When Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy decided to exercise the partial no-trade clause in his contract to veto a trade to the Cleveland Indians Sunday, he potentially saved Chris Gimenez's job - or at least kept the veteran from losing a lot of playing time.
While Gimenez is presumably thankful he still has a spot in the lineup, he expressed bewilderment about why Lucroy would turn down a trade to the AL Central leaders.
"Even though he plays my position, he's definitely an upgrade. It's be ridiculous to say that he wasn't," Gimenez said, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "He definitely could've helped. At the same point, we feel pretty strongly about the guys we have here, too. Unfortunately, he chose not to be a part of it. Hopefully, we can win the World Series and we'll be laughing at him."
Lucroy nixed the trade because the Indians wouldn't agree to renegotiate his $5.25-million team option for 2017 and he wasn't guaranteed the starting catching job next season, according to a source of MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
"When you're dealing with life-altering decisions like this, there are lots of different factors that come into play," Lucroy said of his decision to veto the trade. "Mostly it's family, and the other half of that is your future in this game, your career. There are a lot of things to take in, and whenever those things don't line up, decisions have to be made that might be tough. That's the way it's got to be, because in my eyes, we have to look out for our best interests."
Lucroy, who received a resounding ovation during a pinch-hit at-bat Sunday at Miller Park - potentially his last with Milwaukee - was drafted by the Brewers in 2007, and has spent his entire seven-year career with the club, amassing 79 home runs, 387 RBIs, and a 111 OPS+.
He's still receiving trade interest as Monday's deadline approaches, with the Texas Rangers reportedly front-runners for his services.
