The news broke on August 1, the trade deadline.
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After Bruce was dealt to the Mets in exchange for second baseman Dilson Herrera and left-hander Max Wotell on Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, Bailey expressed frustration with the move and said he believed the Reds received an insufficient return for the three-time All-Star.
The concern is that aside from the RISP issue, Bruce does not really fit the Mets’ roster.
Despite some uncertainty about acquiring Jay Bruce earlier in the day, the Mets completed a trade with the Reds to acquire the slugging outfielder, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan confirmed.
Either way we put it, this is a deal that makes too much sense for NY. In an especially odd turn of events- you just can’t make this stuff up – the GM traded left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo to Pittsburgh for old friend Jon Niese.
For the majority of the 2016 season, the Mets (54-51) have had trouble swinging at the plate; the team now ranks last in the major leagues with a pedestrian.206 batting average with runners in scoring position. Bruce was tied with Duvall for the team lead with 25 homers and led the NL with 80 RBIs when he was traded.
The Mets nearly landed Bruce before, but backed out of a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gomez on July 29 of last season over concern about Gomez’s hip. Now you add him on a team that made the World Series previous year and currently in a fight for the Wild Card spot, and you will have a resurgence of optimism in Queens.
The Mets reportedly refused to offer Conforto or Amed Rosario. A Bruce acquisition would have made more sense for an AL team that could have used him at DH, but the Mets were obviously desperate and the other options for offensive minded outfielders, particularly Carlos Beltran, have the same problem. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Reds have made an agreement with a National League team to trade the three-time All-Star.
With Cespedes manning left field, that leaves Conforto and Granderson to platoon in center, although that is not an ideal spot since neither is considering a plus defender at the spot, and both are lefties who struggle against lefties.
Bruce’s defense has also been a question, with advanced fielding metrics rating him as the worst defensive right fielder in baseball.
Still active is Yoenis Cespedes, who is out of the lineup again on Tuesday due to his quad injury but who is expected to DH the five straight games the Mets have in American League parks beginning on Wednesday.
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“Well, they are in the thick of it pretty much every single year”, Bruce said. They also hope he catches lightning in a bottle like Cespedes did last season and they go on a run. Lucroy, who was linked to the Rangers heading into Sunday night, is set to become a free agent after next season. Bruce signed a 6 year, $51 million extension in December of 2010.
