3:33pm: The trade is now official, per a Phillies announcement, with The Athletic’s Matt Gelb tweeting additional details on the deal: the Mariners will acquire minor league infielder Jake Scheiner from Philadelphia, while the Phillies will receive about $18MM from Seattle to cover the majority of Bruce’s remaining salary.
9:31am: The Phillies and Mariners were rumored to be very close yesterday on a deal that would send first baseman/outfielder Jay Bruce to Philadelphia, and Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link) is reporting that the trade has been completed. Bruce could potentially join his new club as early as today — the Phillies are in Los Angeles completing a series with the Dodgers, while the Mariners are at home this weekend against the Angels.
The exact return headed back to Seattle isn’t yet known, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday that the Mariners would receive a minor leaguer and some money back from Philadelphia to cover the roughly $21.6MM owed on Bruce’s contract through the end of the 2020 season. As per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Phillies will take on “the bulk” of Bruce’s remaining salary, so it’s safe to assume that the M’s will only be getting a minor prospect in return for getting so much cash off their books.
Bruce is no stranger to the trade market, as the 32-year-old has now been dealt four times in less than three years’ time. Bruce most recently went to the Mariners as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to Mets, with Bruce included in the deal largely as a way of partially offsetting Cano’s large contract. In his brief time as a Mariner, Bruce showed plenty of pop, cracking 14 homers and posting a whopping .533 slugging percentage over 184 plate appearances. While Bruce’s average (.212) and OBP (.283) have a lot of room for improvement, it seems as if Bruce has rebounded from a down year in 2018 that was marred by hip problems.
While Bruce has actually been a reverse-splits hitter in the small sample size of his 2019 numbers, the Phillies are counting on his left-handed bat to help their mediocre numbers (91 wRC+) against right-handed pitching. The Phils were known to be looking to add left-handed balance to a lineup almost entirely full of righty bats, aside from Bryce Harper and switch-hitting Cesar Hernandez.
With Harper and Rhys Hoskins respectively locked into the right field and first base jobs in Philadelphia, Bruce looks to be slated for left field when he is in the starting lineup. Andrew McCutchen has been moved over to center field in the wake of Odubel Herrera being placed on administrative leave earlier this week, and it remains to be seen if more outfield moves could be made given that there isn’t any timeline for Herrera’s return. It has been some time since McCutchen was a defensively-viable center fielder, and Bruce’s metrics as a corner outfielder have also been below average for several seasons. It stands to reason that the Phillies could still pursue a center field option in order to give them the flexibility of moving McCutchen back to left field, where he has displayed some solid glovework.
Moreover, the deal is notable in that a trade of this variety is relatively rare in the first days of June. Yes, the playoff race has begun to take shape, but the trade market is not a robust one and plenty of teams have not firmly taken a stance towards buying or selling. For that reason, interest in Bruce may have been limited compared to where it might have been in July, especially if Bruce’s power keeps up. The deal may perhaps be compared to the Braves’ 2017 acquisition of Matt Adams, which occurred on May 20, with Adams stepping in as a stopgap for Freddie Freeman, who suffered a wrist injury that would keep him out for about six weeks. Analogously, Herrera’s stay on the administrative leave has no timetable, leaving the Phils in search of a short-term replacement.
For the Mariners, this could be the first of many trades coming over the next two months, as the team is reportedly open to moving several veteran players. Since GM Jerry Dipoto announced his intentions to “re-imagine” the roster last November, the M’s have parted ways with Cano, Diaz, Jean Segura, James Paxton, Mike Zunino, Alex Colome, and a host of other players, significantly cutting payroll and adding young talent to both the farm system and the MLB roster. Getting the Phillies to take the majority of Bruce’s salary already counts as a win for Dipoto, as Bruce’s contract was looking like something of an albatross in the wake of his disappointing 2018 season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Return Enyal dos Santos to us please
Us?
Yeah….original Mariner
If you don’t know what the return is that means you don’t work for the front office or own the team which means don’t refer to the team as us.
dave13
For years and years teams in all sports have embraced and encouraged fans to consider themselves part of the team. From headlines like “We Win” to the singing of “We Are The Champions”
Show me a quote from a player or team FO that discourages fans from saying “us” or anything similar. The only people that have a problem with it are you and a few others. Get over it, it’s perfectly acceptable.
That was absolutely necessary, Dave13. Pettiness is pertinent
Agreed!
Do you have a comment to add to this story? Or are you just trolling?
well said Cat Mando!
Next people are going to complain that you can’t say my town/city. Heck, if you’re going to go that far, better stop saying my house if you are paying a mortgage, the bank currently owns it.
Dave13… I’ll say it for everyone else, you’re an absolute tool.
That’s it, Dave. Give him whatfor!
A greed. A professional (if you can call him that) writer from Minnesota posted a nasty twitter reply to me once because I used we in this fashion. I have no respect for that piece of garbage.
If you do not understand fan participation and tradition. Maybe you shouldn’t participate on fan message boards. Now that you have been educated on what “us” means. You should now not make yourself look ignorant when a fan refers to his teambering his.
Dave cannot get a mortgage on his parent’s basement.
But he’s OUR tool
Of course teams have encouraged fans to be a part of the team and use terms like “we win” because without those fans spending their money there wouldn’t be a team. Problem is that you can’t just walk into the stadium and go wherever you want. Teams are going to encourage you thinking you are part of the team as long as it works it separating you from your money. There is a big difference in saying “my city” you are actually a real part of that city. You vote and can attend city meetings and help influence decisions. As far as saying “my house” the bank does not own it. They own the mortgage on it. Do you think the bank could go to another bank and take out a home equity loan on your home?There is a huge difference in what you chose to use for comparisons. Saying “we” and “us” in referring to sports teams is equivalent to saying “we” or “us” when referring to the military. When a story about the army comes up would you write in the comment section something like “they better give us that funding!” or “We are going to have some fun with those new tanks!”? Of course not.
I do agree that people that chose to use “we” or “us” should just be left alone about it though. If they choose to make something they watch yet don’t participate in any way that big a part of their lives more power to them. Myself, I have never understood that mentality. A bunch of millionaire athletes that they will more than likely never say two words to in their entire lives win a championship game and they go out and trash their city. Just doesn’t make sense to me. Unless it’s college ball. Most of those fans have gone to that school or currently attend. They have classes with the athletes who don’t get paid a nickel. When I went to the University of Florida whenever we beat Georgia it was a huge deal. It just wouldn’t feel right to say they with them.
Everyone stand up! Walk up stairs
Say hi to Mom
Walk outside and go get a job
Nope you are wrong.. tools are useful..
Dave13..not so much
I’m saying this before the return is reported, but I’d imagine it’s a low-A reliever or something small. I think the Phillies are covering the salary too, so I can’t imagine it would be much.
I don’t even think the Phillies will cover the full salary, but we will see.
I didn’t necessarily mean the whole thing, but if they’re covering the bulk of it then I’d have to imagine Seattle is only paying down a negligible portion
Looks like a younger Bruce in high A ball. I would be surprised if he had the career Bruce will at the end. Never know though. Am looking forward to having him in MY team in 8 years or so.
No way,phillies are going to keep him
Hopefully Seattle is only covering salary for this year and not next year.
Looks like Phillies are covering most of both years
Nope! Seattle is covering 90% of it. The Phillies fleeced them….
Jesus I didn’t want to keep Bruce but why the ———- is Dishitpo doing covering that much. God can’t we find any intelligent GM/President types to come to Seattle? I mean god we had to deal with Chuck Armstrong and his cast of idiots for 30+ years.
At this rate it will be 18 more years before this team sniffs the playoffs
Because no GM is dumb enough to take the bulk of his salary and the only way Seattle gets anything meaningful in return is to eat money.
The other option was nobody taking him and getting stuck having to pay him anyway
Yet somehow, they ate almost all of Bruce’s salary and still got nothing meaningful in return.
Obviously moving these veterans was the plan all along, but Bruce would have been a good one to keep around and help mentor Crawford, Long, and Bishop.
as a reds fan, Jay is a class act. amazing human and did a ton of charity work for the city of Cincinnati. performance wise, there are times he looks like babe Ruth, and some times he looks like Chris Davis from 2018.
Dee can do that. He’s the veteran I hope they keep.
Not for $14M a year.
It looks like McCutchen will slide over to CF and Bruce will play left due to Herrera’s suspension. Oh and Josh Bell’s free agent year is 2023 in case anyone is wondering.
Bruce won’t be a regular starter. Kingery will play center. Bruce will PH off the bench, occasionally starting when someone needs an off day.
Quinn will be in center when he’s “healthy”
when he’s “healthy”….for a week or two. So much talent but so fragile. I’m sure it’s more frustrating to him than us fans.
For a week or two? Generous man, you are.
“us”?
koldjerky……..What can I say. I’m an optimist….LOL..
He is the Lonne Chisenhall of the Phillies.
I feel bad for these guys because all they want to do is play baseball.
George-I saw it written that Josh Bell would become a free agent in 2021.
I almost puked.
Then I added up the years that Gerrit Cole has played,and came up with 2023 for Bell.
I wondered why MLBTR had that question for prospective writers.
At least the Pirates can keep this guy for awhile.Hopefully that will not change in the next labor agreement.
Meh. Hopefully did not give up much, or Seattle is paying most of his remaining contract.
Dream on Alice, Josh will stay in the Burg!!
This is a mistake on the Phillies part. This will be a repeat of last year’s season pickups…Santana, Cabrera, Bour. Though this will be worse. Because Bruce doesn’t walk much and has an even a lower batting average than the other three when he is batting his best and they are batting their worst. Wrong move Klentak!
Batting average is irrelevant when your ISO is .321 and you’re still 14% better than league average.
Good God, this is what’s wrong with baseball in 2019.
Apparently this was what was wrong with baseball in 1954, when Life magazine published an article entitled “Goodby (sic) to Some Old Baseball Ideas.” In the article, Branch Rickey and the Dodger’s team statistician, Allen Roth, published their famous “Equation” which coined both OBP and ISO.
Of course, baseball troglodytes immediately scoffed and stubbornly clung to their Aristotelian favorites such as batting average and RBI. Roth was put on trial for heresy by the Grand Inquisition of 1955.
(One of the above paragraphs is factual.)
I’m still sure why embracing stats that have mathematically proven value over those that simply have tenure is considered a step in the wrong direction…
Dee Gordon has a very respectable batting average in the .280 range… And sucks this year at producing runs…
hindsight Santana was a great pickup, either if you kept himand realized Cutch’s D isnt a whole lot better then Rhys’s in LF, or with the realization that they got one of baseball’s best SS for him.
“hindsight Santana was a great pickup, either if you kept himand realized Cutch’s D isnt a whole lot better then Rhys’s in LF, or with the realization that they got one of baseball’s best SS for him.”
What in the world are you talking about? Cutch has a +8.5 UZR/150 and 5 DRS in LF so far this season. Rhys ended last year with a -13.7 UZR/150 with a whopping -24 DRS. Even the eye test alone is enough to determine Cutch is a vastly superior LF.
How is he worse than Nick Williams right now? Nick has zero confidence at the plate. They need a reliable left-handed bat. It’s a low risk, potentially high reward move. Now, on to the starting pitching. . . .
Haven’t seen him in a bit, but Williams was one tough out vs St. Louis who is dying for a lefty corner outfielder. If he is expendable he might fit in a Red Bird uniform.
Again…Bruce is a bench piece. The Phillies don’t want or expect him to start. The Phillies bench has been one of the worst in baseball. If Bruce gets 4 or 5 hits off the bench this year, he is already an improvement over what the Phillies had.
I’m assuming the Mariners are paying a huge portion of that salary to get a good return. otherwise what was the point of acquiring him. it wouldn’t be for mentorship. they have enough of that going around, especially with ichiro, encarnacion, Dee Gordon, and others.
the point of acquiring him was mostly to offset Cano’s contract I believe.They dont seem too keen to eat money.
It struck me as improbable, but Bruce proved he has recovered and is worth 300-400 PAs at LF, 1B, and PH. Given that it won’t cost Philly more than a bit of money, it’s a solid, little move,
Reminds me of the Carlos Santana signing. Stats might check out, just not a fit. Of course, that changes if another injury occurs.
as long as we can get rid of him after the season. dont want to block hasely.
Agree, Trim. I was hoping for a shorter term solution like Dietrich who could play some 3B as well. Bruce’s positional fit is where Bryce is. With that in mind this also displaces Nick Williams again. They should trade Nick with Bruce now on hand for two years.
I posted on another Philly thread they could use Stroman and maybe old favorite Galvis, if not Drury.
As a Philly fan there is no player I want more then stroman given all variables. He’s a gamer and doesn’t give up homers
Nobody needs Drury and his 75 OPS+. Bruce is a corner outfielder or a potential bench bat if they acquire a true CF. The less Herrera plays the better the Phillies are.
You are correct about Drury. Why do you think I want to see him leave? The OPS+ doesn’t show his mental blunders.
Not a fit?!?! We have no outfielders….no bench….and 2 left handed players on the team….I’d argue this is the definition of a fit. Santana took at the time, took our best player out of his national position and out him on a new position that provided historic terrible metrics.
The problem with the Santana signing was he was a 1b/dh only and the Phillies already had several of those
Bruce as a 4th of/power off the bench is actually a hole the Phillies need to fill
not sure I like this deal. we now have Bruce till 2020. we or should I say the phillies have a young kid in aaa knocking on the door for center field. we will wait and see with Bruce. hopefully he stays healthy and be good off the bench.
Austin Riley and the Braves say ‘hi’. Don’t pull a muscle waving back.
Stop losing to the Gnats if you want to be arrogant.
The phillies need to get pitching. Kimbrel for the bullpen. Sign Keuchel or make a trade for Bumgarner • Minor or Greinke.
Maybe get Leake back in deal and also Santana.
This move doesn’t impede that at all. They also need offense, particularly off the bench. Bruce addresses that need. Pitching they will have to address as well.
I like this move for the Phillies, but a Bruce/Cutch/Bryce OF configuration is not going to be pretty.
Kingery is the CF. Bruce is simply a pinch hitter.
“Man, it’s so good to be here in Cincinnati! No, sorry, I meant New York… um, no, Seattle. CLEVELAND! I meant Cleveland! Aw, man, where am I?”
-Jay Bruce, Pre-game interview
They should get Kenny Lofton to cover trades of guys like Bruce, Edwin Jackson, etc.
Braves may still be interested in Haniger. Bet the Mariners wish that they had said yes to Riley and Soroka for Haniger and Diaz.
I’d rather have Kelenic and Dunn for Diaz and keep Haniger.
Riley and soroka or hanger and kelenic and dunn?
Youre the only guy in the world who would take the later.
Riley has 60 at bats in the majors, if you think he keeps up his pace you’re nuts. Soroka is awesome for sure. However, no way I’d have traded two proven players with team control for two prospects. I would absolutely rather have Kelenic than Riley long term.
You conveniently forgot the issue of getting Robinson Cano off the roster. Huge win for the Ms. Kelenic is now an elite prospect.
Would’ve been nice to see him back in Cleveland but they can’t afford that sort of salary. He’s an odd fit in Philly, but hope it works out for both.
Phillies needed to spend the rest of that money on a pitcher not a platoon guy. They’re maxed out now. Season is now blown. Seattle gives Jay Mendoza Bruce away and gets the better end of the deal.
Doesn’t this make Williams expendable? Couldn’t he be moved for the reliever you seek?
You don’t know what Seattle is getting, and how are the Phillies blown? It’s the first week of June, they are in first place, and there are still moves to make.
Phillies don’t need to take on the bulk of Jay Bruce’s salary to get similar production as Bryce Harper. Should be searching for pitching instead. Could go after Dallas Keuchel. Anyways, at least it’s just money to get Jay Bruce.
First place in the lowly NL East. Big deal. They done have the pitching to win in the playoffs. SP and RP is bad. The money they just gave Bruce just maxed them out. So…………..They blew it. This is an organization ran by computer nerds and a roid head. They won’t win a thing
Jay Bruce is hitting very well minus his batting average… but so is Bryce Harper.
Is Bruce leading the league in obp too? Batting averge is a stat for people who didn’t get above algebra 1 in 9th grade the rest of us nerds have advanced to stats that matter and are now running teams and crushing Jeopardy.
It sounds like some more “stupid money” is being spent by John Middleton.
This is almost a free player…
I wrote the mariners had no much in starting pitching when they were off to a hot start, scored a lot of runs, wrong side of run differential good to see the returns are there for players and the rebuild continues.
Seattle covering 18mm of the remaining 21.6mm left on his contract? Should’ve just kept him for the remainder of the season or at least received a better prospect in return.
This seems like a nothing return for Seattle and they’re still eating 18 million?
Exactly what I was thinking! Dipoto makes the league entertaining but that’s about it.
Opens a roster spot for s young player, saves a little $, and they needed a 3B prospect in the minors. Doubtful that the kid ends up anything but time will tell
That’s not much salary relief…..
I don’t understand what Seattle is thinking here at all. They are paying almost all of the salary and only getting a marginal prospect. What is the benefit for them?
The day of teams buying prospects for marginal salary relief are over. Won’t have cases like Atlanta taking on Bronson Arroyo’s deal from ARI for Touki Touissant. It shows that 1. Bruce is limited as a player and 2. His market is limited. I’m surprised they got anything back in return. It shows that other teams were willing to take & give less than the Phillies. What they got is a lottery ticket at best and opened up a 40 man spot and some PT for the M’s to see some of their younger players. While Bruce improved his stock with his performance the last month, it could easily revert back to March/April form. He was looking like a DFA early on, so getting out of any money and getting anything back in return is a bonus. With the way draft picks and prospects are valued, there’s no way you’re getting decent prospects without giving up something of substance (which at this point of his career Bruce is). A defensively limited corner outfielder with the only consistent about his offense is how inconsistent it is. Especially for an NL team that cant use him as a DH, it shows how little leverage DiPoto really had.
You don’t need a Touki Touissant debacle. Dave Stewart isn’t a GM anymore but this is far different. They didn’t valued Bruce any higher than Kendrys Morales here. Bruce is 3 years younger and can play a slightly below average corner OF. That’s not incredibly valuable but to only get 3.5 million dollars of salary coverage and some 24 year old 1B only guy not hitting in high A is a joke. I guess you can call him a lotto ticket ticket but it’s more like the pick 3 lotto prize that is split between 5 different winners.
Didn’t Arizona trade toussant for just Phil gossolin?
I’d take a “defensively limited” corner outfielder that has hit 14 HRs this season over a lot of corner outfielders in the NL right now.
For 3.5 million bucks and a 24 year old 4th round pick 2 years ago in A ball they get Jay Bruce. That’s a huge win anyway you want to slice it. I’m not sure what DiPoto saw here other than everyday ABS for Vogelbach. Really not sure.
The initial report said he Phillies would take on the bulk of the salary due. These deals usually vary depending on the talent going back so since Seattle is paying a lot of $$$ I’m guessing the Phillies sent back a much better prospect.
Read the article again it gives you the prospect….
Nope, not even on their top 30 list.
Paying that much salary should have bought you a better prospect. Salary dump for a dude who’s shown pop?
Left handed hitting power bat that will at least temporarily be a starting corner OF for 3.5 MM for the next 2 seasons. That’s absolutely robbery by Klentak. Even if The Cutch to CF and Bruce experiment flops this is June 2nd. You have 2 months to make a different move for a CF. Really no downside for Philly here at all.
Honestly I don’t. I figured if Bruce were a FA at seasons end he’d probably command a 1 year 4MM deal at the least. Don’t see how Seattle thought this was a good move at all.
Right!? Phillies did a great job here.
Eh. Bruce is okay, but he is what he is – a sub .300 OBP hitter who is terrible with the glove.
I can’t believe you’re even considering an OF with Bruce in a corner and Cutch in CF – that’ll be an absolute disaster.
Wtf is Jake scheiner. I thought this was a rebuilding process. This transaction doesn’t offset salary or gives us good talent pool for our prospects.
Just look at it as another piece you got back from the cano trade and another 3.5 MM of payroll shed. That’s about the best positive advice I could give you…..Don’t blame for you being pissed as a M’s fan because I thought at the least you’d get 8-9 million bucks of salary coverage and a prospect like this guy.
Seattle is swallowing $18MM to get Jake Scheiner? What a bad deal. Thought Jay Bruce was at least worth half of his contract.
Whoever gets Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith will win the World Series this season. I believe they will both get traded to the same team.
Jay Bruce doesn’t move the needle one bit.
Trading them both to the same team will be dumb for the Giants. They are their two best trade pieces. Sending them to the same place, unless it is a team with a ton of top prospects, is foolish. They aren’t sending MadBum to SD, you can bet on that. Most other teams with multiple top 50 prospects, probably won’t be trading for him. I guess Houston might have enough for both, but does Houston really need them?
I’m betting Seager is the next to paroled out of Seattle.
I think it’ll be Encarnacion. Seager needs time to prove he has recovered from both injury and 2018.
problem with that is, seager’s deal is if he’s traded, that option on his contract automatically turns from team to player
Honestly I think this I a good deal for the Phillies… The price is definitely right.
An upgrade from the left side off the bench but Phillies need pitching. A legitimate starter n bullpen help. Don’t know if that’s going to happen but needed.
3.5M for a year and a half (and some change) is pretty cheap, certainly worth the “prospect” (who stays in Milb as log as he washes the farm director’s car, or dates his ugly daughter) for Bruce. Bruce has his minuses (really, he’s defensively bereft anywhere, and streaky) but that’s a cheap “give”. I can’t see any real advantage for Seattle.
Seattle will better spend the PAs on Long and Bishop (and even Healy), but yeah, Dipoto is always willing to “lose” an exchange to repurpose quickly to the configuration he’s interested in reaching.
The Mariners literally got nothing in return except $3.5 million in salary relief. $18 million poured into a hole in the ground.
Not trading him just means pouring 22 million into the ground. Money was being wasted regardless, now they’re just wasting less.
And no, nobody was gonna take on any meaningful amount of that contract, even if they went all the way to the deadline.
For the Mariners to get a warm body out of this is a minor win for them.
Phils getting $18 mil is the win for this
They get 1 1/2 years of a LH power hitter off the bench for a measly $3.5 MM. In addition, they did not give up anything that would impede a trade for a SP, closer, 3B or CF. Getting Bruce this early gives them more time to work on other acquisitions.
Let’s not forget that for about 2M a year for 2 years, the Phils get a guy whose a whoooooooooooole lot better than many more players making much more. I’m no Bruce fan, but he has his pluses, and, by that deal’s parameters, represents a real plus.
AND, for a 2M responsibility, he’s extremely tradeable this winter in a forthcoming contract year. My prediction would be the Phils get a lot more for him than they gave up, and they get to use him for the rest of 2019.
Unless he’s some kind of clubhouse bad boy (and I’ve never seen any reference to that), I can’t see Dipoto’s reasoning here. And I can’t see why just about any contender wouldn’t be interested, even if they had no great need.
Bruce was one of the most respected players in the clubhouse, if not THE most respected player. He was Seattle’s fourth outfielder and they have 3 other first base options.
I would rather have seen Seattle keep him, but they probably wanted to open up an opportunity for Bishop and the move should also allow them to keep Healy up when Gordon returns.
I don’t understand this deal for Mariners. waited to see what they get because they sending 18 mil$, and Phillies are on the hook for only 3,6 mil. But now when it’s said and done , how Phillies get Bruce for that money and 2 more years.
Dunno about Jake Scheiner anything, is he that good prospect or what i’m missing here?
Klentak the Fleecer