If there were ever a time for a GM to fist pump, it would be this.
On late Saturday/early Sunday, the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers had an agreement in place to land All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the Brewers for a package of prospects from the Indians headlined by catcher Francisco Mejia. Short stop Yu-Cheng Chang and outfielder Greg Allen are rumored to be in the package as well. There is a fourth player yet to be identified.
The deal is pending medicals and awaiting Lucroy’s approval as the Indians are on his no-trade list There is speculation Lucroy would want a sweetener, perhaps a bonus, if he waives his no-trade clause to the club.
Lucroy was owed $4 million this year and has a $5.25 million club option next year. He has an .844 OPS. Indians catchers are dead last in baseball in OPS at .501. The Rays were 29th at .561. It appears as if the Indians beat out the Mets offer of C Travis d’Arnaud, OF Brandon Nimmo and a third lesser prospect.
It’s also worth noting that the Indians could have Lucroy for 2017 at well below market cost and extend him a qualifying offer and recoup a draft pick if he declines
Lucroy also has a 5.5 FRAA (framing runs above average) as a catcher according to stat corner, meaning he’s been worth +5.5 runs per game as a catcher, defensively. Yan Gomes currently sits at -2.4, Roberto Perez at -0.3 and Chris Gimenez at 3.0.
As another point of reference, Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs pointed out pre-season that Lucroy has declined as a pitch framer – significantly – based on Baseball Prospectus’ numbers, which are usually the industry standard.
How that, along with learning a new staff and a new league, will be a key for his effectiveness.
It looks like the Indians managed to hang onto top prospects Clint Frazier and Bradley Zimmer. Mejia was 6th in MLB Pipeline’s most recent update while Cheng was 12th and Allen was 22. Mejia is a switch hitting catcher with an advanced hit tool, power, a great arm and is athletic but has some reported makeup issues. He is in the middle of a 42 game hit streak between Lake County and Lynchburg. Cheng is blocked by a guy you may have heard of, Francisco Lindor, but is a bat-first prospect having a nice year but with no indication he will stay at shortstop. Allen was just called up to Double-A Akron and had a .424 OBP in High-A with 38 steals. The switch hitter looked like a speedy, leadoff hitter who played good defense in centerfield. But, with the emergence of Tyler Naquin plus being able to hang onto Zimmer and Frazier, he was expendable.
Editors Note: Maybe we should have waited awhile before pumping that fist. Lucroy in fact, did not waive his no trade clause and remains a member of the Brewers for the time being. While his camp claims it was because the Indians wouldn’t guarantee Lucroy the starting catcher job in 2017, instead saying he would be used more at first base and DH (which would hurt his value in free agency in 2018), the original reason (and more likely the truth) was that Lucroy wanted his 2017 option declined to allow him to test free agency. Either way, the only reason this deal didn’t go through was Lucroy valuing money over the opportunity to win a World Series, whether it was money in 2017 or in 2018 and beyond.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
