Tribe Trade Target: Jonathan Lucroy
A little over a week remains before the MLB trade deadline passes and the Cleveland Indians have yet to pull the trigger on a trade. As of Sunday afternoon, the Indians sit at 56-40, the best record in the AL, and are expected to make a significant trade before the calendars flip to August.
Jonathan Lucroy is undoubtedly one of the top names out there on the MLB trade market, and he is reportedly at the center of trade talks between the Indians and Brewers, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports. Many people expect the Tribe to make a move in upgrading the bullpen. However, with Yan Gomes now sidelined with an injury, an offensive upgrade at catcher would not be surprising either.
In the past few years, Lucroy has been on a shortlist of the best offensive catchers the game has to offer. Since Lucroy came up to the big leagues as a 24-year-old in 2010, he has put up 162-game averages of 32 2B, 16 HR and 78 RBI per season.
Lucory’s peak season came in 2014 when he finished 4th in the NL MVP voting. The catcher led the league in doubles with 53, while hitting .301 with 13 HR and 69 RBI.
The 30-year-old has not shown many signs of slowing down yet, as he enters Sunday with a .302 BA, 13 HR and 50 RBI.
There is absolutely no doubting what Lucroy can do on the offensive side, otherwise, the Indians would not be in trade talks for him. Defensively, however, Lucroy would be a step down from Gomes.
There is not one defensive metric for catchers that is generally accepted among the baseball community, but judging from eye tests, Gomes is widely regarded as the better defender behind the plate. One area that cannot be disputed is the stolen base percentage. Gomes has gunned down 35% of attempted base stealers throughout his career, compared to just 28% from Lucroy.
Jay Cannon (@CST_Jay)
Featured image credit to: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
