Everybody could win in a Jonathan Lucroy trade to Cleveland

3:27 AM ET

Now that we know that there’s an offer on the table and we wait for an answer overnight to the question of whether or not Milwaukee Brewers star Jonathan Lucroy will accept a trade to the Cleveland Indians, let’s consider what everybody involved potentially gets out of the trade.

Jonathan Lucroy would bring a lot more than great catch-and-throw skills to the Indians’ bid to win the AL Central. Harry How/Getty Images

For the Indians, the benefits are fairly transparent: an immediate upgrade on the offensive side of the slate — as David Schoenfield suggested earlier, perhaps as much as two wins’ worth via WAR over the balance of the season alone. The 30-year-old makes consistent hard contact, but his walk rate, just under 9 percent now, has been an asset for years. He’s putting up arguably the best power numbers he has ever cranked out over a full season, with a .184 ISO. He’s having a great season controlling the running game (throwing out 40 percent of opponents); and as far as game-calling skills go, he has been useful, as well as durable.

Because the decision to accept the trade is in Lucroy’s hands as a function of his contract, there are several selling points on why he should want to go to Cleveland. He’d be going to a first-place team, with the Indians leading the American League Central. He’d be going to play for Terry Francona, a manager with two rings won with the Boston Red Sox and who has led the Tribe to a winning record in all four seasons there since he returned to the dugout. He’d be taking on the privilege of arguably catching the best rotation …

continue reading in source espn.go.com