UPDATE: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the deal is for five years and $11 million in guaranteed money.
==========
Jonathan Lucroy and the Brewers are on the verge of agreeing to a multi-year contract extension, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.
No details yet, but Rosenthal reports that the extension will be for either four or five years. Lucroy won’t even be arbitration eligible for the first time until 2014, so a four-year deal would simply be pre-paying for his arbitration seasons and a fifth year would buy out his first season of free agency in 2017.
If that happens Lucroy will be one of the least accomplished players to ever sign a long-term extension, as the 26-year-old catcher has hit just .260 with a .307 on-base percentage and .366 slugging percentage in 211 games. He started 114 of 162 games last season, but posted a modest .703 OPS that ranked 17th among the 21 catchers with at least 100 games.
Lucroy is certainly capable of more production and always showed good on-base skills in the minors, but right now he looks like more of a role player than a long-term building block.