🤫 The Mets were 'not bluffing' about Jonathan Lucroy

Almost A Met: Jonathan Lucroy

Nov 21, 2025

Jonathan Lucroy was almost traded to the New York Mets — Jeffrey Hyde/Flickr (CC-BY-SA)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to this week’s edition of “Almost A Met!”

First off — do you like the new “Leading Off” logo and email header? I’m playing around with a few changes and I thought this was more fun than the old one. I’ll be updating old newsletters to reflect the new change in coming weeks. Let me know what you think!

After last week’s big name, I wanted to go a bit smaller. When I was originally researching Jonathan Lucroy, I didn’t know how much smoke there was actually linking the Mets and him. But you’ll have to read on to find out more about that. 😉

Also, if you enjoyed today’s newsletter, could you please hit that like button? I know everyone asks, but it does really help! Thanks in advance!

See you next week! Let’s get into it.

Andrew

The Mets offered a lot to get Jonathan Lucroy in 2016

The 2016 Mets are special in some ways, but disappointing in others.

That season marked just the second time in franchise history that the Mets made back-to-back postseasons, but it was also marked with numerous injuries that made them less formidable than the team that had a fairy tale run to the World Series just a year prior.

C Travis d’Arnaud, one of the major prospects acquired in the SP R.A. Dickey trade in 2012, was injured. The Mets, who fancied themselves contenders, were relying on the likes of C Kevin Plawecki (who still had some prospect pedigree) and C Rene Rivera to sit behind the plate in the absence of D’Arnaud.

With a record of 53-48 just ahead of the deadline, the Mets appeared to be looking into the idea of upgrading behind the dish. There just happened to be a catcher on a team going nowhere: C Jonathan Lucroy.

(Side note, I’m not the only one who thinks he looks eerily similar to former Mets 2B Daniel Murphy).

Lucroy had been a very good catcher so far in his career. Since debuting in 2010 with the Brewers, Lucroy had accumulated a 15 WAR, slugged 66 HRs, drove in 337 RBIs, and had an OPS+ of 109. But Lucroy had other attributes, he amassed a .282 batting average over his first five years and was described as “a wiz behind the plate.”

But around the 2016 trade deadline, Brewers GM David Stearns (yes, the same one running the Mets now) was looking to trade. At the end of July 2016, the team was 44-56.

While the Brewers were struggling, Lucroy was not. In the first half of the season, the catcher had 2.2 WAR, hit 13 HRs, knocked in 50 RBIs, and was hitting .299 with an OPS+ of 120. He was having a great year.

Essentially, he was a great trade chip for the Brewers.

For the Mets, he would solve their catching situation for the 2016 season, mixing a bit of pop, hitting for average, and good defense.

Other teams reportedly in the mix for the catcher included the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland baseball team.

The Mets were ‘not bluffing’ in their pursuit of Jonathan Lucroy

There’s a lot of smoke about a potential trade between the Brewers and Mets regarding Lucroy.

In late July 2016, New York Daily News reporter Kristie Ackert reported that the Mets were among “several teams who are trying to stay in the mix” for Lucroy.

One iteration of the deal would have sent d’Arnaud to the Brewers straight up for Lucroy. The Brewers reportedly declined that. The current iteration of the proposed deal would have included d’Arnaud and another “blue-chip prospect” they’d have to package with him to get a deal done.

“At this time of year, many players are discussed among lots of clubs,” Mets GM Sandy Alderson said, according to the Daily News article. “Most of those discussions are no more than idle conversations that lead to nothing.”

Despite this, Ackert reported that there “seems to be some traction” between the two teams, with the Mets also interested in RP Jeremy Jeffress and RP Will Smith.

The New York Post’s Joel Sherman put the negotiations this way: “The Mets are not bluffing. Not posturing. They want Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy.”

Just a few days later, Ken Rosenthal, then of FOX Sports, reported that the Brewers “re-engaged” the Mets on a Lucroy trade, but cautioned that there was “no indication” that a deal was close.

Meanwhile, Rosenthal would follow up that reporting with a blockbuster. The Mets made a 3-player offer to the Brewers for Lucroy that would have included d’Arnaud and OF Brandon Nimmo or a “comparable player.”

Like what you are reading? Why not share it with a Mets fan in your life?

An added wrinkle from a trade that famously broke down a year before

As Sherman pointed out in his Post article, the Mets and Brewers had been down the trade talks path before. In fact, a pretty major one fizzled out just a year prior.

In 2015, the Mets and Brewers had a deal in place that would have sent OF Carlos Gomez to New York in exchange for SP Zach Wheeler and SS Wilmer Flores. The deal never materialized and led to one of the most bizarre moments you’ll see on a baseball diamond and also one of the most magic moments of the 2015 season.

You all know the story.

“Do the Brewers hold any grudge against the Mets for backing out of a deal that was verbally committed to a year ago Friday that would have brought Carlos Gomez to New York before the Mets killed the trade by failing Gomez on their physical review?” Sherman wrote.

However, Stearns—a first year GM at the time—didn’t seem to mind the two teams history when weighing offers for Lucroy.

“The Mets have yet to sense any issues in discussions with Milwaukee about Lucroy, who was an All-Star for the second time this year,” Sherman reported.

As the deadline grew closer it appeared that Lucroy was heading to Cleveland, ending the Mets pursuit. The team became the “distinct favorites” to land the catcher, according to Jeff Passan, then at Yahoo. That left the Mets “out” of the running.

However, while the Cleveland baseball team was on the verge of acquiring him from the Brewers he exercised his no-trade clause. That deal would have reportedly sent Cleveland prospects C Francisco Mejia, SS Yu-Cheng Chang and OF Greg Allen to Milwaukee.

The absence of a deal left it “possible” that the Mets and Brewers “could revisit” the three-player offering including d’Arnaud and Nimmo, according to the Post at the time.

It didn’t end up working out that way.

What happened next?

On July 31 2016, ESPN reported that talks between the the Mets and Brewers “died down.” In the same report, Jim Bowden, then at ESPN, said the Rangers were “trying to be opportunistic” and land the catcher.

Lucroy was traded to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline. He would hit well for the Rangers in the second half of the season, hitting 11 HRs, and knocking in 31 RBIs to go along with an OPS+ of 128.

The 2016 Mets surely could have used that kind of bat in a lineup that featured the likes of C Rene Rivera, 2B T.J. Rivera, and 1B James Loney in their Wild Card Game lineup against the San Francisco Giants.

However, Lucroy would struggle in 2017, hitting just 4 HRs, 27 RBIs, and amassing a -0.3 WAR over his first 77 games of the season. He was then shipped to the Colorado Rockies at that year’s trade deadline.

He’d hit pretty well for the team before hitting free agency ahead of the 2018 season, where there was once again some speculation the Mets would go after him. Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com reported in January 2018 that the team “had some contact” with Lucroy.

Eventually, Lucroy signed a one year $6.5 million deal with the Oakland Athletics.

Even after all that, there were some rumors about the Mets trading for Lucroy during the 2018 season.

Nothing ever materialized and Lucroy would go onto bounce around the league for several years, having short stints with the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Atlanta Braves.

Given what it would have cost to acquire him, it is probably for the best that the deal never materialized. That being said, did you see who was in the 2016 Wild Card Game lineup?