2:34pm: The two sides have been able to re-work the trade and a deal is “all but done,” tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
2:30pm: Olney tweets that things are back on track and the Mets are almost done with the trade.
1:59pm: Minor league lefty Max Wotell is one of the players that could be headed to the Reds if the deal goes through, tweets Rosenthal.
1:13pm: Rosenthal tweets that the medical issue is not with Bruce or with Nimmo. The Reds and Mets are trying to restructure the trade at the moment, he adds.
12:55pm: The Reds are balking at the medical reports on one of the minor leaguers in the package, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
12:37pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick now tweets that a medical issue may be holding up the Mets’ acquisition of Bruce. Crasnick adds that the severity of the issue isn’t known, but the medicals are no longer a formality.
11:47am: The Mets and Reds will have a deal, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that two low-level minor leaguers are going to the Reds alongside Nimmo.
11:32am: Outfield prospect Brandon Nimmo will be part of the package going to the Reds, reports Yahoo’s Tim Brown (on Twitter). Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweeted that the Giants and Rangers tried to jump back into the mix with late offers on Bruce but did so too late.
11:26am: The Mets are “on the verge” of completing a trade to acquire outfielder Jay Bruce, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (on Twitter). This marks the second straight year in which the Reds have been linked to Bruce leading up to the deadline, although last year’s would-be deal never crossed the finish line, and the Mets eventually shifted their focus from the Reds and Bruce, coming away with a last-minute pickup out outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Tigers.
Bruce, 29, now has the chance to join Cespedes in the New York outfield. The career-long Red is in the midst of not just a resurgent season at the plate, but the finest offensive season he’s ever produced. Bruce is batting .265/.316/.559 with 25 homers, 22 doubles and six triples this season while playing on a reasonable $12.5MM salary. He’s still owed about $4.3MM of that sum through season’s end, and his contract comes with a $13MM club option for the 2017 season as well.
Cincinnati came close to moving Bruce during Spring Training in a supposed three-team deal, but medical reviews of some of the minor leaguers involved torpedoed the deal. That looks quite fortuitous for Cincinnati now, as Bruce’s huge season has rebuilt his trade stock substantially. Bruce underwent arthroscopic knee surgery early in the 2014 season and rushed back in less than a month, and he didn’t look like himself at the plate in either 2014 or 2015 (combined .222/.288/.406 slash line). Now, he seems likely go to New York for what is presumably a considerably stronger package of young talent than he’d have fetched about four months ago.
Bruce will provide the Mets with a power bat to slot into the corner outfield mix, although his acquisition likely pushes some combination of Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto into center field due to Yoenis Cespedes’ now-infamous preference to remain in left field. Certainly, that defensive alignment is sub-optimal, as Bruce’s defensive ratings have plummeted this season, but the Mets have long appeared more concerned with ratcheting up their offensive production (e.g. placing Yoenis Cespedes in center field, signing Asdrubal Cabrera to play shortstop) and seem content to live with a sub-par defensive alignment in order to achieve that end.
From the Reds’ vantage point, Bruce has long been one of their most obvious trade candidates due to the team’s rebuild and the Bruce’s timeline to free agency. In landing Nimmo, they’ll secure a former first-round pick that can essentially step directly into the outfield in Bruce’s absence. The 23-year-old made his big league debut with the Mets this season but has struggled through 60 plate appearances, batting .236/.300/.291. However, Nimmo has torn up the Pacific Coast League (albeit an extremely hitter-friendly environment) by slashing .336/.409/.517 in 325 plate appearances this season and ranked third on Baseball Ameica’s midseason list of Mets prospects and fifth on the midseason top 30 over at MLB.com.
Earlier today, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported that the Mets were the favorites to land Bruce.
Nimmo, Flexen, Wotell going back to Cincinnati
yay
Looks like you got one of them right (Wotell) so far. Nice job!
I would think Conforto is headed to Cincy
Not a chance
The rumors suggest that isn’t the case. It wouldn’t make sense, either.
Sources: Mets give up everyone in their system, making it that Bruce will be the only player left.
You stupid ASF.
Not a bad deal on both sides. Conforto is a solid player and could really do well in Cincy
Huh? Conforto isn’t in it.
Are u dumb its not him
I’m hearing Matz and Nimmo
I highly doubt it’s Matz.
They need Matz for this year.
lol Matz is top 50 trade value
lol, are you holding up a banana to your ear like a telephone? is that where you’re “hearing Matz and Nimmo”?
See ya, Conforto.
No way its Conforto
Nimmo and Ceccheni! Comeon! Make it happen!
Way too much. Gonna be 2 or 3 prospects you’ve never heard of unless you’re a Mets prospect hound.
Harvey?
Eventually, yes. When you trade Matt Harvey (assuming he’s preforming like we’ve come to expect of Matt Harvey) your first priority is to get guys who you think will be productive big leaguers. Wether this is done via restocking your farm system, or trading for a young bat. The second thing I’d try to find is someone I could market the way you can market Matt Harvey. As of right now, you can’t market a Jay Bruce like you could a Matt Harvey. I’m not stating that teams should only trade for big names, but in a money making business, if you can trade for a guy who’s productive AND marketable that’s the guy you want. Any who, it doesn’t happen because Harvey is a much more valuable trade chip than Jay Bruce is.
Jay Bruce gives everything back on defense. 125 wRC+ bat that is barely above replacement.
Awesome now noodle arm Granderson can play center field, and weaken the defense even more.
Barely above replacement? A 125 wRC is very good.
And he gives everything back on defense? He’s not a good defensive OFer
Unless I am missing sarcasm from you.
What he’s saying is that Bruce gives back almost all of the value he provides offensively (125 wRC ) on defense, which overall leaves him barely above replacement level
Yankee fans are idiots
Creative
Kind of crazy when you look at Bruce’s overall numbers and see that his defense is so atrocious that even with his amazing offensive numbers, his WAR for the year is a measly 0.7!!!
Defensive WAR is a major work in progress.
Sure, but consider also that the Mets’ pitching staff strikes out opponents at a higher than league average rate, which means there will be fewer balls in play testing the defense. Their biggest problem right now is the offense, and Bruce would definitely help. Ideally, you wind up with a balanced team. This isn’t ideal, but it works – the Mets won the pennant last year with a similar setup.
So when a ball is hit to right, Bruce has got even less of a chance to catch it, as he wouldn’t be expecting to have to make a play.
Goodbye Cesp
Nimmo is part of the deal, according to Tim Brown.
So assuming Conforto isn’t in the deal, this means they would play him or Granderson in CF, Bruce in RF and Cespedes in LF. WOW after they bungled a WS victory away from themselves last year due to horrible defense, you’d think they would have learned. Apparently not! He’s awful on D, an awkward fit on the roster, and he’ll likely cost a lot from a prospect perspective. What a deal…
Bruce is not as bad on d as stats show this year. He won’t be an issue in that regard
Although no one will be confusing him with Jason Heyward, Bruce is a lot better than the numbers say.
Don’t do it, Sandy!
I don’t get this. who plays CF?!?!
Why the grandy man of course! XD
Their outfield will be comedic to watch, Bruce isn’t as bad as his numbers suggest but he’s far from “premiere”. The best part about the outfield is Cespedes arm.
Oh, and let’s also forget that over the last 3 years, his overall WAR is 0.4!! Despite that, the Mets somehow think that he and the brick on defense known as Cespedes, together with an aging Granderson, will lead them to the promised land! Stupid deal for the Mets, but one of those deals that gets done under the pressure of the trade deadline in NY!
He was injured the last 2 years. Finally healthy now. Don’t read too much into the numbers on Bruce. Biggest concern mets fans should have is him cooling off at the plate, he’s always been very streaky
Well the good news is that you aren’t trading for him three years ago, so those numbers are virtually meaningless.
Totally agree. Nimmo is probably more valuable rest of season than Bruce, when you factor in D. And Nimmo is controlled five or six more years.
Bad bad move by Mets.
“Nimmo is probably more valuable rest of season than Bruce”
Not a chance. Nimmo can’t hit MLB pitching yet and his defense isn’t enough to make up for it.
I usually agree with most of your points and you seem to be one of handful of posters that is very respectful even when you disagree, but I think you are just in the wrong on this point. Yes, RBIs are out of fashion, but he is still leading the league in that stat. They do demonstrate clutch hitting, but I don’t this to devolve into an argument on the merits of the RBI stat here. Nimmo might be good, and this does look like a much better deal for the Reds than the Chapman and Frazier deals combined, but he is still completely unproven. No way is he more valuable than arguably the hottest hitter in the NL.
I’m a huge Nimmo fan and have been for years because of his strong walk rates and above average “all around” game, but am ready to admit that even if he reaches his potential, it won’t be for another few years. That makes perfect sense for Cincinnati’s timeline. Bruce is a well above-average Major League hitter right now, and the Mets need his bat in their lineup more than Nimmo’s.
I think it’s certainly arguable that Nimmo has more “surplus” value on the remainder of his initial contract (performance per dollar) but Bruce is just clearly the surer bet right now on offense, and that’s closer to what the Mets need.
Brick on defense? Céspedes is a Gold Gove left fielder. He hasn’t been great in CF but the Mets will be playing him in LF from here on out.
This is sounding like a major haul for the Reds–Less than 3 days after many were saying there was no market for JB. Good for the Reds. My sense is that this is far too little for the Mets and that they will regret the deal. Just glad it’s not my team overpaying for this one trick pony.
If they can also unload Cozart to the M’s then yeah, big coup for Cincinnati.
JEFFY WILPON wants to win now!!!!
Doesn’t appear like it to me. Trade granderson for an actual CF
How do you trade Granderson when no one would want him.
Man, I am super bummed about this one. Last year I want Cespedes and the Mets get him and this year I don’t think I wanted a player more than I wanted Jay Bruce and the Mets get him lol. Good for them though. I think that’s a huge come up for that team and he should help them a lot.
Why do i have to expand every comment? So annoying!!
Just click the show all button at the bottom of the screen. It will expand everything at once.
So I guess this is a move for next year when Cespedes walks. Doesn’t help this year at all unless Bruce can play an average 1B. Wheres the CF?
Good deal for cincy
I would’ve rather keep Nimmo. Maybe Nimmo’s value is at its highest and he doesn’t nothing more at the major league level, but I don’t get that feeling. I really enjoyed watching him play during his brief stint in the majors with the Mets. I doubt he will ever be a super star, but I don’t see Bruce really making much of a difference for the Mets. Especially when they have tons of corner outfielders, and not one center fielder.
Good deal for reds, mets just weakened defense
They are gonna be just terrible defensively with Granderson and Bruce in the OF
Have you even seen Bruce play defense or are you just looking at metrics?
Not just Bruce but Granderson too
Bruce is better than his numbers play. Defensive metrics are nice, but they are far from perfect on every player.
Jerry Crasnick is saying there is a medical issue holding up the deal.
twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/760167041668186116
Not good
Carlos Gomez deal 2.0… haha
Never mind, I just remembered what you were talking about.
I hope we get pictures of Nimmo in tears.
I’m going to the game tonight, I hope he hits a walkoff
The reds are ridiculous two years in a row they r potentially gonna blow a trade deal with Bruce and the mets.
I was thinking the same thing. But remember the deal last year was for Zach Wheeler, and we’ve seen how he turned out medically…
Why? Maybe teams should stop trying to sneak players with medical issues into these deals and they won’t fall apart
Nobody sneaks anything. Think about it…last year the Reds new wheeler was recovering. There is no surprise there. Nobody could see the slight setbacks he had this year…as for redsfan, why would any team try to screw over another. THe purpose of trades is to help both sides. It’s not fantasy baseball here. He mets want to be able to trade with the Reds in the future if needed and with other teams around the league. Each team has different physical requirements for trades to work. The Reds are one of the pickiest. This isn’t on the mets. It’s on the pickiness of the Reds. Just pick a different player and move on. The mets don’t care who they pick lol
No the purpose of trades is to improve your team while losing as little value as possible.
And I’m with you on picking another player and moving on. It’s not one of the big names so it should get done. Unfortunately deals get blown up over low level prospects way more than they should
who else is headed to the redswith nimmo
Well if the medical issue isnt with Bruce or Nimmo, this deal sounds like it will almost certainly still happen
I wouldn’t be so sure
Still can’t believe he sold out William Wallace
Im a relative of the REAL Scottish King Robert the Bruce, and he did NOT sell out William Wallace as the movie Braveheart would have you believe. He was just as much a hero and freedom fighter for Scotland as Wallace was…look it up!
Robert Bruce is my ancestor and he didn’t sell out Wallace in reality. Look it up!
Mets need to get Jay Bruce, give the Reds whatever low level prospect will make them happy!
Walt Jocketty makes Jim Bowden look like Branch Rickey. Some days I honestly think Jocketty is still on the Cardinals payroll.
The Reds are awful at trades. They are not getting better short term or long term with this return for Bruce.