As of last season, Toronto was one of the teams Bruce could not be traded to without giving prior approval, but he removed the Blue Jays several months ago, a source told Crasnick.
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Bruce would give the Blue Jays a left handed presence in the middle of the lineup that is dominated by right-handed hitters in Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and reigning MVP Josh Donaldson.
Yesterday, a proposed three-way trade centered around sending Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce to the Toronto Blue Jays went from rumor to impending transaction. Saunders is due to make $2.9 million next season and also enter free agency. The Reds faced a challenge of decent trade return for Bruce because Bruce has faltered at the plate over the past two seasons.
Bruce is a right fielder like Bautista, but the Reds star has struggled the last two seasons. But the 35-year-old slugger made it clear that he had already given the team a five-year hometown discount. 217 batting average in 2014 and.
Cancel that Jay Bruce jersey order. Sure, the Reds may be a little more fiscally flexible with guys like Frazier and Chapman off the books, but the headlines with every other decision have been about what the Reds added, not what they’ve kept.
The big issue could be Jay’s salary, which is slated to total $12 million in 2016 and another $13.5 million if his option is picked up in 2017.
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Toronto pursued Bruce back at July’s non-waiver trade deadline, with talks advancing far enough that the Jays asked Bruce about his willingness to waive his no-trade clause to come to Toronto before using their pool of top prospects to acquire Troy Tulowitzki, David Price, Ben Revere and Mark Lowe. That stretch covered Bruce’s first six years with the Reds. It is that injury that became the snag that put the trade on hold.
