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What Jay Bruce Means for the Outfield

The New York Mets have added some left-handed punch to their offense on Monday, reportedly trading for Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Please click the button below to manage your account.

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Since the beginning of the season, Bruce has put together his best offensive performance to date, hitting.265/.316/.559 with 25 home runs and a National League-leading 80 RBI through Sunday’s games, which earned him his third career All-Star team berth.

General manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged as much by making the deal for Bruce.

NY also pursued All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy, traded by Milwaukee to Texas instead. After the Mets traded the 29-year left-hander to Pittsburgh in December for Neil Walker, the second baseman signed a one-year sublease for the pitcher’s apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

In addition, Lucas Duda has been on the DL since May with a stress fracture in his lower back and David Wright and Matt Harvey both underwent season-ending surgery.

Before getting Cespedes from Detroit for pitcher Michael Fulmer, the Mets almost finalized a deal with Cincinnati for Bruce. Past year there was some insane stuff during the deadline.

“The only thing to do now is go play baseball”.

“New York can be as big and fast as you want it to be”, said Bruce, who had been drafted and developed by the Reds.

BRIEFS: Cespedes (strained right quad) didn’t start for the third straight game, but laced a pinch-hit single in the seventh. With their great starting rotation that has been marred by injury this year, NY should be back to serious contention next year even if they can’t make up the 2.5 games behind Miami in the Wild Card or the 6.5 behind Washington for the East. He hit 135 home runs at Great American Ball Park, more than anyone in the stadium’s history. Most notably, he’s yet another corner outfielder on a club with three corner outfielders on the roster (Curtis Granderson, Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes). Maybe Cespedes’ sore right quadriceps (which kept him out of the lineup again Monday) will heal enough that he can return to center field. It’s a ideal fit, and yet, it really isn’t.

“Tomorrow night when we get Ces’ back in there, I’ll tell you what, that’s going to be a unique looking lineup with those big bats in the middle”, the manager said. I think this year some small, small changes that I actually noticed the past two years – and being healthy – is key.

“We would not have done the deal without the extra year of control”, Alderson said.

The Mets weren’t going to give up on this year, and they certainly weren’t going to give up on next year.

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There is no doubt Bruce has done a good job of batting in runs.

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports