Slugging outfielder Jay Bruce was finally traded this summer after over a year of speculation, ultimately going from the Reds to the Mets. Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News suggested recently that Bruce had asked not to be shipped to New York before the deadline. But the veteran clarified today that he had never made such a request, as Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily reports.
In fact, says Bruce, Cincinnati asked him “very early in the process” if he had a preference on a trade destination. He explains that he provided his long-time organization a list of three teams — the Giants, Rangers, and Dodgers — that he would have preferred due to “personal ties” to those locales.
While he might have liked to land elsewhere, Bruce says that he was more than happy to join the Mets. “I got a chance to come play in a playoff race and I’m so happy to be here,” he said. “Things get misconstrued. Yes, New York was not on my list initially, that’s really all there is to it. Definitely wasn’t as comfortable with New York as I was the other places, but I’m happy to be here and we’re doing exactly what I hoped to do when I got here.”
It’s worth remembering that Bruce did have limited no-trade protection. He obviously wasn’t all that troubled by the idea of going to the Mets, as they were not among the eight teams to which he could block a trade. (For what it’s worth, the Yankees were on that list.) It’s important to bear in mind that players often have multi-faceted reasons for preferring certain organizations — whether in settling on a no-trade list, communicating with their current organization, or navigating free agency — potentially including personal preferences, family constraints, and considerations of contract leverage.
In Bruce’s case, it certainly seems as if he was most interested in playing for a winning organization, as his comments suggest. After all, earlier this summer, he made clear he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate a move to a contending team.
All that matters is that he needs to really start producing on a consistent basis.
The fact that Bruce doesn’t mention the Astros on his list should be very concerning for the organization. Another player from Texas who wants to play for the Rangers and isn’t even thinking about the Astros. That organization needs to look itself in the mirror.
How so? The Astros are a young and up and coming team on the rise with one of the best farm systems in baseball I’m sure Bruce realized that the Astros were full of young outfield prospects and really weren’t in the market for a veteran outfielder. Trust me the Astros are on the rise
The Astro’s got three maybe four good Players , they will be Lucky to get into the playoffs this year.
They are overrated !
They have three superstars in their lineup, and plenty of prospects on the way. It’s pretty obvious they’re a team on the rise.
No it doesn’t maybe he doesn’t want to play in Houston lmfao why would he
These kind of no-trade lists can be looked at two ways – places a player doesn’t want to go, and places he may get traded to but wants extra leverage to work with.
Doesn’t necessarily mean HOU is a no-go.
There is definitely something rotten going on in Houston. I’m a Rangers fan and fully expected the stros to at least challenge us but they are not even close. They have a few good players but for the most part I get the vibe they have a ton of AAAA type guys. They just don’t look right on the field.
Houston would be fine if they performed to their expected talents. They had last years CY Young winner, and mchugh, who are both struggling this year. Springer, altuve, correa and bregman are gonna be a good core for a very long time though. And in 2 years, that division is going to be theirs for the taking. Texas mortgaged the future for these next couple years, Oakland and LA are a mess, and Seattle is stuck in the state of not being bad enough to rebuild or good enough to contend.
Springer and Correa will be gone, Houston can’t compete with Mega Market teams.
You do know they’re signed through 2020 and 2021, right? There’s plenty of time for them to win
Houston is a big market team. Hell, Houston is the 4th largest city in America
Why do the Spurs always seem to pick up players, who then over perform. Why do the Giants frequently do so well in the playoffs. Why do players off the scrap heap fit perfectly with the Patriots? Why do good players regress with the Diamondbacks. Why can’t the Angels win with their superstars? While its hard to quantify culture plays a big role in success.
When you say that Houston would be fine if they could perform to their talent level, it might have something to do with the culture/environment of the team.
Saying that the Rangers sacrificed their future, making deadline trades is exactly what teams are supposed to do when they are in contention. Houston elected to stand pat at the deadline, so go and root for your top flight minor league teams while the Astros don’t play in October.
The bottom line is Houston’s pitching over performed last year, and that made everyone get ahead of themselves on the Astros. Their best days are still ahead of them.
Now this is the way trade talks should go between player and team…Milwaukee and Lucroy should take note.
When I think of Astros I think how good there lineup would be if they Took Kris Bryant and kept JD Martinez
In the somewhat defense of Houston, Bryant was the top bat available, but Jonathan Gray and Mark Appel were both ranked and expected to be taken ahead of them. Of course, no one knew Chicago would just wish to load up on nothing but bats at that point, which worked out fantastic for them. In the defense of Mark Appel, the Astros really did some screwy things with him during his time there, correct me if I’m wrong Houston fans. I remember some sort of buddy system for pitchers and just doing a lot of work to make ‘corrections’