Trading Jay Bruce Would Be Mistake

Reports surfaced Sunday that the Mets were in trade talks with the Blue Jays about possibly sending Jay Bruce north of the border. That would be a mistake.

Admittedly, Bruce did not perform well after the trade deadline deal, only heating up in the final two weeks of the season. Unless it was because he was just not comfortable playing in New York, there really is no reason to give up on him.

Bruce is a threat to hit a home run every time up. Yoenis Cespedes is the only other player like that in the Mets lineup, and even if he were to come back to Flushing, it would be nice to have two such players on the team.

Yes, the Mets are too left-handed, but wouldn’t you much rather have Jay Bruce playing first base than Lucas Duda? Both will be free agents after next season, and the $5 million more you would pay Bruce for 2017 would be far worth it.

Now, Bruce has only played three games at first in his career. Can he man the position? Reportedly, he can. If not, maybe Michael Conforto can move there. There was talk last season that he was going to try it.

And besides, the Mets traded a top prospect for Bruce; Dilson Herrera was too high a price to pay for only two months of Jay Bruce.

The Blue jays are also reportedly talking to the Mets about Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson. If the Mets have a choice, go ahead and send Granderson to Toronto. With Bruce in the lineup, Granderson is not needed. This way, the Mets can have a real center fielder in Juan Lagares, with Cespedes (hopefully) and Conforto at the corners and Jay Bruce on first. Sounds like a well-balanced, winning combination to me.