Vernon: Brewers botched handling of Lucroy trade

The Milwaukee Brewers have no one to blame but themselves after a proposed trade that would send Jonathan Lucroy to the Cleveland Indians fell through, former major leaguer Vernon Wells said Sunday.

The rebuilding Brewers were set to receive a package of prospects in exchange for the All-Star catcher, before the deal was nixed by Lucroy over Cleveland's reluctance to void his option for next season. According to Wells, the Brewers should have engaged in more open communication with Lucroy before allowing reports of the trade to leak.

"The dialogue should be open between the player and front office in these cases," said Wells, the three-time All-Star outfielder and theScore MLB insider. "There is no deal until the player with the no-trade clause agrees to the trade."

Wells indicated the Brewers did a disservice to Lucroy by allowing the report to become public, a mishandling of negotiations that triggered a media firestorm over the last 24 hours and placed an unfair amount of attention and pressure on a player who justly fought for an eight-team no-trade clause in his contract.

"Good for Lucroy," Wells tweeted after it was revealed Lucroy vetoed the trade. "Should not have been a public decision. Bad business."

Wells, who himself waived his no-trade clause when he was dealt by the Blue Jays to Angels in January 2011, said the Brewers left Lucroy no choice but to ask the Indians to void his team-friendly $5.25-million option in exchange for allowing the deal.

"You aren't in the position to make those types of requests too often," Wells said. "When you get the chance, take it. Again, this should have all been done behind closed doors and not played out in the media."

Wells said his no-trade was negotiated into the seven-year, $126-million extension he signed with Toronto in 2006, but that an open relationship with former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos helped foster honest dialogue when it came time for Toronto to deal him after the 2010 season.

"During the season, I wasn't thinking about (being traded) at all," Wells said. "I didn't think it was a possibility. All we were concentrating on was seeing how many home runs we could hit that year. And then after the season ended, I was talking to Alex and John (Farrell) about ways to improve the ballclub.

"Alex and I were pretty open about anything and everything. We were able to talk through so many things that when the topic of a trade was brought up, he was actually very honest about what was what and we talked through different scenarios, and at that point it began real in a hurry."

Wells said that type of trust isn't built overnight, and doubts whether the Brewers and Lucroy will ever recover from the failed deal.

"This won't happen again," he said. "I think he'll be traded by Monday or during this offseason."