Winning Is Not Lucroy’s Top Priority
Lucroy’s reasoning for vetoing the trade is understandable. It mostly comes down to what makes the most business-sense. Dollars and cents are important at the end of the day. Far be it from me to tell a guy how much money they should or should not make.
What I will say is that if Lucroy’s top priority was to win a World Series, Cleveland would have made the most sense from an objective standpoint.
Their only glaring weakness offensively is the catcher position. The starting pitching is loaded. On top of that, Lucroy and everyone who doesn’t live underneath a rock was well-aware of the fact that the Indians were acquiring LHP Andrew Miller, making them even more of a legitimate contender.
The addition of Miller and eventual return of Brantley can’t make the American League-leading Indians any worse. Lucroy knew that.
If the dollars and cents are more important to Lucroy than winning, maybe the team doesn’t need that type of mentality in the clubhouse.
From what I see when covering games and spending time in the clubhouse or watching/reading interviews with players, this group seems to be level-headed, grounded, and not flashy. Wins at the end of the day are more important than individual stats. There aren’t huge egos running around the clubhouse. Just a group of guys having fun winning games.
Guys like Mike Napoli, Jose Ramirez, and Tyler Naquin don’t mind that they’re not receiving the level of praise that some players with similar numbers are getting from national media, they just produce.
Perhaps having a player with a money-first mentality would have a negative effect on the clubhouse if the team started to get in a slump. Maybe having humble guys like Giminez and Perez is not “detrimental” to the team as some would suggest. Although they don’t put up the stats, they are team-first players and aren’t looking to get a huge contract, but just playing baseball one day at a time and looking for what ways they can contribute to put others in positions to succeed.
Lucroy can get his big payday after another season or two of suffering in Milwaukee and like Giminez said, maybe he’ll be watching the Tribe raise the World Series Trophy a few months from now.
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Nick Lauren
August 1, 2016 at 11:11 am
This could quite possibly be the dumbest article I’ve ever read. Lucroy vetoed because he was told he would be a part time backup next season…
To say Gimenez or the other jokers behind the plate are even close to Lucroy’s talent is ridiculous…when you have guys batting .165 at a position you have a serious problem. Lucroy is not only clutch, but hits over 300 consistently and also hits for power…not to mention his pitch framing and defense.
I get being a hometown homer…but comeon man
Matt Medley
August 1, 2016 at 11:16 am
Thanks for reading! Did he really veto because of that or was that what his agent fed reporters? More than one side to every story!
If you misread any point in the article that you thought said Giminez and Perez were more-talented or close to as talented as Lucroy, that’s unfortunate. But it never says that at any point. Direct quote: “This is not to say Perez and Giminez are better or even close to as talented as Lucroy, but perhaps Perez and Giminez are just the right guys when it comes to this situation.”
Also he has hit above .300 in 2 out of 7 seasons… so saying he hits above .300 consistently is not true at all. Lucroy’s career-high in home runs was 18 in 2013. Aside from that he has never hit more than 13 home runs in a season. This season he might hit 20 if he keeps up at the pace he’s going.
Matt Medley
October 19, 2016 at 11:12 pm
So what do you have to say for yourself buddy?
Matt Medley
October 19, 2016 at 11:12 pm
So what do you have to say for yourself, buddy?