After pulling off a big trade earlier in the day to land Yankees slugger Carlos Beltran, Jon Daniels and the Rangers nearly immediately made a much bigger trade just minutes before the 4pm EST trade deadline, acquiring catcher Jonathan Lucroy and closer Jeremy Jeffress from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for top-level minor league prospects CF Lewis Brinson, SP Luis Ortiz, and a player to be named later.
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After weeks of speculation, the Milwaukee Brewers have dealt All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy and right-hander Jeremy Jeffress to the Texas Rangers for three prospects.
In the proposed deal, the Brewers would get four prospects with the centerpiece being switch-hitting catcher Francisco Mejia, the Indians’ sixth-ranked prospect.
Lucroy’s club-friendly contract and solid all-around game made him an especially valuable trade target all season.
On his verified Twitter account, Lucroy wrote, “Now, moving on to the @Rangers let’s take this bad boy to the ‘ship!”
The 30-year-old Lucroy is batting.299 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs this season.
Lucroy is in the final season of a five-year, $10.28 million contract that includes a 2017 option.
Texas has used four starting catchers this season, with Bobby Wilson making a team-high 38 starts. He likely will be in a setup role for the Rangers behind Sam Dyson. Cleveland was among eight teams on Lucroy’s no-trade list and he was concerned about playing time next season with the Indians.
Brinson has spent the entire season with Double-A Frisco, batting.237 (72-304) with 11 home runs and 40 RBI in 77 games.
Brinson, who ranks second in the Rangers’ farm system according to MLB.com was drafted 29th overall in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft. Ortiz, a 20-year-old starting pitcher now in Double-A, was a first-round pick in 2014 and was ranked 64th entering 2016 by BA.
Cleveland’s responded to Lucroy’s requests by telling the Brewers it was their responsibility to appease Lucroy and get him to consent to the agreed-upon trade, a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney. Ortiz has combined to go 4-6, 3.48 (26 ER/67.1 IP) over 16 games/14 starts with Frisco and High-A High Desert in his third professional season.
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Other catchers traded at the deadline were at the back end of their careers, such as Kendall going from Oakland to the Chicago Cubs in 2007 and Ivan Rodriguez from Texas to the New York Yankees in 2008. The Rangers are not on Lucroy’s no-trade list, so he has no say in if he gets traded there or not. Between a combination of A+ and Double-A this season, Ortiz has a 3.48 ERA and 8.3 K/9 ratio.
