3:03pm: Lucroy has been designated for assignment.
11:14am: The Red Sox will remove catcher Jonathan Lucroy from their roster today and call up right-hander Chris Mazza from their alternate training site in Pawtucket, Chad Jennings and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report (via Twitter). The exact nature of the move isn’t clear. It’s possible that Lucroy will simply be designated for assignment, though it’s also conceivable that he could be shipped to another club with a need for catching depth.
Lucroy, 34, cracked Boston’s Opening Day roster as a third catcher behind Christian Vazquez and Kevin Plawecki, but he’s yet to tally a plate appearance with the Sox. He split the 2019 season between the Angels and Cubs, hitting at a combined .232/.305/.355 rate in 101 games and 328 plate appearances.
More than three full years have passed since Lucroy enjoyed his last above-average season at the plate, but for a time, he was considered to be among the game’s elite backstops. From 2012-16, Lucroy batted .291/.353/.465 (120 OPS+) while drawing elite framing marks and registering a solid 27.5 percent caught-stealing rate. Those days, however, have long since passed. Over his previous three seasons, Lucroy has combined for a .248/.315/.350 output as his defensive ratings have tumbled considerably.
In his place, the Sox will add the 30-year-old Mazza — an offseason waiver claim out of the Mets organization who has just 16 1/3 MLB innings under his belt. While Mazza doesn’t have much big league experience, he turned in a 3.67 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 76 Triple-A frames last year — particularly solid marks given the offensive explosion there. Mazza has an overall ERA of 3.72 or better at every individual minor league level and has a composite 3.21 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. He’s regularly posted excellent ground-ball mark as well, thanks to a heavy sinker that has one of the lowest spin rates in MLB (which, in the case of sinkers, is a good thing).
welcome to Miami
Next stop Miami or New York Mets
This does make me wonder why the Mets signed Maxwell. Without mentioning the baggage he brings to the organization, it seems like there are many more quality options that are ready to play
The Mets may be looking for depth to replace Nido or Rivera as the third catcher in the alternate training site should they try and fail to pass Nido or Rivera through waivers (or in the case of Rivera, he rejects an outright) when rosters contract. Maxwell would just serve as insurance in case one catcher is lost and one of the remaining two subsequently gets hurt.. Better catchers would probably not settle for a minor league contract with only a chance of sniffing the major league rosters. I think this needs to be a common strategy these days with all the roster churning: have a backup options in the minors in case you lose a player you can’t freely demote. I don’t know the long term answer for this. The union likes the ability of their members to catch on another major league team, which is particularly important with respect to pay for some and salary for all despite the disruption a move causes.
Maxwell was stellar in Mexico last year, so he could push for the taxi squad spot.
Well put, Marc_from_Brooklyn.
Lucroy and others considered better quality options than Maxwell are probably maneuvering toward a spot in the Giants’ currently underwhelming mix without Posey (and/or Bart) or somewhere else with readily available major-league ABs.
No Mets will wait for Realmuto in the off-season
i wonder if Lucroy scenario reminds the phillies of the Realmuto situation at all
I recall how good i thought Lucroy was at 30 & 31… oh how the mighty have fallen in 3 years
That’s a really good point… I think Realmuto is a better offensive player overall… And actually has a better track record (or at least a more consistent one) but I do tend to agree with your broader point and think that signing Realmuto to a big extension could really backfire on whatever organization does so.
Great point. I’m not signing Realmuto to any long term deal. It’s not like he is babe Ruth either. He is a25 hr/ 85rbi guy. Sure, the best amongst catchers, but I’d rather spend that on a stud shortstop or first baseman.
But Realmuto is arguably the best defensive catcher in the game. 25 homers /85rbi are excellent for a catcher also. Any team in the league would want his production offensively and defensively. A no-brainer to sign him long-term. 5 years with a club option sounds about right
Need to watch other than your home club.
I’m waiting for the Trackman analytics to be able to identify exactly what has changed in a hitter like Lucroy. Bat speed? Pitch selection? Swing? I assume that this is being used internally, as it is with pitchers, but it isn’t talked about much and mostly in terms of results–exit velocity, fly ball/ground rate, pull rate, good pitches taken, bad pitches swung at, etc.–rather than process.
i dont think their skillsets match up though. Realmuto’s athleticism and durability is the main reason why a big deal for him could work out well. Lucroy’s athleticism was never on that level.
I made a similar argument in another article about Realmuto getting a big payday. I wouldn’t give him a contract more than three years, maybe four with the last being a club option, just because of the position he plays and how many innings he’s caught. It’s almost like a ticking time bomb with a catcher for when the offense drops off.
Lucroy from 12-16 (ages 26-30) was just as good offensively, maybe even better, as Realmuto is right now. OPS+ of 132, 116, 131, 96, and 123 in 641 games before he fell off at age 31.
Realmuto has played 688 games with an OPS+ of 109 and he’s 29.
Whether or not he falls off remains to be seen, but, given the history of catchers, he’ll probably start falling off in the next two seasons or so unless he changes position.
Another good example is Jason Kendall, if you care to look up his stats, he fell off as his age 30 season.
Desperation move since the RS bullpen will be blown out in a month.
Yes, Lucroy is definitely Miami Marlin bound
Not sure about Roberto Perez’s injury. The Indians maybe looking for depth as well.
No thanks. If he didn’t want to go there as a World Series contender I really hope they don’t consider him now.
He didn’t want to go there because the Indians were not going to promise him the starting catcher job in 2017 had they actually traded for him, no joke.
That’s what Lucroy claimed at the time, but that never really made sense to me. The Indians wouldn’t have traded as much as they were going to just to have him play first and DH. Even when his bat was All-Star level, it didn’t play there well enough to give up that much for.
I think the more likely scenario would have been him starting around 60% of the time behind the plate, and the other 40% or so he’d play first or DH while Gomes would have caught. (Also worth mentioning is that this was 2016 and not 2017, but that’s not the point.)
@Eatdust I don’t blame Lucroy for blocking the trade and ultimately it was his right to do so. He thought he had some leverage and tried to exploit it and get to FA one year earlier. You can see why he was going for it.. his career went off the rails in 2017. Had he gone into FA after the 2016 season, he likely would have signed a big money deal.
Exactly, and between ABs at catcher DH and 1B he would’ve gotten a full season of ABs. He tried to set himself up for a big payday moving forward and he has bombed since then. Great trades can sometimes be the that don’t get consummated.
Wait somebody actually wants or wanted to go to Cleveland? I find that hard to believe
You’re inability to read and comprehend things is beyond staggering. But then again, with the idiotic things you say on here, it doesn’t surprise me.
Lucroy does not have the defensive skills to be of use for the Cleveland Indians.
Would you think he had the defensive skills had he still been known as one of the best pitch framers? Remember, he played with a herniated disk in his neck for the last 3 years and had surgery over the last off-season.
Why not have Lucroy squat on the mound and fire throws towards home plate? It can’t be worse than what’s been out there so far on the mound.
That’s gotta some kinda special bad to be “removed” from a roster. Was this done by a couple of bouncers?
Should be a cautionary tale for JT Realmuto
Catchers don’t age well.
The mention of Mazza’s low spin rate on sinkers in the same article as Plawecki reminds me of a discussion of high spin rates a few years ago in 2017, probably on a Mets pre-game show or during a game. Seth Lugo was touted as having one of the highest curve ball spin rates on the game. On the other hand, the highest spin fate on fastballs was Plawecki, in his two-inning, four run outing against the Nats. I assume that he threw straight-as-an-arrow sinkers, though I guess they could have been four-seamers with a release point and/or finger pressure that made them spin a lot and go straight.
How could this guy have fallen off so quickly? Just 3 years ago he was considered an elite player. Now he probably can’t even get a minor league deal with the Marlins.
The Marlins are a minor league deal, AAAA…
The man played with a herniated disk in his neck for 3 years. There’s an article out about it.
Yes some other guy mentioned that earlier. Interesting.
This is probably at Lucroys request. Vasquez of course is the starter and the backup guy has started off very well. All catching innings are seized up right now.