RANGERS TRADE CATCHER LUCROY TO ROCKIES
WASHINGTON» The Rockies on Sunday dug up some roundabout reinforcement for their exceedingly young pitching staff, acquiring 31-year-old catcher Jonathan Lucroy in a trade with the Texas Rangers, the teams confirmed.
The Rockies will give up a player to be named later. And with the acquisition of veteran reliever Pat Neshek last week, Colorado has already put together its busiest deadline string of moves since sending away Troy Tulowitzki in 2015.
“It’s a little different. The only deadline I know is when we traded Tulo,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “But to see that we’re trying to get better and win ballgames, it’s a good sign. It’s a boost to the morale.”
Lucroy, a two-time all-star, joins his third team in two seasons after twice being involved in trade-deadline deals. The Milwaukee Brewers sent him to Texas last summer. Now in his eighth season, Lucroy is a career .280 hitter with 94 home runs, including 24 homers in 2016.
He is hitting only .242 this year with four homers and a .635 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). That would rank him last among Rockies regulars.
Lucroy, though, is valued for his defense. A kind of godfather of modern pitch framing, he held together a Milwaukee pitching staff for 6½ seasons, including an all-star year in 2014 when he finished fourth in National League MVP voting. He once was the best in baseball in gaining called strikes but has dipped in recent seasons, now below both Rockies catcher Tony Wolters and former Colorado catcher Nick Hundley.
“We should feel good about this one,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Jonathan gives us a guy with a veteran presence behind the plate as our young starters go into uncharted territory in the next two months.”
When the Rangers acquired him last July, Lucroy had wide interest as the best available position player on the market. He was the starting catcher for Team USA in March, playing with Arenado and relievers Jake McGee and Neshek, when the Americans won the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles.
Arenado routinely rode in a car shared with Lucroy to WBC games, he said, growing familiar with the catcher months before sharing a clubhouse with him.
“I’m a huge fan of him. He’s a great dude,” Arenado said. “It seems like the front office understands that we’re for real and we’re in this. And we’re trying to make moves to get better.”
Lucroy and Neshek are players with expiring contracts acquired by the Rockies in a week, a signal of their intention to get into the postseason at the risk of sacrificing future potential.
“I love everything we’re doing, the guys we’ve brought in,” Rockies right-hander Jon Gray said.
Former Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd, now an analyst for the MLB Network, once said that “young pitching and young catching is a recipe for disaster.”
“I played with ‘Luc’ in Milwaukee,” first baseman Mark Reynolds said. “He’s a great addition, especially with our young pitching, with his game-calling. And his presence in the lineup too. The name alone makes our lineup that much longer. It strikes some fear into some pitchers for sure.”
Lucroy by the numbers
A look at the newest Rockie: Year Team G Avg. HR 2010 Mil. 75 .253 4 2011 Mil. 136 .265 12 2012 Mil. 96 .320 12 2013 Mil. 147 .280 18 2014 Mil. 153 .301 13 2015 Mil. 103 .264 7 2016 Mil. 95 .299 13 2016 Tex. 47 .276 11 2017 Tex. 77 .242 4 Totals 929 .280 94 RBI 26 59 58 82 69 43 50 31 27 445