for a team not expected to contend in the top-heavy NL Central.
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The Texas Rangers cemented their lead in AL West of the league with the addition of all-stars Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran.
