Eye Black

There was certainly some excitement this past winter when the crew acquired Isan Diaz.

Maybe it is just what the market dictated, but I also would not be shocked if Stearns and company valued Mejia and Chang as comparable or better overall prospects than Frazier and Sheffield. It isn't how most of the industry and fans necessarily see it (myself included), but it could be these were the players they believed in most.

Obviously still waiting on hearing what the final packages are, but Frazier was the one player I would have most liked to see in a trade return from the Indians. He has elite bat speed and appears to be a player with All-Star potential. It seems like the Brewers received players that could be solid major leaguers, but at this point you have to squint a little harder to view any of them as a potential future star. Also, with all the talk over the past year that the Brewers were "asking for the moon" for Lucroy it seems like they may have settled for something fairly modest.

Final: Charlotte 6, Brevard County 4 Coulter celebrates birthday with three RBI night By Donald Rieber, Jr., 27 Outs Baseball *** Make sure to check out the linked article for an excellent recap of the game. Oh, how differently things could have worked out if a couple of the early breaks (namely better defense) would have gone the Manatees way. Also included in the game article are some quality photos of the Manatees wearing their Star Wars night uniforms. Brevard County Box Score Charlotte attempted 7 stolen bases off of the Kodi Medeiros and Fidel Pena battery. They successfully swiped bags on 5 of those 7 attempts. Medeiros encountered some trouble in the first couple of innings as well as a little tough luck with defensive miscues, but was able to finish strong over the final 3 scoreless frames of his 5.0 inning outing. Clint Coulter was the story offensively for the Manatees going 2-for-3 with a pair of triples. Brevard County Game Log It's the bottom of the 9th and were only down two runs, let's get those rally caps on gentleman! Brevard County Bottom of the 9th Corey Ray strikes out swinging. Blake Allemand strikes out swinging. George Iskenderian strikes out swinging. --OUCH-- With the trade deadline approaching (now just 36 hours away) it would appear that this Manatees roster may experience a talent infusion in the very near future. Francisco Mejia will likely be expected to bring his 42 game hitting streak to the not-so-hitter-friendly confines of the Florida State League.

Here is Jeff Ellis' Scout.com article, Breakdown of potential Lucroy to Indians which includes speculation that Justus Sheffield is the 4th piece to the deal.

This recent Fangraphs article, Scouting Indians Prospects, has write-ups/video for the players involved in the trade (including Sheffield).

Jeff is a prospect/draft writer and covers the Indians in great depth. Take this for whatever you think it is worth...

Not sure if it is going to happen or not, but I am hoping for the possible 4th "lesser" piece to be a pitcher to see if Stearns can pull something from the Astros' bag of tricks and find a young throw-in arm that turns into a gem.

I am not completely ecstatic about the trade, but I am going to trust that they did their due diligence in scouting these guys. The not-so-delicious sundae for me will be if the Indians flip Lucroy in the off-season for a better prospect haul. Not saying they shouldn't have taken an offer now and I will cheer like heck for Lucroy, but boy will it be a hard pill to swallow if Cleveland lands an elite prospect for Lucroy at some point.

Posted this earlier today, but encourage people to check out the Mejia and Chang reports on 2080 Baseball: High-A Indians prospects that could be moving by the trade deadline

Chang is no slouch either. Chang seems on the trajectory towards eventually becoming a top 100-ish type prospect. Have heard some very positive reports about him over the past few weeks.

With Lucroy not in the lineup tonight let the #hugwatch speculation begin!

My goal for a Lucroy trade is that in 4-6 years from now the Brewers have a perennial All-Star player in their lineup or rotation. The offer from the Mets seems to limit the odds of that possibility. My vote in our recent Lucroy trade poll was for the Red Sox, and I still have this feeling that at some point in the next 48 hours Lucroy is going to end up in Boston. If it is Boston, I would predict Devers as the headliner. Regarding the Indians, still believe they are having a dialogue with the Brewers no matter how many times we hear otherwise. Here is another good article on Indians prospects from 2080 Baseball, Four high-A Indians prospects that could be moving by the trade deadline.

If you need a distraction from thinking about the Mets low-ball offers for Lucroy, take a couple of minutes to read this article from Minor League Ball, Some thoughts on the Cleveland Indians top 10 prospects.

I knew he had been hitting well recently, but over his last 12 games Isan Diaz is batting .479 (23-for-48).

Final: Charlotte 1, Brevard County 0 Stone Crabs first inning run holds up against 'Tees By Donald Rieber, Jr., 27 Outs Baseball *** Brevard County Box Score A tough break giving up the games only run on a 1st inning double play, but an overall solid outing for Marcos Diplan. His final line was 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts over 5.0 innings pitched. Zach Hirsch pitched 4.0 scoreless innings in relief and recorded 5 more strikeouts on his own. Top offensive efforts were recorded by SS Jose Cuas (2-for-3, 2 2B) and LF Elvis Rubio (2-for-4). Brevard County Game Log Brevard County managed a couple of hits in the 5th inning, but the potential tying run was thrown out at the plate. Brevard County Bottom of the 5th Fidel Pena lines out to left fielder Jace Conrad. Elvis Rubio singles on a line drive to center fielder Thomas Milone. Wendell Rijo grounds out, second baseman Riley Unroe to first baseman Alec Sole. Elvis Rubio to 2nd. Dustin Houle singles on a line drive to left fielder Jace Conrad. Elvis Rubio out at home on the throw, left fielder Jace Conrad to catcher Mac James.

Indians catching prospect Francisco Mejia just extended his minor league hitting streak in high-A to 41 games. If he is included in a Lucroy trade it is going to be almost evil to send him to Brevard County with the streak intact.

Brewers scout present at the Rangers game tonight...

Maybe the mystery team is the Pirates and he is in the lineup as a leveraging technique?!... Ok, probably not.

If you didn't get your complete Manatees fix yet, here is another game article... Manatees swept by Yankees, lose 5-1 Brevard County manages just seven hits in loss Brevard County Manatees http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/9/4/192347794/cuts/IMG_7497_d_rs_1p3nb2u7_jl0rzz30.jpg (Photo by Tim Holle)

Final: Tampa 5, Brevard County 1 Tampa sweeps Brevard County By Donald Rieber, Jr., 27 Outs Baseball *** Brevard County Box Score Bubba Derby with a rough outing giving up 10 hits and recording just 1 strike out. As noted in the game story, RF Clint Coulter threw out a Yankees runner at third base. Not the first time this season he has thrown a strike from right field to third to eliminate a baser runner. Brevard County managed 7 hits in the game, the only player with multiple was Blake Allemand (2-for-4) who is one of four Manatees players in starting lineup currently batting under .200. Brevard County Game Log The Manatees were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They scored a run in the 9th and then had the bases loaded with just 1 out, but were unable to come through with the big hit they needed. Brevard County Bottom of the 9th Clint Coulter singles on a line drive to center fielder Jeff Hendrix. Wendell Rijo called out on strikes. Fidel Pena reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Gleyber Torres. Clint Coulter to 2nd. Blake Allemand singles on a line drive to left fielder Trey Amburgey. Clint Coulter to 3rd. Fidel Pena to 2nd. Jose Cuas walks. Clint Coulter scores. Fidel Pena to 3rd. Blake Allemand to 2nd. Malik Collymore called out on strikes. Corey Ray grounds out, third baseman Thairo Estrada to first baseman Connor Spencer.

Giants acquire IF Eduardo Nuñez from the Twins in exchange for prospect LHP Adalberto Mejía.

Mystery solved, they were scrolling five trades proposed in this MLB.com Article by Jim Duquette. Sounds like they didn't preface it very well, just listed them as "five deadline deals". The article itself says that either "Gabriel Ynoa or lefty Thomas Szapucki" might be an overpay for Will Smith. Come on man.

On the LED board at Target Field tonight. I don't think there is anything legitimate behind it, but a strange occurrence nevertheless...

Just to be clear I wasn't trying to make any specific conclusions about the lack of catchers traded, just thought it was interesting to see some of the past trades. There isn't a large enough sample to really gain knowledge or make inferences regarding Lucroy's value. A Lucroy trade may very well set the standard that is referenced in future trade speculation surrounding top catchers. The player on the previous list that most closely applies (Martinez) was traded for a player who had been a top 100 prospect and was pitching in his second MLB season at 24 yrs old (Masterson), a player who the following season would rank as Baseball America's #46 overall prospect (Hagadone), and a player who was drafted in the first round a year earlier (Price). While those guys didn't reach their ceilings I think it looked like a solid haul at the time. There aren't a lot of examples to compare Lucroy to, value wise he is already within the top 80-100 catchers of all-time. Here is a look at All-Time Catchers WAR and JAWS rankings. Of the more recent guys in the all-time top 120 that have been traded at either different times during the season or the off-season are Ramon Hernandez, Chris Iannetta, Kurt Suzuki, Miguel Montero. Also from the list and highlighted below are A.J. Pierzynski and Mike Napoli. A.J. Pierzynski was traded following his 4.5 WAR Age 26 season. A.J. Pierzynski, Age 26 November 14, 2003: Traded by the Minnesota Twins with cash to the San Francisco Giants for Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan. Mike Napoli was traded twice in a 5 day span following a 2.0 WAR season with 2 years remaining on his contract. Mike Napoli, Age 29, 2.0 years remaining January 21, 2011: Traded by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with Juan Rivera to the Toronto Blue Jays for Vernon Wells. January 25, 2011: Traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Texas Rangers for Frank Francisco.