The emergence of Brandon Nimmo has left Jay Bruce as something of an odd man out with the Mets, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman notes that the Mets’ outfield in 2019 and beyond is likely to include Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes, making it more difficult for Bruce to secure regular at-bats (barring a move to first base, which would come at the expense of the younger Dominic Smith). According to Sherman, Bruce can block trades to the Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays, Rays and Athletics, but he can be shipped anywhere else without his consent. Sherman runs through some speculative possibilities in which Bruce, who is owed $28MM from 2019-20, could be swapped out for a player earning at a comparable rate. Of course, it’s also worth noting that Nimmo’s bat has declined in each month of the season since a torrid start, while Cespedes and (to a lesser extent) Conforto come with injury question marks.
A few more notes out of the NL East…
- David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that Braves righty Mike Soroka still hasn’t begun a throwing program as he continues rehabbing his right shoulder, which makes it increasingly unlikely that he’ll pitch again in 2018. If that’s the case, O’Brien notes that the organization could have Soroka pitch in the instructional league this fall before shutting him down for the winter in hopes of a healthier 2019 campaign. Soroka, who turned 21 last week, was impressive despite his young age in five starts earlier this season before shoulder woes landed him on the disabled list.
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald recently wrote that any of Derek Dietrich, Dan Straily or Starlin Castro could yet be trade candidates for the Marlins in the month of August. Castro didn’t draw any serious interest prior to the non-waiver deadline, Jackson notes, but the Cubs and Indians checked in on Dietrich while the Athletics chatted with the Marlins about a potential re-acquisition of Straily (though those talks came prior to Oakland’s trade for Mike Fiers). Jackson notes that the Fish would want quality prospects in return for Straily if they moved him, as he’s controlled beyond the 2018 season. That seems like a tough sell, given Straily’s diminished strikeout, chase and swinging-strike rates as well as his drastic increase in walk rate.
Cespedes is having season ending surgery on both of his heels. The first surgery is this month and the second will be in two to three months (Oct/Nov/Dec.)The expected timeline for a return from heel surgery is roughly 9 months. So, don’t expect to see Bruce traded this off-season. The Mets would be smart to hang on to him and start 2019 with an OF of Conforto/Nimmo/Bruce. That OF will likely remain through July and into August. 2020 is a different story all together.
Mets also have Juan Lagaras who’s set to make $9-mil next year. Jay Bruce can most certainly be on the move with Conforto/Nimmo/Lagares with Cespedes and a player to be named later.
can’t believe they even resigned bruce for
3 years $39 million in the ice cold corner
outfield market this past winter -especially
since the only centerfielder they had was
lagares at the time who had failed numerous
times and could not be relied upon at all
and really if you had bruce and cespedes
healthy where were you going to play conforto?
not center coming off an injury and no spring training.
it makes absolutely no sense any way you think
about it! unless you just say “it’s the mets”
Yup, a gold glove winner who has a 260 career average is a failure numerous times. The dude gets hurt. Doesn’t mean he fails. Sit down junior
Plus the guy’s point was that they should have signed a centerfielder instead…as if there are centerfielders available to sign to fruitful contracts on a regular basis..hello Jacoby Ellsbury.
Though I would say that they seemed to be bidding against themselves..something closer to the Todd Frazier contract would have been a lot more reasonable. 2/$25m should have been the absolute max for Bruce, and even that would have been quite rich.
but what I do not understand is where was the
organizational plan for conforto?
should not they have signed a centerfielder
instead of a older leftfielder? was there plan
to play bruce at first? that means they gave
up on smith early. I realize you are trying to call
me out but these are legitimate questions
about how the mets make business decisions
Well he called a player a failure when he’s not. But let’s look at your statement of what he said. You had Conforto and Lagares to play center. Original lineup was Cespedes, Conforto and Bruce. Why would they sign another centerfielder when they had two already? That’s cool, three center fielders on a roster is the new thing
conforto was not a centerfielder and he got hurt
last year and had no spring training to get acquainted
with centerfield this year, came back after the season
started and was thrown into center and didn’t prosper
so they put nimmo there who had a good start that’s it
if you think you have three centerfielders in lagares,
conforto and nimmo you fit right in with the met mentality
and deserve what you have
you are right about the small number of centerfielders available but they could have made a play for cain who got $15 x5, they could have at least offered $15×3 or maybe made a play for yelich but seems like
they just overpaid on a corner outfielder (I would have even thought about john jay at $4×1) it seems like the mets are finally realizing that when you build a team around defense you have to have a above average defense especially defense up the middle which they seem to be doing with these flyers on Austin Jackson and dendekker
should read> when you build a team around “pitching” you ……..”
Lagares has a gold glove and is widely considered a perennial contender for another if healthy. He’s a legit centerfielder. Conforto has played centerfield and done well when healthy and Nimmo has been above average. Yankees have Hicks, Bradley Jr, Oakland Cahna, Phillies Quinn. These are examples of players that have recently played CF for Contending teams. Not one better than the 3 mentioned that played for the Mets
last comment and i will let it die, if the mets really thought nimmo or conforto were the answer in center why have they been obtaining and playing the den dekkers and Austin jacksons and not getting them more experience? and if you think it is wise for the mets to base their future plans around lagares in centerfield then I do not know what else I can say I think I made a clear concise and logical opposition to your view
Yup and that means that the Muts should not hade signed him.
You don’t have a leg to stand on(lol).
Wow. Call the medics.
Are you serious?
“Not one better than the 3 mentioned that played for the Mets.”
Fans like you have a warped perspective. Maybe it’s because you buy lots of tickets to watch this pitiful team.
thank you, first thought he was being sarcastic
or flippant before realizing you can’t argue with a fool
That’s a very random group of teams Bruce has NTC protection to. Some good, some bad, some east coast, some West. I wonder what the hell was the reasoning behind those teams.
Orioles – hates crabs
Mariners – fear of space needles
Jays – hates Canada
Rays – hates sting rays for what they did to Steve Irwin
A’s – hates their stadium
I will never go back in the space needle cause they have glass floors up there
That was a good one. It looks like he is afraid of playing against Boston and New York in the East and The Angels and Houston out West. Must’ve thought those teams were the best in their divisions.
The Blue Jays used to seem close to trading for him all the time so my guess is that he put them there for leverage. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to play on that turf.
Send Jay Bruce back to the Indians for Kipnis, with a little money going either way to balance it out
If I’m the Mets I’d do that.
Where is the “like” button
Kipnis is on pace for about 2 WAR. He’s a big plus value with the glove that has an okay bat (85 wRC+) for a 2B at this point.
Bruce is on pace for -0.5 WAR. He’s very poor with the glove and his bat this season (69 wRC+) has been dramatically worse than even Kipnis.
Mets would be beside themselves if offered that, but can’t imagine the Indians would ever be so foolish as to do so
But I think it comes down to the context of the rest of the roster. Indians cannot keep an outfield consistently healthy and Mets seem to have a surplus (though you could argue health is a concern for them as well). Bruce was decent in playoffs last year, too. Plus, Cleveland front office proved they were more than willing to move Kipnis in their pursuit of infielders prior to the deadline
Kipnis would likely make a better OF for Cleveland than Bruce would, to be honest.
And Cleveland was willing to move Kipnis because they would have needed to free up money to make many of the moves they tried. Making a lateral salary move, as a Bruce-Kipnis trade would be, while taking a step back in both on field value and flexibility is just silly.
I didn’t look at stats before I suggested this, but they’re both having pretty bad years and although Kipnis is having a less awful season, he’s still been a problem for the Indians. Kipnis is also terrible on defense. To me, it’s swapping one problem for another, and at positions that would help each team more.
As an Indians fan, the motivation would be to get rid of Kipnis, add an outfielder because the ones they have are terrible, and possibly open up more playing time for either Yandy Diaz or Erik Gonzalez.
All site say Kipnis is a well above average fielding 2B and he doesn’t hit all that bad considering that.
There is no problem with Kipnis other than his salary. Trading one bad salary for an even worse one isn’t helpful at all
And Bruce has been Replacement level in 4 of the last 5 seasons combined, with only last year being respectable. He also has a profile of a guy likely to be out of the game in his early 30s; which he’s already 31 and playing like he doesn’t belong now.
Indians would be better off giving Kipnis away for salary relief than taking Bruce back if they seriously want him gone that bad – but they won’t as they need him if not getting another IF in return
Btw, you do know Kipnis hit .243/.333/.408/.741 since may 1st, right?
He’s not having a bad season – he had 1 really, really bad month
Great comment, I mean Jeff McNeil may not be the future. But hey bringing in a crappy 2nd baseman to take away at bats from him is a good move. I hope the Mets get him and give Reyes more at bats at SS. What a dynamic infield
McNeil is already like 27 or 28, so it’s possible that he’s a late bloomer but you can’t just act like he’s a guaranteed star. Bruce is taking at bats away from more important outfielders, so you’re basically taking all of Bruce’s problems and just trading them for someone with the same problems that plays a position you have fewer options at. That’s all.
Who so the Mets have at 3rd, could try Bruce out there
Doesn’t Bruce throw left handed?
Also David Wright just played a game at single A…he is on his way back!
All jokes aside I do wish the best for Wright and hope he is able to make a successful comeback!
Hahaha, that would be hysterical watching him have no range and all the balls shooting past him.
It sounds like something the Mets just might try.
Roger Dorn?
There’s more articles on the Mets than any other team in baseball.
What’s the bigger mess the Mets outfield, or the Mets infield?
Answer: The Mets’ front office and ownership.
Classic Lester….. that’s about as perfect of a comment as there could be
I feel like the Mets will either have to pay both bruce and lagares down or attach prospects.
While im not supportive of a team trading prospects for salary relief I feel like this front office would do it to save money
The Mets won’t be able to move Bruce without picking up virtually all his salary, something the Mets won’t do so the other option is including a prospect valued at $26M and the Mets don’t have much to offer. Bruce and Gimenez or Dunn for an empty uniform, much like the Yankees did with Headley and Mitchell for Jabari Blash. San Diego valued Mitchell at Headley’s salary, 12M, and took the deal. Not Preller’s best idea.
If they pick up half they could probably move him but I can’t see them taking on any less than half to get something done.
What would you trade to land a 13m/2yr commitment to a Replacement level player who is limited to being a poor Def OFer or DH?
He’s honestly pretty worthless as a player (small chance slightly above worthless at DH) but has a 2 year pact. Even if 100% of the money is picked up, all teams have comparable value players in AAA already (or at least can trade for them giving up nothing)
Pretty sure Cespedes comes with more than just injury concerns being he’s on the shelf for the next year.
I wonder which team is the most blocked by players. Blue Jays?
Weird sense of Deja Vu with the Mets trying to trade Bruce…again. Helluva signing Mets FO!
Haven’t Met fans been tortured enough. Last year we needed a CF, but Bruce was cheaper, so we signed him. We also needed a multi-year solution at C, particularly on the defensive side, but no that cost money, so we decided to pretend TDA is a ML catcher one more time, after all, he’s certain to be hurt, so it’s not like anyone will really be able to prove he’s really a waste. We needed a long term solution at 3B, but Frazier came cheap, so we put a band aid on it. Frazier is a nice guy and plus David Wright might come back.
Now, we’re not even done with 2018, and it’s already clear that 2019 is going to be another sh-t show. We’re not going to have a CF – again.. We’re going to rely on Cespedes for a season we know he’ll start on the DL and may not play at all. We’ll still be talking about David Wright. We still won’t have a fixed position for Conforto. We’ll still be hoping Nimmo can be what we need vs what he is.. And, the most fun of all, we’ll spend most of the off season and the early part of next season talking about how the team is trying to trade Bruce – again – and can’t spend much until they do – again. But, no worries, they say they want to contend.
I tried to say that above but you said it better, kudos!
Mets will be fine next season building around the developing Conforto, Nimmo, Rosario, Gsellman, Lugo, starting pitching and hopefully Alonso.
They need to obtain other players through trade or free agency to fill the gaps at closer, left hand relievers, 5th starter, catcher and perhaps second base. I prefer a third base acquisition as well but with Frazier under contract in 2019, I won’t hold my breath.
Lagares, Nimmo, Conforto, Bruce and a yet to be acquired outfielder (or short term Austin Jackson) are fine to start the season. Eventually Cespedes returns.
Top prospect Gimenez could factor later in 2019 and almost certainly 2020 moving to second base.