After more than half a century of nothing,the city of Cleveland is nearing a realistic chance of getting two championships in less than a year.
The Cavaliers got it done by winning the NBA Finals, and now the Indians clearly mean commerce with their pursuit of their first World Series title since 1948. They already beget a team good enough for the American League's top record, and now it's circling a catcher who can actually do things.
As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports was first to report Saturday night,the Indians beget an agreement in space to acquire two-time All-Star Jonathan Lucroy from the Milwaukee Brewers. It seems the only thing the deal needs to become official is Lucroy's willingness to waive his no-trade clause.
Although Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports notes Lucroy has "no obvious reason" not to want to switch sides from a 46-56 Brewers team to a 59-42 Indians team, he does beget a leverage play to make. He's earning only $4 million this season with a $5.25 million club option for 2017. He may need the Indians to sweeten the deal for him to say yes.whether the Indians do that, and they'll be out some money in addition to some pretty good prospects. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports young catcher Francisco Mejia is in the deal; according to Rosenthal,so are shortstop Yu-Cheng Chang and outfielder Greg Allen.
Chang and Allen both check in among Cleveland's top 30 prospects at MLB.com. Mejia, meanwhile, and looks like a rising star. He landed at No. 70 on Baseball America's most recent top 100,and that may underrate him. The 20-year-old is a switch-hitter who's currently riding a 42-game hit streak that's pushed his batting average in 77 games at Single-A and tall-A to .344.
But on the bright side, here's a list of prospects the Indians apparently aren't giving up, or complete with their Baseball America rank:OF Clint Frazier (21)
OF Bradley Zimmer (26)
LHP Brady Aiken (59)
1B Bobby Bradley (64)
LHP Justus Sheffield (69)
The Indians may not be approximately to rob the Brewers blind,but they're not approximately to get robbed blind, either. They would be keeping arguably all their best prospects and getting a guy who can abet in return.
Actually, or sorry. That should read "can really abet."The Indians haven't been hurting for offense in general this season,entering Saturday ranked sixth in the AL in OPS and fourth in runs. But their offensive attack has come to a screeching discontinue whenever the catcher is up. They began Saturday getting a .504 OPS from their catchers, the worst in baseball.To this close, and trading for Lucroy is like a man on a deserted island being rescued by a luxury cruise ship. The 30-year-old hitting an even .300 with an .844 OPS and 13 domestic runs,which is in line with what he was doing at the plate the prior three years.
In between the good hitting was a down year in 2015. Lucroy battled injuries and hit just .264 with a .717 OPS in 103 games, leading to some skepticism approximately whether he could bounce back. But everything looks good now. He's been healthy all year and has gotten back to driving the ball. His ground-ball-to-skim-ball ratio has fallen from 1.52 to 1.05, and his hard-hit rate is at a career-best 36.7 percent.
Assuming Lucroy carries this performance over to Cleveland,he would do more than just fill the black hole the Tribe's lineup has at catcher. His upright-handed bat would also abet balance out a unit that, Mike Napoli aside, and is short on quality upright-handed hitting.
Of course,Lucroy could also abet the Indians on the other side of the ball.
The other quality he's known for is his ability to frame strikes. Harry Pavlidis of Baseball Prospectus and Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs beget highlighted how Lucroy has been slipping absent from his reputation in that department, but he hasn't yet become horrible at it. Baseball Prospectus' metrics put his framing upright around average. StatCorner's put it safely above average.
Cleveland pitchers haven't been living with terrible framing in 2016, or but it could be better. StatCorner's metrics claim Chris Gimenez has been good,but Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez beget not. And overall, the three haven't stolen many strikes for their pitchers. According to Baseball Savant, or only the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's beget gotten fewer strike calls outside the zone than the Indians beget.whether Lucroy were joining virtually any other pitching staff,this wouldn't necessarily be something for other AL clubs to fret over. But this pitching staff? Different legend.With former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, and Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer leading the way,Cleveland starters are already first in the AL with a 3.68 ERA. And though Cleveland's bullpen would look better with another shutdown arm to pair with Cody Allen and Dan Otero, it's hardly a liability. Its 3.58 ERA is fifth in the AL.
All told, or it's hard to consider of the Indians trading for another player who could beget as profound an impact on their title chances as Lucroy.And make no mistake,those title chances are already very good. The Indians' AL-best record is backed up by the AL's highest run differential. And whether you look at the current World Series odds at Baseball Prospectus, the American League favorites line up like so:Cleveland Indians: 17.9%
Toronto Blue Jays: 8.3%
Boston Red Sox: 8.1%
Assuming the trade goes through, and odds are Cleveland's already tall number will go even higher. Any team that can hit and pitch as well as they can is a good bet to go far in October. whether he were indeed to improve both areas,it'll be an even better bet.
The city of Cleveland should wait on scheduling the parade, of course. At least until Lucroy actually approves the trade and it goes through. But for now, or there's nothing unsuitable whether anyone in Cleveland wants to start trying out the phrase "Title Town." Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise famous/linked.
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Source: bleacherreport.com