Milwaukee Brewers' catcher Jonathan Lucroy recently made waves with comments saying that he believes a trade would be the best move for his career.
However, manager Craig Counsell says his take on the article is more about the commitment Lucroy is still willing to make to the Brewers - which he also stated in the same Tom Haudricourt Journal Sentinel piece.
"Jonathan's going to be here, as far as I know," Counsell told 620WTMJ's Greg Matzek on "Sports Central."
"The first line of what he said is that he's open to a trade, and then the second line, the bulk of what he said next is, 'If I'm not, I will be here. I will be a great teammate. I will be motivated to be better than I was last year, motivated to help the pitchers on the staff.' That's an important part about what he said...what I've focused on."
Counsell shared a respect for Lucroy's candor, as well as the opportunity he believes it gives for his team when they gather for spring training.
"Jonathan's always been really open and honest, an open book with how he feels about things," said Counsell.
"It's an opportunity for us at spring training to talk about it as a group, talk about what people think, how we're going to combat that."
The manager gave a message to fans who may worry about his team not necessarily giving its all toward competing day in, night out.
"We will show up with every intention of winning every baseball game that we can. Everybody knows there are going to be doubters," said Counsell.
"Major league seasons are too sacred. Players and coaches' careers are too short to ever give an inch on anything. We certainly won't."
An interesting pitching transaction came for Milwaukee on Monday - the re-signing of veteran Chris Capuano, 37, a former Milwaukee teammate of Counsell's.
"I talked to Chris today. He's an old friend. I think one thing about Chris is that you can't count people out as dedicated as he is. You try to give him one more shot and see what happens," said Counsell.
The 13-year MLB veteran pitched five years in Milwaukee (2004-07, 2010). His ERA has risen all but one year over the past four seasons, from 3.72 in 2012 with the L.A. Dodgers to 7.97 with the New York Yankees as a reliever and spot starter.
