Jay Bruce‘s arrival in Queens nearly a year ago wasn’t met with cheers and celebration, but with jeering and a parade of “boo’s.”
Then 29-year-old Bruce hit just .219/.294/.391 with eight long balls and 19 RBI in 50 games with the Mets after being acquired from Cincinnati.
The general consensus was that Bruce’s career as a Met was nothing but a bust and the outfielder would be shipped off during last offseason and we would be rid of his services.
When the market for Bruce never quite developed, he was told that he would be the starting right fielder for the 2017 season by Mets brass.
What the outfielder did with his second chance was turn the “boo’s” into chants of “Bruuuuuceeee!”
In 79 games played this season, Bruce has hit to a slash line of .265/.334/.539 with 23 home runs and 59 RBI, including the go ahead blast in Friday night’s game in St. Louis and a solo shot on Saturday.
With the trade deadline approaching and Bruce set to hit the free agent market after this season, the 30-year-old’s name has naturally been floated around as a trade candidate.
But take this into consideration: Last year at the time of his trade, Bruce had 25 homers and 80 RBI with a .265/.316/.559 clip in 97 games — very comparable numbers to what he’s put up this year.
What did the Reds get for Bruce? The Mets “future second baseman” Dilson Herrera, who is hitting just .260/.310/.394 at Triple-A Louisville for the Reds this season.
While Herrera is still just 23, he has mostly stagnated and has yet to have any lasting success at the big league level.
So what would the Mets realistically get for Bruce, one season later?
With the market the way it is, the Mets hot commodities will be its relievers Addison Reed and Jerry Blevins.
Guys like Bruce and Lucas Duda probably aren’t going to bring the Mets a huge haul, meaning they shouldn’t give them up for the sake of giving them up.
Bruce has proven this season that he is one of the strongest bats in the Mets lineup and the team should flirt with the idea of extending him beyond this season.
Losing both Bruce and Duda either at the trade deadline or the offseason would be a huge blow to the Mets lineup.
You can say whatever you want about both of those players and how streaky they are, but New York’s lineup is better when they are present, plain and simple.
Beyond Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets farm system is pretty thin on outfielders that could make an immediate impact should Bruce depart.
Lagares and Nimmo could, by all means, platoon in center with Yoenis Cespedes holding down left field and Michael Conforto manning right, but with the amount of injuries we have seen this season, having Bruce lengthens your outfield and gives you potential 30 home run power.
There are several appealing center field options on the open market this offseason including Lorenzo Cain and Carlos Gomez that the Mets could consider, but a healthy outfield of Cespedes, Conforto and Bruce with Lagares and Nimmo as the team’s reserves is very strong.
I was a naysayer when the Mets acquired Bruce last season, and being the bitter fan that I am, I thought the guy was going to be yet another bust similar to that of Jason Bay. But I’m glad he’s proven me wrong.
With each passing day, Bruce proves his value to this organization, and in addition to his potent power bat in the middle of the lineup, I’ve been so impressed with the leadership void he’s filled this season in the clubhouse, and always being there win or lose to speak to reporters.
I recall how angry Jay Bruce was during an interview in spring training, where he got very heated when the subject arose that he may not be the kind of player that could succeed in New York. “That’s a bunch of horse shit,” he responded.
“First of all, and this is with all due respect to everyone reading this, how the fans think I feel could not have less of an impact on my day-to-day life. Someone the other day was like, ‘Oh, I could see it.’ No, they couldn’t. They assumed. They assumed that because I had a bad stretch, it’s ‘Oh, the market, New York City is too big.’ Oh, like I’m not able to perform under this pressure. Well, they’re lying to themselves.”
Bruce then quickly dispelled any doubts by bursting out of the gate with an awesome display of his power and after blasting another home run on Saturday against the Cardinals, he now has 23 on the season – only three behind the league leader Joey Votto.
If both Bruce and Duda were to depart after the season, the team will be reliant on too many young and inexperienced options who would have to make up for the loss of a vast amount of offense. The veteran presence of Bruce in the outfield will help transition the younger guys and take the pressure off Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith, who are expected to inherit regular roles next season.
I may not have been a big believer in Bruce to start the season, but I’m convincingly in his camp now and hope that the next few weeks are not the last that I’ll see of him in a Met uniform.
