With the Aug. 1 trade deadline closing in, Reds right fielder Jay Bruce is “a bit surprised” to still be in Cincinnati, he told FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman, who writes that the 29-year-old would likely waive his limited no-trade clause to play for a contender.
“What I want most is the chance to play in a World Series,” said Bruce, who can block trades to the Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics, Rays, Marlins, Twins, Indians and Diamondbacks, Heyman reported last month.
Of that group, only the Red Sox, Marlins and Indians are above .500. Boston and Miami are on the hunt for pitching more than an outfielder, though, per Heyman, who expects Bruce would waive his no-trade clause to remain in Ohio with the Indians despite recently adding them to his no list.
“I’m not ruling anything out,” Bruce stated. “But I think it would be shortsighted to rule out a team that wanted me and has a chance to win. I’d likely have to at least strong consider it.”
Aside from the Tribe, the defending World Series champion Royals and other playoff hopefuls – the Blue Jays and perhaps the Giants and Nationals (previous report via FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal) – could try to augment their outfields and-or first base situations by the deadline. That might put them in the market for Bruce, who has rebounded from back-to-back subpar offensive seasons to post a .267/.315/.538 line with 18 home runs in 343 trips to the plate this year.
Bruce’s strong output at the plate over the first few months of the 2016 campaign earned him his third career All-Star selection, though advanced fielding metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved are heavily down on his work in right. Because of that, fWAR grades Bruce as a replacement-level player this year. But it’s up for debate how much of a defensive liability Bruce actually is, as FanGraphs’ August Fagerstrom detailed last week.
The way teams assess his defense could certainly impact the trade value of Bruce, who’s on a $12.5MM salary for the remainder of this season and is controllable by way of a $13MM club option next year.
“I’m interested to see what happens,” said Bruce, who’s no stranger to potential deals after the Blue Jays nearly acquired him from the Reds over the winter.
Boston does not need an OF. Can’t block a trade that isn’t offered. ☺️
-Green Monster News
(Instagram: @greenmonsternews)
I agree.
-Chief Toto
(Instagram: @chieftoto)
Boston has been circulating players through the LF position all year long. Jay Bruce would be a terrific addition.
That’s true
Blue Jays need him they could move Bautista to 1b.
If anything they would move Bautista back to his original position at 3b and move Donaldson to first for when its an al team and when they play nl have Edwin at first Donaldson at 3rd Bruce to left Bautista to right and Saunders or pillar to center
With all do respect, that’s a terrible idea. Why move Donaldson away from third, he’s probably just behind arenado and machado for best defensive 3b. If a Bruce trade did happen and Bautista was healthy, my guess would be Bautista in right, Edwin at first and Bruce dh. If Bautista isn’t 100% he and edwin could rotate 1b-dh
They wouldn’t move Donaldson away from third. You are right, that’s a terrible idea.
If they have to move Donaldson later on in his career away from third isn’t it better to get it started early. That way if they sign him to a longer contract they know they are getting a player who can play for all the years signed. That’s what the Giants are doing with posey they are having him field grounders at first and play the occasional game so he will be ready for when it is his time to move. The twins did not do that with Mauer they waited to long and lost the production, I know catcher and third base do not take the same toll on a player but eventually it will take its toll on Donaldson at 3rd.
No, it wouldn’t be a good idea. You said it yourself in the last sentence – catcher and third base are completely different. You do that with a catcher to hopefully extend the usefulness of his career and get his bat in the lineup more frequently without having his body get beat up playing catcher. There’s no point in doing that with a young, elite third baseman.
Funny part is Donaldson was drafted as a catcher !
Lol
Bulls**t
Lol! They wouldn’t move Donalson from third for any player. Any.
That’s exactly what the article says if you would read it, it says quote Boston and Miami are on the hunt for pitching more than an outfielder.
Don’t count out any team with any kind of shot……..Reds will end up paying 50% of his salary to get rid of him…….or trade him for a couple of burgers if they shed the whole contract.
He would be a great addition for the Nationals! Power and hitting at a position where we have woefully little of presently. Hopefully it will happen.
Are you familiar with Bryce Harper at all?
Either that, or they don’t know what position either of them play…
no way should Toronto get Bruce he is at 0 war Zeke is better defensively and has been fine at the dish a lifetime 260ish hitter if we are going for an outfielder get some one better then a guy who should be DH when JB gets back he will be in the dh position in my opinion
Instead of commenting based on statistics alone, you should read actual analysis on players and watch how they play. Jay Bruce came up as a 5 tool player. His defense is actually pretty good. If you look into dwar, you would notice billy Hamiltons range hurts the other reds outfielders dwar value. Bruce would be a great fit on any contender and can be controlled for cheap for another season.
$13 mill isn’t cheap and being the worst defensive outfielder isn’t helping his case the jays would be better off using Zeke who is doing well and bringing up Pompey
You do realize his numbers are better than Bautistas. He makes 12.5 million. Bautista wants 25-30 AAV. Bruce is a perennial 30 homer talent. Thats worth 20 million in today’s market. Bruce is 29 FYI and leads the league in triples… For those of you thinking he can’t play defense… He also has a canon for an arm and can run. The jays w pillar have an elite center field to mask his defense if it was bad, even tho it’s not. Bautista is by far a worse outfielder. Don’t kid yourself.
And if you aren’t sold on his offense… Why not reunite him with his old hitting coach where his best years came with in Jacoby. There was a reason the Blue jays wanted Bruce preseason. They got a lucky surprise w Saunders.. But now that just another bat to add to that potent lineup
I don’t care about next year it will be a rebuild year any ways as we have a lot of free agents in a terrible free agent market. I’d rather give pompey an opportunity then bring in Bruce
We have Zeke who is better defensive player and has hit makes no sense to bring in Bruce who is a -16 on defence
-16 what? UZR rating? DRS?
His defense is actually pretty good? My eyes must be deceiving me then, he looked pretty terrible in those gifs in the fangraphs article. Doesn’t look like he can go back on balls at all.
The numbers aren’t pretty either, and the article basically makes the case that he’s not THAT bad. Just bad.
And the bit about a good fielder hurting other fielders’ dwar seems moot when the other fielder just has no range.
Oh cool. You watched 10 GIFs and looked at a DWAR number, so now you are an expert.
Look, no one is arguing that he’s the best defender in the game, but please stop using numbers like UZR and DWAR that take years to normalize to characterize a player’s production over a half of a season. I understand that these are the only numbers that we the fans have access to, but the defensive metrics just aren’t there yet to accurately analyze such a span.
The numbers say Bruce is a worse defender now than Adam Dunn ever was, and if you’ve watched any amount of Reds baseball, you know that to be wholly untrue. He has below average range now following his knee surgery, but he still has a cannon arm and is far from a butcher in the field. I think teams know this even if most fans do not.
Yeah, as a Reds fan and watching the majority of the games, I agree with AlpaZero. He’s still pretty solid in the field.
Agreed. The true accuracy of the various defensive metrics is shaky at best.
Bruce would be a great get by TOR. The Reds should be able to get a decent return for him….hopefully they can maximize his value because they have a loooong way to go to be competitive again.
I’ve actually been watching a ton of Reds baseball because I am moving to Ohio in a month. I have to admit Bruce is a pretty good defender, average glove but a nice arm to be sure. This is one example of when defensive metrics are shaky I think.
I have been watching Bruce for years. I don’t believe the bad defense stats. He did miss one the other night. But in general has been very good. Other teams know what kind of arm he has, and don’t run on him.
If the Jays got him they could do som many things with Bautista, they could move him to DH and get rid of Smoak, and they could even trade Bautista. I’m more of a fan of the first idea obviously, but if the price is right…
(IG: truenorthbaseball)
Agree with a lot of the posters here. I watch the Reds and MLB a lot. He’s generally an average outfielder. He’s been a tick below average this year, but he’s not nearly as bad as the metrics think. Scouts agree, he’s very passable, but no longer above average.
Saunders and Bautista won’t be back next year and their defence is comparable to Bruce, this is about stacking as much power in the line up for a run this year, and having another season of control next year. There isn’t much on the free agent market and it will be serious overpays for anything that is there. I like Bautista but I’m not bringing him back if I’m the Jays at his age for anything more than 15 million max. on a two year deal, someone will pay much more than that likely, take the comp pick and see ya.
He’s not a spectacular hitter fundamentally and is super streaky. He can carry a team during a hto streak. And he is all around one of the great guys and teammates in MLB. Just an amazing professional and community asset. We will really miss him here in Cincinnati and I truly hope he gets a ring somewhere.
He’s not a spectacular hitter fundamentally and is super streaky. He can carry a team during a hot streak. And he is all around one of the great guys and teammates in MLB. Just an amazing professional and community asset. We will really miss him here in Cincinnati and I truly hope he gets a ring somewhere.
Bautista is poised to fall off of a cliff in regard to his stats. He has been an outlier for awhile, but I wouldn’t want him for more than a 2yr deal. He is obviously going to get much more than that (all it takes is one team), so make the QO and take the pick.