The Brewers knew that it was time to trade Jonathan Lucroy heading into the summer of 2016. The team was smack in the middle of a rebuild and Lucroy had 1.5 years remaining on his contract, the prime time to get a huge prospect haul back in return for a star player at a premium position.
In the final few days before the trade deadline, which was pushed to August 1st that year, the Brewers held Lucroy out of the lineup, not wanting to risk injury. On July 31st, the Brewers reached an agreement with the Cleveland Indians.