So we know that Jake Arrieta is slow to the plate, right, but in case you needed it confirming his catcher Miguel Montero was only more than happy fill in any details for reporters after the Cubs lost 6-1 to the Nationals at the end of June. Cubs Den simply led with “Everything is Awful”.

That headline came when the Cubbies still had a winning record but going into the All Star break the team was at 43-45 and had just allowed Francisco Cervelli to hit a grand slam from second in the lineup in a ten run first inning for the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

Even a Cubs cloud has a silver lining however and that takes the form of the mess that is the NL Central. The Brewers are the surprise package but only lead by 5 1/2 games. That’s sizeable but not insurmountable with half a season of baseball left. With the Western divisions looking like a Zimbabwean election result the NL Central is still a pillar of baseball democracy.

Clearly the Cubs are not be able to rely on their current crop of World Champions to get the job done and need significant investment in the trade market.

This began yesterday with the announcement that Jose Quintana would move across the city to join the lacklustre pitching rotation.

ESPN’s Buster Olney mentioned on the Baseball Tonight podcast that he felt this was more of a move for the 2018 season and in one sense this is true but the implication that the Cubs are giving up on 2017 is simply not the case.

This brings us back to the outspoken Montero.

After his outburst Montero was released by the Cubs to very little surprise. He was picked up by the Blue Jays shortly afterwards but in the meantime the Cubs are struggling a little bit behind the plate.

Of course they do have the very good Willson Contreras who has kept up his 2016 form and is currently worth 2.1 WAR (B-R) but in terms of backup they are looking at Kyle Schwarber (less said the better) or Victor Caratini (a decent prospect but not ready for the big leagues just yet).

Any realistic run to the postseason requires the Cubs to grab another catcher who can cover for Contreras when needed and I have just the man.

Jonathan Lucroy has fallen far out of favour since earning a spot on the All-Star team for the American League this time last year. Much of the blame for this in sabermetric circles has focused on his terrible pitch framing but the truth is that Lucroy is no longer doing much with the bat either and has a WRC+ of 73 for the 2017 season compared with 123 last year.

This is not the place to explore what is going on with Lucroy but he has now turned 31 and is generating less power. Nevertheless the Rangers have clearly indicated that they are sellers and while much of the focus has been on their pitchers, putting Lucroy on the table makes a lot of sense.

The former Brewers star is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season so we are not talking about weighing the Cubs down with a large contract and the Rangers are not losing out on a long-term investment. Lucroy will also prove to be an experienced head in a clubhouse culture that Montero proved is rapidly losing the shine of that famous night in Cleveland last October. This, remember, is a clubhouse that also relied to a great extent on the influence of another catcher/dancer; David Ross.

My final pitch is a simple one: this is still Jonathan Lucroy. The Lucroy who hit .292/.355/.500 last year is not gone forever and is clearly working through some struggles right now. Perhaps the best place to do that is behind Contreras at Wrigley.

A team that is desperately trying to recapture the success of last year; meet a player that is desperately trying to recapture the success of last year.