Constantly on the potential trading block, Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers could very well be moved before the August 1 deadline, and the Texas Rangers might be the team willing to give up a lot of prospects to make it happen.
The rumor of Lucroy joining the Rangers, or leaving the Brewers, has been spiraling for quite some time. He bounced back very well from his injuries last season, not showing the lack of confidence and hesistance that followed his concussion. He’s been selected to his second All-Star game, and he’s hitting .304 with a .852 OPS, including 11 home runs and 42 RBIS, for a Brewers team that’s trying to get on with a rebuilding process.
Lucroy is on a very manageable deal: He’s making $4 million this season and has a team option of $5.25 million next year. The reason the Rangers are being mentioned now is due to the horde of MLB scouts attending Class-A Rookie League Game for the Rangers, with the Brewers specifically looking at Rangers minor league players lately. The Rangers have been linked to a lot of other teams too, especially when it comes to pitching additions, but Lucroy to Texas makes sense.
Robinson Chirinos, the Rangers starting catcher on most days, hasn’t been hitting very well, batting just .205 with a .777 OPS. His defense isn’t bad, which sometimes is more important, but the Rangers could use a little bit more firepower in their lineup, and Lucroy provides the perfect combination of hitting, age and a salary that is crazy not to pursue, with another year of being underpaid before he can negotiate a bigger deal he has coming his way.
Two players the Brewers might ask for in return are very long term projects, Leody Taveras and Anderson Tejada. Taveras is 17, Tejada is 18, but the Brewers haven’t been afraid of adding teenagers to their farm system before, so it might be something that could go down in the next 20 days.