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.
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Texas completed the deal a day after Lucroy blocked a preliminary agreement the Brewers had to send him to Cleveland.
To get Lucroy and Jeffress, the Rangers gave up minor league center fielder Lewis Brinson and right-handed pitcher Luis Oritz, both of whom were on Baseball America’s mid-season top 100 list.
Adding Lucroy to the Texas Rangers lineup would provide an everyday player at that spot but matching up a new catcher with pitchers this late in the season could lead to some chemistry issues.
In a vacuum, though, Milwaukee got three very talented, promising young players, and the team had always seemed destined – and determined, following the Cleveland trade falling through – to deal Lucroy, Jeffress and Smith. They got All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels last season after the pitcher voided a proposed trade that would have sent him from Philadelphia to Houston.
On his verified Twitter account, Lucroy wrote, “Now, moving on to the @Rangers let’s take this bad boy to the ‘ship!”
I hope the Brewers come to Cleveland next year and the fans can show Lucroy what they think of his decision.
Hill was the biggest-named starter to switch teams on deadline day, as the Tampa Bay Rays, who were shopping as many as four starters, including Chris Archer, kept the asking price high, refused to budge and, in the end, kept all but one of their club-controllable arms. He will immediately become Texas’ starting catcher, replacing Robinson Chirinos.
A 29-year-old right-hander, Nova follows relievers Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, and outfielder Carlos Beltran out of NY. He is batting.333 with two homers and 12 RBIs at Lynchburg. In 326 plate appearances in Double-A, he is batting.237, with 11 home runs, 11 stolen bases, and a.280 OBP. He went 4-6 with 3.48 ERA in 16 games (14 starts) between Class-A High Desert (7g, 6gs, 3-2, 2.60era) and Double-A Frisco (9g, 8gs, 1-4, 4.08era). And while Smith was slightly off this season (1-3, 3.68 ERA), he still had several years of team control having qualified for arbitration for the first time last winter as a “Super 2” player. This year, he has 35 strikeouts and 11 walks in 44⅔ innings, mostly as the Brewers’ closer, locking down 27 saves in 28 opportunities.
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The deal was first announced Monday before the non-waiver trade deadline, giving the Red Sox another veteran for the bullpen in their pursuit of Baltimore and Toronto in the AL East race. He’ll be eligible for free agency after the 2017 season.
