Position switch for Lucroy

[splitterpfj]

OK...I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYONE IN THE DUGOUT OR THE FRONT OFFICE SUGGEST THIS

 

If you're watching the telecast today, the announcers have been discussing the possibility of moving Lucroy to another position in the future, because he has a "Mauer-like bat." The idea, of course, is to protect his body from the demands of the catcher position, to keep his bat in the lineup.

 

Two questions...do you see Lucroy as that type of hitter, and even if you do, would you move him?

[TooLiveBrew]

1) Maybe.

2) No, no, no, no.

 

 

EDIT: Wasn't Mauer moved after injury problems? If Lucroy winds up having injuries that inhibit his ability to catch, of course you explore moving him. But I don't view a broken pinkie & then this season's SuticaseGate as reasons to move him.

[Funketown]

Lucroy doesn't have a Mauer type bat. He plays a solid defensive catcher and has a league average bat. That makes for a very valuable player at catcher, and he doesn't have nearly as much value anywhere else on the field.

 

So no, let's not move him.

[davego]

Ah, no. Let's have two good catchers. Save some wear and as we saw this year, give us insurance again run-away suitcases.

[Bombers]

1) Maybe.

2) No, no, no, no.

I agree. We have Braun / Aoki for LF / RF and then Gamel / Hart / Davis / Morris for our 1B in 13, 14 and on. I just am unsure of what that gives us by playing him at a position he has never ever played and are already filled by productive players. If you really believe in Maldy than just trade Lucroy. He would net a lot. But I am not in this camp.

 

I say he stays our catcher.

[trwi7]

Lucroy

 

Age 23-24: .253/.300/.329

Age 24-25: .265/.313/.391

Age 25-26: .336/.380/.562

 

Career: .273/.320/.400

 

Mauer

 

Age 23: .347/.429/.507

Age 24: .293/.382/.426

Age 25: .328/.413/.451

Age 26: .365/.444/.587

 

Career: .324/.405/.469

 

I'm sorry but Lucroy is nowhere close to Mauer as a hitter.

[endaround]

Lucroy might use the same model of bat as Mauer but that is as far as it goes. His BABIP this season is .367. So no he isn't a new hitter this year.

[JJHardy7]

I'm sorry but Lucroy is nowhere close to Mauer as a hitter.

 

I agree with this. Luc's offense at C is an asset. I would imagine he could only play at 2B/3B (maybe) and corner OF. His offense wouldn't look quite as good there. I love Luc...but let's enjoy it and if we have to worry about it later we can do that.

[umphrey]

I wouldnt be against a 3/2 split between Lucroy and Maldonado

[kalle8]

why put a good catcher in a position where he would be average qt best? if he can't play shortstop i see no reason for a change. he or maldonado would be a good chip for future trades.

[markedman5]

We finally have a good catcher after years of crap and people want to move him?

[Invader3K]

We finally have a good catcher after years of crap and people want to move him?

 

That's kind of my thought. Until injuries really become a concern for him, he needs to stay at catcher with Maldonado being the above average backup.

[paul253]

We finally have a good catcher after years of crap and people want to move him?

 

You mean you consider Gregg Zaun, Jason Kendal, Mike Rivera, Wil Nieves, Carlos Corporan, Vinny Rottino, Johnny Estrada, Damian Miller, Chad Moeller, Gary Bennett, Eddie Perez, Keith Osik, Robert Machado, Paul Bako, Jorge Fabregas and Raul Casanova crap?

[markedman5]

Wow....I thought our bullpen was bad until you posted that list of catchers.

 

I might have been to kind to call them crap......

We finally have a good catcher after years of crap and people want to move him?

 

You mean you consider Gregg Zaun, Jason Kendal, Mike Rivera, Wil Nieves, Carlos Corporan, Vinny Rottino, Johnny Estrada, Damian Miller, Chad Moeller, Gary Bennett, Eddie Perez, Keith Osik, Robert Machado, Paul Bako, Jorge Fabregas and Raul Casanova crap?

[FVBrewerFan]

I'm sorry but Lucroy is nowhere close to Mauer as a hitter.

 

I agree with this. Luc's offense at C is an asset. I would imagine he could only play at 2B/3B (maybe) and corner OF. His offense wouldn't look quite as good there. I love Luc...but let's enjoy it and if we have to worry about it later we can do that.

 

Lucroy at 2B??? Whoa. I'm not saying Lucroy couldn't ever be moved to 1B or corner OF, but it would be item #873 on my list of things to consider for 2013-2014.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

As I mentioned in another thread. Lucroy is on WSSP on Tesday mornings and he said he would be terrible at any infield position. He hadn't player infield since highschool.

[KCBrewerfan34]

As much as I love LuCroy if he can bring us a top line starter who isn't priced out of this world I think you have to consider it this off-season.

 

I would trade him for Jordan Zimmerman

[Nader Raider Tim]

No, I do not want to see LuCroy semi-full time moved to another position.

 

Yes I would like to see LuCroy get some time at 1st Base to increase his versatility and keep his bat in the lineup.

 

Yes I would look at seeing if you can sell crazy high on LuCroy in the offseason. Only trade LuCroy if you can get a crazy return. Try and see how crazy you can get the Rays to go with an offer. (Hellickson+) Then I would look at signing a guy like Mike Napoli and use him similar to how Texas uses him with 1st Base time instead of the DH time.

[logan82]

I wouldnt be against a 3/2 split between Lucroy and Maldonado

Maybe not that much but at the very least Maldanado should be starting one game a series with the other guy sitting out the entire game(no coming in to play a few innings behind the dish).

[JJHardy7]

Lucroy at 2B??? Whoa. I'm not saying Lucroy couldn't ever be moved to 1B or corner OF, but it would be item #873 on my list of things to consider for 2013-2014.

 

I said 'maybe'. Some guys have made the transition to 2B from catcher (i.e. Biggio). Not common and not saying Luc could do that, but if he could that would be more valuable than him playing 3B/1B/OF IMO. Like others have posted, leaving him at catcher is the way to go until he can't play due to injuries, etc.

 

Also, I don't think we should attack the question of the thread. It's a fair question and worth discussing given the fact that in short time Luc has gone from one of our worst hitters in the lineup to one of the most valuable.

[logan82]

We should also examine whether we should reasonable expect him to continue hitting this well. Personally I don't think we should. Somewhere between this year and last year seems pretty reasonable which would be pretty good but not one of our better hitters.

[GoToHelfaer]

I believe Lucroy will continue to blossom offensively. Is he Joe Mauer, no, but I don't consider his offensive maturity to be a fluke.

 

While he wouldn't supply the power, to say that he would be terrible learning 1B is overblown if it would mean keeping Lucroy's bat in the lineup while getting Maldonado playing time.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I could see having him learn 1B, just to play him there part-time to keep his bat in the lineup. Maybe he catches 100 games and plays 1B 35-40 or something. Then Maldonado still gets good playing time, and Hart can still play 1B most of the time, and shift to RF the rest of the time.

[Baldkin]

He has a .367 BABIP this year, there is no way he keeps that up going forward.

He is actually BB'ing LESS this year than he has in his career (a Gomezian 5%).

 

Having him learn 1B to "keep his bat in the lineup" assumes he will be better than whomever we trot out to play 1B in the future. I sure hope he isn't.

He has a .398 wOBA this year, last year it was .310. League average for 1B is somewhere around .350.

[craigharmann]

Why??? I mean, we need a shortstop....why not move Rickie there? Or Gomez? That's just crazy talk!