What Should the Crew do this Offseason?

[Crash2303]

LuCroy will only be 29 entering next year- still within his prime window. his defense alone, when including pitch-framing, makes him one of the most valuable players in baseball according to that ESPN article last spring- http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12492794/jonathan-lucroy-needs-raise

[tmwiese55]

They should have been able to get a massive haul for Lucroy before this season. Now, not so much. If he shows next year that this season was an injury anomaly and hits close to what he did the few seasons prior. His value will still be solid with 1.5 years of team control at the deadline next year. If he's hurt and hitting 250 then yea you won't get much.

[monty57]

I would definitely shop Lucroy to see where his value sits. I think he has enough of a track record that this year probably didn't do too much to hurt his trade value. If I'm wrong and people aren't willing to give up value, then I'd hold on to him hoping for a good season in 2016 to bring that value back.

 

The reason I would look to trade him is risk vs. reward. Unless his trade value is really low right now, the only thing we gain by holding onto him is having a good player on a bad team. The risk is that he get injured or have another bad season, in which case his trade value would be diminished and potentially zero if it's a bad (career ending) injury. He just had a serious concussion, and that worries me. One more hit, and he could be forced to stop catching, and possibly retire.

 

As to the argument that has been made that he will help the young pitching staff, I agree. However, our backup is Maldonado, who should be just as good at helping the young staff. If we didn't have Maldonado, that argument would hold more weight.

 

You have a much higher opinion of Maldonado than I do. I think he's a back up at best. Black hole with his bat. With SS/2B and 3B already below avg you can put another crap bat in the line up

 

No, I have the same opinion of Maldonado as you. He is a defense-first catcher, and my comment was that with his experience he could do just as much to help our young pitchers develop as Lucroy. We are rebuilding next year, so I don't care much about anything other than developing the young players. Therefore, I don't care about his black-hole bat, or whether he would be starting for a playoff-caliber team. I care about his defense and game calling helping build up the confidence and knowledge of our very young pitching staff.

 

There is no doubt that Lucroy is head-and-shoulders better than Maldonado, but right now the Brewers should be most worried about what makes them better in a couple of years, with little regard to whether or not we have "starting players" at every position in 2016. To that end, Lucroy needs to be traded. The question is just whether it makes more sense this offseason or sometime in the future.

[3and2Fastball]

LuCroy will only be 29 entering next year- still within his prime window. his defense alone, when including pitch-framing, makes him one of the most valuable players in baseball according to that ESPN article last spring- http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12492794/jonathan-lucroy-needs-raise

 

 

Which is all the more reason to trade him and get a very very nice return of great prospects. It is extremely doubtful that the Brewers will be legit contenders before Lucroy's skills begin to significantly decline anyways

[FVBrewerFan]

LuCroy will only be 29 entering next year- still within his prime window. his defense alone, when including pitch-framing, makes him one of the most valuable players in baseball according to that ESPN article last spring- http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12492794/jonathan-lucroy-needs-raise

 

Entering the season yes, but he will be 30 by the end of it. Still, I agree, it's not like he's over the hill. But if I'm a GM I'm wondering if 2015 was an anomaly or closer to the hitter Lucroy will be next year and future years. Yes, he was injured, but he hasn't shown any power at all and his OBP isn't that great even since he has returned from injury.

 

Plus, he just had a concussion, and I would wonder how long can he (or wants to) stay behind the plate. I know he hasn't indicated otherwise, but you have to be aware of that possibility at least. But that argument aside, there's still the lack of hitting this year that would concern me. All it takes is one team that really wants him though....