Brewers Trade Rumors: Jonathan Lucroy, Jean Segura updates

The Brewers have been somewhere between quiet and active so far this offseason. They did make three trades, but only one included a major league asset. That was the Francisco Rodriguez trade. With the Winter Meetings already in full swing that inactivity is very likely to change. And it could change quickly.

Brewers beat reporter Tom Haudricourt reported late last night on the possibility they might trade Jean Segura. Shortstop Orlando Arcia is the franchise's top prospect and he's knocking on the door of the majors. Coupled with the presence of Yadiel Rivera and Jonathan Villar who could each at the least serve as a stopgap or bridge to Arcia. That makes Segura expendable.

His value isn't as high as it could have been had his bat come around. But there are very few shortstops that hit well anywhere in baseball. Segura is a plus defender and probably at worst is a league average shortstop overall. With three years of reasonably cheap team control he still does have trade value. He could also appeal to teams looking for second base help. It's now just a matter of finding the best offer.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit from the Haudricourt article was about Jonathan Lucroy. Unsurprisingly the Brewers are receiving a lot of calls on their All-Star catcher. That's not really interesting at that point. It's not news. What is interesting is that Haudricourt specifically mentions the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have a very good farm system and there is more than enough there to get a deal done. On top of that the two teams have a recent history together. It was less than a year ago that the two teams completed the Yovani Gallardo trade. David Stearns wasn't with the team at that point though.

The nice thing about trade Jonathan Lucroy is they don't have to do it right now if they don't want to. The Brewers retain control over their catcher for two more seasons. So if they don't get blown away with an offer they can afford to wait. The free agent market for catchers is essentially non-existent and there don't seem to be any other available in trade. If there is a team looking to improve their catching situation it may very well be Lucroy or bust. So it's not impossible for the Brewers to get that special offer.

I haven't seen anything about the Brewers being close to completing any deals yet. Though I don't think anyone heard about any of the three trades they completed until about an hour before they were official. It's the Winter Meetings so things will develop even more quickly. We're going to do our best to keep you up to date on all relevant information.