Jonathan Lucroy Is On The Trading Block And The Nationals Are A Perfect Fit
Source: “I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to compete for the playoffs this year. If I did that, you’d call me a liar. I’d lose credibility and respect. I want to win and I don’t see us winning in the foreseeable future. I want to go to a World Series. That’s what all players want. Rebuilding is not a lot of fun for any veteran guy. … It’s not guaranteed that I’m going to win if I am traded. But I’m going to be a 30-year-old catcher (in June). I can’t put numbers on how much longer I’m going to play, but as players we want to win. I don’t care about the money; I just want to win. That’s the bottom line.”
Jonathon Lucroy is itching to leave the struggling Milwaukee Brewers for a contender and the Washington Nationals are a match made in heaven for the All Star catcher. The 29 year old Lucroy, a right-handed hitter, checks off every single mark on Nats GM Mike Rizzo’s checklist: Low salary, is under team control for the next two seasons, is a great offensive and defensive player, AND fills what was by far the team’s greatest weakness of 2015.
The state of catching in the MLB is pretty atrocious right now – out of every catcher with at least 300 at bats in 2015, only 11 hit .250 or better. That is terrible, the fact is that the catching position is a complete black hole for a majority of teams. Wilson Ramos was arguably the poster-child for shitty catchers; his .229 average is worst among qualified catchers while his tiny .258 OBP is probably a bigger turn-off than a micro-penis. That .258 OBP ranked dead last in all of baseball among qualified batters by the way. In order for the Nationals to complete their objectives and win the division, they just can’t have a guy who walks back to the dugout 3/4 of the time he steps to the plate. Ramos is a like-able player, I still like him but he’s always injured and his successes of 2011 and 2013 are long gone. Ramos is striking out more, walking less, and making less overall contact. He is not the starting catcher on a playoff team.
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Lucroy is one of the top catchers in baseball and, aside from Buster Posey, there isn’t another catcher in baseball that is clearly more talented than Lucroy. Lucroy has some homerun power (he hit 18 in 2013) but is more of a doubles-guy and led the league in two-baggers back in 2014. Lucroy also makes really great contact and will walk about twice as often as Wilson Ramos does. Lucroy is also a really really good defensive backstop in both traditional metrics and new ‘fad’ statistics like pitch-framing. With all these positives, its really hard not to love Lucroy but he has dealt with a few injury issues in the past and lost a lot of time and production last year with a broken toe.
Nats Prospect OF Victor Robles
Lucroy is also going to be extremely costly to the Nationals (or whichever other team acquires him). His low salary, the fact that he is in his prime, and the sorry state of the catching market in the MLB will all inflate Lucroy’s price but he really is a necessary addition for the Nats and acquiring the star should clog the last of the team’s glaring weaknesses and make Washington the favorite in the east. I had suggested a Lucroy deal back in November and I still think that extremely-talented 5-tool outfield prospect Victor Robles would be the most likely centerpiece. As much as I would hate to see Robles go, Lucroy is a worthwhile prize at this point in time. I also mentioned that infielder Wilmer Difo and catching prospect Pedro Severino. Severino will probably be included in any Lucroy deal but I am starting to wonder whether Michael A Taylor would be a piece of the puzzle. If Taylor is traded, I would be very sorry to see him go but the acquisition of Ben Revere makes him less necessary.
Ultimately, if the Nats deal for Jonathon Lucroy they would lose a good young piece of the future, but it would be a necessary trade that will turn the Nats’ biggest hole into one of their strengths.