Though the Mets tried to avoid it, they finally were forced to place outfielder Jay Bruce on the 10-day DL. It turns out that he was dealing with more than just soreness; Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to tweet that imaging revealed a strain in Bruce’s right hip.
Skipper Mickey Callaway did not reveal much about the severity of the injury, though he said “there’s definitely something there.” It seems reasonable to anticipate that the Mets will now give Bruce whatever time he needs for things to clear up.
Notably, the veteran outfielder has not just been feeling pain in his hip. In fact, he has dealt with an ongoing bout of plantar fasciitis and also has had some lower back issues of late, as Anthony DiComo of MLB.com recently tweeted.
Bruce, 31, is among the players whose early performances have been less than encouraging for New York. Through 236 plate appearances, he carries a meager .212/.292/.321 batting line.
At this stage of the season, given how things have gone for the Mets, the injury itself is probably less concerning than Bruce’s overall struggles. Perhaps the multiple maladies have contributed to his woes at the plate, though, in which case this respite may offer a much-needed reset.
Bruce’s three-year, $39MM contract has only just begun, so he never seemed to be a likely mid-season trade candidate. If he can turn things around in the second half, though, it’ll certainly improve the team’s future roster flexibility. In the meantime, Bruce’s absence will also allow the Mets to give some extra opportunities to youngster Dominic Smith, who’s hoping to show more in his second attempt at the majors.
I remember when the Mets were 11-2…
Couldn’t understand why a team with two corner OFers who should be starters in Conforto and Cespedes and a halfway decent Nimmo/Lagares CF platoon chose to sign Jay Bruce. Even ignoring the length and term of his deal, just how were they expecting to use him? They tried him at 1B last year and he said that he hated playing there. If everyone else is doing OK, Jay Bruce is an expensive backup corner OFer.
I realize that, due to injuries, Bruce has gotten regular playing time. But what was the plan here? Not clear why Alderson would allocate that much money for that player to be on this team. How much did Addison Reed want? This sort of silly talent and financial decision is why the Mets are where they are.
/rant
They also tried to dump Bruce the whole 2016 offseason and 2017 season. But i was told it was a great deal for them when i questioned the fit.
Wilpons getting antsy to save couple of mill is nothing new. Therefore, failing to get value for Bruce was to be expected. Mets had many salary dump trades, in 2017. It was a disgrace for NY team
With regards to Bruce, his price (3 yrs, $39m) probably fell low enough, to spend $$$ from the Wilpon Coffers. (holy oxymoron)
Strange signing with Cespedes, Conforto, Lagares, Nimmo on your roster for the OF, and Dom Smith, Wilmer Flores, and AGon at 1B. A year deal for a similar player I could understand but you’re essentially blocking the young talent on the roster with this signing.
Mets and injuries….always a trend. No one expected Nimmo to break thru as he did so Jay was needed. If no Nimmo comments would structure to why.
It’s what happens when an irrational parent who dangles candy in front of their child only to tease, suddenly and inexplicably gives that child the candy.
Sandy was the kid and once provided with a budget he proceeded to piss the money away like an unattended firehose that is turned on full tilt.
Jeff, “why do we keep doing the same things dad?”. Fred, “ I told you that we shouldn’t sign any free agents. We could save the money to use to pay our neighbors and friends”.
Echoing others, signing Bruce to 3/$39m for ages 31-33 was stupid when you were trying to dump his 1/$16m contract for age 30. It is the ultimate in short-sightedness to let a pretty good year so drastically alter your outlook on the player.
As for what others have said about signing him being dumb due to roster construction…well I don’t agree with that. You can’t assume health for everyone, and an outfield with him in right and Cespedes in left and Conforto in center could be one of the better ones in the league if they were healthy and playing well, which is what you need to hope for.
But only if you were to sign him for something like the Frazier contract or preferably only a one-year deal for $10m or less. They really beat the market here I think.
Dumb is a good description CX.
Perhaps you were expecting a Sandy to go with Plan A or Plan B, right?
Instead you got Plan C or Plan D:
C: CHEAP (aka the NY COUPONS)
D: DUMB
Just another day in the world of Mets injuries
If you’re going to bring up the likelihood (or lack thereof) that Jay Bruce is traded, might as well throw in that he has a partial no-trade clause.
Good point reflect. Bruce made Sandy throw that in as well to seal the deal. The whole problem is that Bruce won’t pay himself out for this kind of team. He was expecting to play on a contender. Once the reality set in that he was playing on a pretender the pain increased while his threshold lessened.
Cream rises to the top. Cement bricks fall to the bottom. Letting Cespedes get away with his antics were like bricks around Bruce’s ankles.
Here’ are the details of Bruce’s Partial NTC with NYM:
“Limited no-trade: may block deals to 5 clubs annually”
Same number of teams on Bruce’s NTC as Chapman. But Bruce’s NTC teams not as specific as Chapman’s. They are an unknown. His last known NTC teams were known with his earlier 6 yr $51m extension with CIN. Back then Bruce had this 8 team NTC with Cincinnati
Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics, Rays, Marlins, Twins, Indians and D-backs.
Source- http://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league/new-york-mets/
Anybody’s what teams are on his 5-team NTC instead of the 8 he had in his previous extension.
Anybody’s guess*
Except for Degroom and Nimmo the rest need a prostate exam.
I like Bruce but he has never fit this team. He’s a great addition to an already talented team like those Reds playoff teams and the Indians last year but he doesn’t help the Mets
It seems to be a trend with major league teams to try and outsmart themselves by NOT addressing needs and instead signing players that don’t logically fit on their rosters.
Outside of 2017 (walk year) Jay Bruce has always been prone to streakiness. Now that he has his contract performance has eroded and he’s injured. Not saying there’s a solid correlation, but the big picture portrays at least an odd coincidence.
Not a fan of the Mets front office but most people on here seemed fine with the Bruce deal at the time.
Nimmo was still a question mark, there were questions about Conforto after his injury (those concerns proved true), Cespedes is always hurt (he is hurt again), and Lagares is always hurt (hurt again).
Good points. That’s how I recall it too. And I’m. No fan of the Mets front office. Tired of the excuses. Wish they would sell the team.