Jonathan Lucroy still doesn't regret vetoing a trade to the Indians
Jonathan Lucroy had a chance to play in the World Series this year.
He didn't know it at the time, of course, when the Milwaukee Brewers had agreed in principle on a trade that would have sent him to Cleveland this summer, a deal that fell through when Lucroy used a clause in his contract to veto the trade.
Instead of going to the Indians and winning the A.L. pennant, Lucroy was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he was part of the A.L. West championship team before being knocked out by the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
Surely he regrets the veto now, right?
"I'm good, man,'' Lucroy told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. "There's too much drama with all that. I'm not worried about it at all. It's over with and in the past.''
OK, so what is he supposed to say?
Lucroy has a $5.25 million club option for 2017 and explained after vetoing the deal that it was strictly a financial decision, nothing against the Indians or city of Cleveland. He explained in a piece for ESPN in August:
"There was one thing we wanted to know: What was my future with the Indians? We knew Cleveland already had a good catcher, Yan Gomes, who's injured right now. He's getting paid more than me, and he's younger than me. We knew they'd probably want him catching almost every day next year. Heck, if I were the general manager in Cleveland, I'd want Gomes catching every day.
We were right. [Cleveland president Chris] Antonetti told Doug that the Indians couldn't make any promises on me catching next season. There was no way they'd drop the team option, either, because I'm pretty inexpensive in 2017. I don't blame them. I would have been mostly at first base and designated hitter. In the end, that was the deal killer."
Even if the veto wasn't intended as a slight, it was impossible for some Indians not to take it that way, such as back-up catcher Chris Gimenez:
"His loss ... He definitely could've helped. At the same time, 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."
