The Mets lost to the Giants late last night in a drubbing that may very well have put this team and its fans on the cusp of packing it up for the season. The loss dropped them to 60-62 and 5.5 games back in the wild card, which will be challenging to make up. They’re now 12.5 games back in the division, a gap that would require a miracle to close.
Beyond the standings, and the despair of the current situation in which the fans find themselves, are the players. One of those players is Jay Bruce, who once was a beacon of a naive hope for a dramatic turnaround of a season in a tailspin. After almost a month with the team, however, Bruce has now become a simple cog in the machine of failures this team embodies day in and day out. The players feel the frustration and weight of the failures too, you know. Bruce emphatically showed that as he screamed into his batting helmet after grounding into a rally-killing double play in the eighth inning last night.
When the Mets acquired Bruce at the trade deadline this season, the reception was lukewarm and mostly resulted in indifferent shoulder shrugs. There were valid reasons for fans’ skepticism of the move. He was yet another corner outfielder (with bad defense) and a hitter that strikes out a ton but hits for power. The Mets essentially doubled down on an offensive profile that hadn’t really been working for them all year, albeit a profile bogged down by injuries. Additionally, he hadn’t really been all that good since 2013.
Still, his decently good offensive year in 2016 made him an upgrade to most of the players on the Mets’ roster. Then he became a Met, literally in the sense of being on the roster but also in that he fell into the inexplicable black hole that is the Mets’ offensive malaise. Since joining the team, he’s slashed .176/.253/.294. That’s an OPS of .547.
It might feel like he instantly turned into a pumpkin after the Mets acquired him because, well, that’s how we feel as Mets fans. The reality is that he was mired in a slump long before the team traded for him. His triple slash in July was .218/.289/.529. His .817 OPS was fueled by his slugging percentage, with eight home runs and three doubles during that span. In short, his current slump started long before the Mets acquired him. Unfortunately, we’ve bore witness to the worst of it.
The relatively good news is that this really does appear to be a simple slump based on the minuscule BABIP he’s been running over the last two months. His BABIP for July was a ridiculous .183 and in August it’s .200. Through June it was .302, which is closer to his career average of .284. This suggests that, yes, he’s probably been pressing even more since coming to the Mets seeing as he was already in a slump when he arrived. It stands to reason that the pressure has made things worse for him. It also stands to reason that his BABIP will level out a bit down the stretch. That’s probably too little, too late for 2016. The Mets will certainly pick up his option for 2017, though, and we have to hope he’ll right the ship if Yoenis Cespedes skips town as expected.
It will be interesting to see if the Mets pick up his option, regardless of what happens with Cespedes now. At the time of the deal, I figured it was either/or between the two of them. But if Bruce isn’t any better down the stretch, why commit big money to him?
His contract isn’t that big but it’s one thing trying to make him fit for two months — why do it for six if you don’t think he’s going to deliver the goods?
My gut feeling is that they’re going to try really hard to shed Granderson in the offseason (something that i advocated last offseason) or try to swap him for another bad contract
At 13 million, he has Value… here or elsewhere
I’d push for Gomez as well….. the Mets need a miracle… if they’re not gonna play Conforto here, May as well Roll out Reyes, Ces, Bruce, Gomez… hope for their best baseball card results down the stretch…provide options for 2017 and trade value
Key sentence:
>> The Mets essentially doubled down on an offensive profile that hadn’t really been working for them all year . . . . <<
Sandy loves power and becomes too single-focused on that one trait. His team's lack balance, and an understanding of sequences. Too many of this type creates a deeply flawed offense. Right? Haven't we all seen that? He wanted Bruce last year, he gave up a top prospect for him this year. Bruce is the prototypical Alderson type. Alas, alas.
Personally, I'd trade him during the winter, but I strongly feel he'll be a Met in 2017.
From a business perspective, the Mets should pick up Jay Bruce’s very reasonable $13 M option. It would be unwise to give up this asset and not get anything back. He will be 30 YOA , has been injury free and durable. He usually plays 150+ games a season while hitting around 30 home runs. He is the insurance if Cespedes opts out. He is not Cespedes but is more like a healthy Duda. They could also use him as a trade chip and bring something back. The Bruce that we have seen is not the player he is.
If everyone knew that Granny played over his head last year, what were they expecting this year? Last off season we said “better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late”, but the front office sees “Veteran”, so a spot must be created for him.
Quite possibly the late signing of Cespedes hurt the Mets’ plans to possibly move Granderson, by that he wasn’t moved in July is nothing short of shortsighted. Why are Nimmo and Conforto blocked by two players, Granderson and de Aza, that are not better than them or are the team’s future?
Maybe it’s the initials, but Bruce is looking a lot like Jason Bay so far.