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Jay Bruce Announces Retirement

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Yankees first baseman Jay Bruce has announced he’s retiring from baseball (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic). Today’s game against the Rays will be the final outing of Bruce’s 14-year MLB career.

“After 14 incredible seasons, I’ve decided to make the very difficult decision to retire from baseball. All I ever wanted to be ’when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say that I got to live out my dream would be the understatement of a lifetime. This sport gave me more than I could’ve ever asked for,” Bruce wrote as part of his announcement (the full statement is available at the above link).

A first-round pick of the Reds in 2005, Bruce would quickly become one of the sport’s most promising young talents. He was a top 100 prospect in each of his first three years in pro ball, eventually becoming Baseball America’s #1 farmhand entering the 2008 season. Bruce made his major league debut in May of that year and hit a decent .254/.314/.453, earning a fifth-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Two years later, Bruce settled in as the middle-of-the-order bat many evaluators expected he’d become. Between 2010-13, the left-handed slugger hit a very productive .262/.337/.489 (119 wRC+), earning back-to-back All-Star selections in 2011-12 and a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP support in 2012-13. Bruce fell off a bit in 2014-15, but he rebounded offensively in 2016 and earned his third and final All-Star selection.

The bulk of Bruce’s career was spent with the Reds, but he continued to produce for a few years after leaving Cincinnati. He hit a career-high 36 home runs during a 2017 season split between the Mets and Indians and popped 26 homers as recently as 2019. He was an above-average hitter during his time with the Mets, as well as in his brief stints in Cleveland and Seattle.

Unfortunately, Bruce’s production has fallen off as he’s entered his 30’s, with increasing struggles to reach base at a passable clip. He didn’t perform well with the Phillies last year and had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Yankees over the offseason. A Spring Training injury to Luke Voit opened up an opportunity for Bruce to begin the year as New York’s first baseman, but he’s stumbled to a .118/.231/.235 line in 39 plate appearances as a Yankee.

Struggles in his final couple seasons notwithstanding, Bruce had a very strong career. Not including any stats he may accrue in this afternoon’s game, the Texas native concludes with a .244/.314/.467 slash line across 6642 MLB plate appearances, making him six percentage points better than the league average hitter by measure of weighted runs created plus.

Bruce had five separate seasons in which he was at least fifteen points above average at the plate. The well-respected veteran had 1455 hits, including 319 home runs, scored 839 times and drove in 951 runs. Altogether, Bruce was worth around 20 wins above replacement and accrued just shy of $103MM in career earnings, per Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Bruce on a fine career and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Luke Voit To Start Season On Injured List; Yankees Select Jay Bruce

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11:53 am: The Yankees have officially selected Bruce to the 40-man roster. Right-hander Clarke Schmidt was placed on the 60-day injured list (elbow) in a corresponding move. Additionally, non-roster invitees Robinson Chirinos and Derek Dietrich have been released from their minor-league contracts. Both are now free agents.

11:14 am: The Yankees are planning on selecting the contract of outfielder/first baseman Jay Bruce, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter link). The veteran slugger had been in camp as a non-roster invitee. New York is also expected to hold onto Mike Tauchman, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). At the very least, the Yankees don’t plan on exposing the out-of-options Tauchman to waivers, says Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link), although a trade could still be a possibility.

Expected starting first baseman Luke Voit will begin the year on the injured list, Marly Rivera of ESPN was first to report. Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed Voit has suffered a meniscus tear in his knee and will undergo surgery. He’ll be shut down from baseball activities for the next three weeks (via Erik Boland of Newsday). New York expects Voit back “considerably sooner than” June, Boone said (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com), but it seems possible the reigning home run champ could be out of action into May. In the interim, Bruce will be New York’s primary first baseman, relays Hoch.

The Yankees will have to officially add Bruce to the 40-man roster before Opening Day. The 33-year-old has hit for plenty of power but struggled to reach base in recent years, combining for a .212/.259/.510 line with 32 home runs across 436 plate appearances since the start of 2019. That kind of production would be a steep drop-off from Voit, who raked at a .277/.338/.610 clip last year.

Bruce will at least offer a left-handed bat to help balance a righty-heavy lineup. Tauchman also offers a lefty bat off the bench, and he’s capable of playing anywhere in the outfield. He’ll be limited to reserve duty behind Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner, assuming he isn’t traded. The 30-year-old has drawn rather strong interest around the league.

Yankees Receiving Trade Interest In Mike Tauchman

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11:00am: Eight clubs have contacted the Yankees about Tauchman, Martino tweets.

9:10am: The Yankees are receiving trade interest in outfielder Mike Tauchman, SNY’s Andy Martino reports. They’re looking past his 2020 season and valuing him more in line with his 2019 output, per Martino, who adds that it’d take a reliever with some team control or another piece with legitimate value for the Yanks to part with the 30-year-old outfielder.

That teams are inquiring on Tauchman comes as little surprise at this juncture of Spring Training. He’s out of minor league options and looks to be without much of a path to regular playing time, given the presence of Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton all on the roster.

The Yankees also have veterans Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich in camp on non-roster deals. Bruce, in particular, has been rumored to pique the Yankees’ interest. Neither has put together a particularly overwhelming spring performance thus far, but both are left-handed bats with pop who could bring some versatility to the mix. While Tauchman is capable of playing all three outfield spots, he doesn’t have any experience in the infield. Bruce has spent a good bit of time at first base, however, and Dietrich can play second base in addition to all four corner positions.

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone acknowledged the looming decisions after yesterday’s game, telling reporters: “The reality is we — and a few of our players — have decisions to make in the next 24, 48, 72 hours,” (link via the New York Post’s Dan Martin). “But no decision has been made as of right now.”

Bruce’s minor league deal with the club contained an opt-out clause yesterday, which gives the Yankees 48 hours to put him on the roster. There’s no formal indication that Bruce triggered that clause, although there’s little reason for him not to have done so. Exercising the clause puts pressure on the Yankees and, if he’s not going to make the Opening Day roster in the Bronx, gives him the opportunity to pursue a roster spot with another club.

Martino has suggested it’s possible that both Tauchman and Bruce make the Opening Day roster, with infielder Tyler Wade being optioned to Triple-A to begin the season, although that’s obviously not the most ideal scenario for the Yankees. Doing so would mean a bench of Gardner, Tauchman, Bruce and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka. Each of Gio Urshela, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu can play multiple spots around the infield, but there’s not much of a safety net on the bench if one of them needs to depart a game with an injury. Keeping Dietrich, who has ample experience at both second base and third base, would be a cleaner fit in the event that Wade is optioned.

The simplest course of action for the Yankees would be to let Bruce and Dietrich pursue other opportunities, keeping Tauchman and Wade both on the bench to begin the season. However, there’s a case to be made that Tauchman is somewhat redundant with Gardner back in the fold and so many other outfield options on the roster. And with the Yankees losing Zack Britton for up to four months and Justin Wilson working through some shoulder tightness — yesterday’s MRI came back clean — it could work to their benefit if they could pry a useful reliever away from another club in a deal for Tauchman.

The 2020 season was a rough one for Tauchman, who played through a shoulder injury and recently acknowledged (via Martin in the previously linked piece) that he “developed some bad swing-path patterns” while trying to compensate for the pain he was experiencing. Tauchman hit just .242/.342/.305 in 111 plate appearances last season, maintaining the strong plate discipline he displayed from 2017-19 but showing nowhere near the power he did the prior year.

The 2019 season was a breakout campaign for Tauchman, whom the Yankees plucked from the Rockies in exchange for lefty Phillip Diehl. In 296 plate appearances with the Yankees that year, Tauchman slashed .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until next winter, and the Yankees control Tauchman through the 2024 season.

Quick Hits: Padres, Reds, Yankees

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Dinelson Lamet will not be ready to join the opening day rotation, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell (via Twitter). On the plus side, he will get his first Cactus League start on Wednesday. That should get him on track to join the rotation at some point in April. The Padres have plenty of depth to work around Lamet’s absence, especially because of the delayed Triple-A season. In fact, slow-playing Lamet’s return not only benefits the right-hander, but it opens an opportunity for Adrian Morejon to get a start or two before the Triple-A season begins. Elsewhere around the game…

  • Reds owner Bob Castellini spoke recently with Paul Daugherty on the Reds Beat Podcast about a number of topics, including the Reds chances to win the National League Central. Castellini sees a division that the Reds can win. Castellini also said that he never expected that the Reds could be players for Trevor Bauer in free agency. He also gave the team’s reasoning for moving some key bullpen pieces this winter, “We have no idea what the financial aspects of this season is going to be — before, during or after. We have at least two very fine relievers that are possible closers: Sims and Garrett. Maybe even more. For instance, if Michael Lorenzen doesn’t start, he’s another very top reliever. We have five left-handed relievers. We are not trying to understand what’s going to happen financially this year, but we wanted to … keep a little in reserve in case we needed it when we needed it. We feel like our bullpen’s going to be all right. Better than all right.”
  • The assumption for the past few weeks has been that the Yankees are trying to decide between Jay Bruce and Mike Tauchman for their final bench spot. The latest from Andy Martino of sny.tv suggests that both might be in a position to make the opening day roster. Rather than DFA Tauchman and risk losing him to waivers, the Yankees are considering optioning infielder Tyler Wade instead. The Yankees have started trying out Gio Urshela at shortstop should they need him to serve as their reserve infielder in an emergency basis. Who, exactly, would step in for Urshela at third in that circumstance isn’t entirely clear. In the unlikely event that Bruce and Tauchman both made the team, Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner would make up the rest of the bench. Presumably, Wade will need to be on this roster sooner rather than later, even if the Yankees use his option to give some extra time to the Bruce vs. Tauchman debate.

Quick Hits: Bruce, Garrett, Mets, Mariners

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Thanks in part to his ability to play both the corner outfield and first base, Jay Bruce has put himself in the running to make the Yankees’ roster, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes. The Yankees may have to decide in the next week whether to give a spot to Bruce, who can opt out of the minor league contract he signed on March 25. Bruce isn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which is full, so they will have to make a corresponding move if they do add him. That could spell bad news for another outfielder, the out-of-options Mike Tauchman. While Tauchman unexpectedly thrived as both a hitter and defender in his first year as a Yankee in 2019, his production dipped on both ends last season. Tauchman did post a .342 on-base percentage in 111 plate appearances, but it came with a .242 batting average and almost no power (.305 slugging percentage, .063 ISO and zero home runs). Then again, Bruce didn’t exactly hold his own as a Phillie last year, when the veteran power hitter slashed .192/.252/.469 with six HRs over 103 PA.

  • Good news for the Reds’ bullpen: Left-hander Amir Garrett will pitch in his first spring training game of the year Saturday, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic tweets. Forearm soreness has slowed Garrett, perhaps the favorite to close for the Reds if he’s healthy. The 28-year-old notched a 2.45 ERA/2.82 SIERA and fanned hitters at a massive 37.7 percent rate across 18 1/3 innings in 2020.
  • With Carlos Carrasco reportedly to miss six to eight weeks because of a torn hamstring, the Mets are stretching lefty Mike Montgomery out and considering him as a swingman, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com relays. Montgomery, whom the Mets signed to a minors pact, has racked up 183 appearances and 70 starts since he debuted in 2013. The former Mariner, Cub and Royal has combined for a respectable 3.84 ERA during his 541-inning career, though his ERA hovered around the 5.00 mark in each of the previous two seasons.
  • Mariners reliever Andres Munoz suffered a “little setback” in his recovery from Tommy John surgery a few weeks ago and hasn’t taken the mound since, manager Scott Servais told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and other reporters. Munoz underwent the procedure almost exactly one year ago (March 20, 2020), and the Padres then dealt him to the Mariners in a seven-player trade last August. Considering how long it takes to return from TJ surgery, Munoz wasn’t likely to debut with the Mariners until sometime this summer, but now it appears they may have to wait a bit longer. Still just 22, Munoz impressed in his first season, 2019, when he pitched to a 3.91 ERA/3.72 SIERA in 23 innings, struck out 30.9 percent of batters and averaged 99.9 mph on his fastball.

Quick Hits: Yankees, Cardinals, Diamondbacks

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Teams in need of a left-handed hitting outfielder might want to check in with the Yankees about the availability of Mike Tauchman. Though the Yankees have four years of control remaining, there may simply not be room for him on the opening day roster, writes the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It’s not just the addition of Brett Gardner that could push Tauchman out of the picture, though that doesn’t help Tauchman’s case. He’s competing with Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich for that fifth outfielder role, and that veteran pair both bring the ability to play first base as well. That’s not on Tauchman’s resume. After a surprising .277/.361/.504 line over 296 plate appearances in 2019 turned the 30-year-old into a valuable member of the Yankee reserves, the power dissipated in 2020. His bat slipped from 28 percent better than average to 22 percent below by measure of wRC+. Mike Ford’s playing time could also be at risk, but the backup first baseman has two option years remaining, whereas Tauchman would have to pass through waivers.

  • Matt Carpenter is not conceding his spot in the everyday lineup just yet, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Carpenter won’t take many at-bats from Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado at the corners, and he’s competing with popular upstart Tommy Edman at the keystone, though Edman can play the outfield, too. Had the universal DH made its way to the league this season, Carpenter likely would have lined up for many of those at-bats. As is, he’ll be hard-pressed to beat out Edman at second, even if defense wasn’t a consideration. After being a 133 wRC+ hitter from 2012 to 2018, Carpenter fell to 95 wRC+ and 84 wRC+ the past two seasons. His batted ball profile has generally paralleled that trajectory, with exit velocity and hard hit percentage down in 2019 and 2020 from where he’d been previously.
  • The Diamondbacks are promoting a new assistant general manager, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter). Mike Fitzgerald was previously the analytics director, and he now joins Amiel Sawdaye as assistant GMs under Executive VP and GM Mike Hazen. Ross Seaton has also been promoted to director of pitching.

Yankees To Sign Jay Bruce To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran outfielder Jay Bruce, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links).  Bruce will earn a $1.35MM guarantee for reaching the big league roster, plus additional $50K bonuses that will unlock if he receives at least 400 plate appearances.

A three-time All-Star from his days with the Reds, Bruce was something of a power-first hitter even in his prime, but has become even more of a homer-centric bat in recent years.  Bruce hit 36 home runs with the Mets in 2017 and 26 home runs in a 2019 season split between the Mariners and Phillies, but he has an overall slash line of .233/.301/.474 over 1414 PA since the start of the 2017 season.  In 2020, Bruce hit .198/.252/.469 with six homers in 103 PA for Philadelphia while battling quad injuries for much of the season.

At the cost of just a Spring Training invite and potentially a modest $1.3MM salary, there isn’t much risk for the Yankees in seeing if Bruce can still contribute as he approaches his 34th birthday.  The short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium is certainly inviting for a left-handed power bat, and Bruce’s chances of making the team are helped by the lack of left-handed hitters on the roster.  Bruce can also offer some positional versatility off the bench, capable of playing first base or either corner outfield spot.

As Rosenthal noted in a follow-up tweet, adding Bruce “does not preclude [the] Yankees from re-signing Brett Gardner.”  Recent reports indicated that the Yankees hadn’t had any talks with their longtime outfielder this winter, despite the general assumption that Gardner would eventually re-sign for his 14th season in the pinstripes.  While Bruce lacks Gardner’s center field capability, New York now has a left-handed hitting outfielder in camp as depth in case a deal can’t be reached with Gardner.  If Bruce impresses during Spring Training, the Yankees could ultimately decide that spending $1.3MM for Bruce is preferable to spending even a modest amount more in guaranteed money to bring Gardner back into the fold.

Free Agent Rumors: Bradley, Tigers, Encarnacion, Wong

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With the Red Sox now just a few million dollars shy of the luxury-tax threshold after their deals to bring in Garrett Richards, Enrique Hernandez, Martin Perez and Adam Ottavino, a reunion with Jackie Bradley Jr. appears unlikely, ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote Sunday. That’s not especially surprising on its own, of course, but Olney notes more interestingly that Bradley “could wind up with a three-year deal elsewhere.” That’d be a strong outcome for Bradley, who’ll turn 31 in April, given the difficulty mid-tier free agents have had in securing lucrative deals this winter.

Bradley has been connected most frequently to the Mets in recent weeks, although he’s also reportedly drawn interest from the Blue Jays, the Cubs, the Phillies and the Astros at various points this winter. The Red Sox’ likely departure from any bidding for his services won’t help Bradley’s market, but most indications still seem to suggest that he has a case for a multi-year pact wherever he ultimately lands.

A few more notes on the free-agent market…

  • Olney also writes that the Tigers could look further at the third tier of free-agent outfielders, listing names like Adam Duvall, Jay Bruce, Kevin Pillar, Tyler Naquin and Matt Joyce as potential fits. Detroit already inked Robbie Grossman to a two-year pact and will likely hand him the keys to an everyday gig in left field, but their outfield mix still isn’t quite settled. JaCoby Jones has shown flashes of high-quality play in center field but lacked consistency while battling injuries. Victor Reyes has had a nice run at the plate over the past couple of seasons but has yet to ever tally 300 MLB plate appearances in a given campaign. The Tigers have plenty of younger options in the form of Travis Demeritte, Daz Cameron, Derek Hill, Christin Stewart and Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo, but the first four all have minor league options remaining and Baddoo is no lock to make the club.
  • Agent Paul Kinzer tells MLB.com’s Jon Morosi that his client, Edwin Encarnacion, hopes to play another two seasons at the MLB level and still has aspirations of reaching 500 home runs in his career (Twitter link). It feels like a stretch that Encarnacion could get to that mark in two years, given that he’s still 76 long balls shy of that illustrious milestone, however. The 38-year-old slugger has four seasons of 38 or more homers under his belt, but he’d need to land somewhere with an opportunity for everyday at-bats (presumably as a designated hitter) to even have a chance. Coming off a .157/.250/.377 showing in 2020, such an arrangement could be tough to find. That said, if Encarnacion rebounds in 2021 and is open to playing beyond the 2022 season, it’s conceivable that he could yet reach that mark.
  • There’s “little interest” in bringing second baseman Kolten Wong back for the Cardinals at this point, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote in his latest Q&A with readers. A new home for Wong has felt likeliest since the Cards bought out his $12.5MM option for the 2021 season, although some Cards fans have held out hope for a new deal as the two sides have reportedly stayed in touch throughout free agency. The infield market has picked up steam recently, but that hasn’t translated to a deal for Wong — arguably the game’s best defender at his position.

Health Notes: Paxton, Rays, Phils, Reds, Cards

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Yankees southpaw James Paxton will go the next couple days without throwing after feeling soreness following Wednesday’s session, manager Aaron Boone told WFAN (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). It’s unclear how much longer Paxton will be sidelined from the flexor strain that sent him to the IL on Aug. 21, but as Ackert notes, time is running out for him to return – at least to the Yankees’ rotation – during the regular season. Paxton’s problems, both in terms of injury and performance, are among the reasons the Yankees’ starting staff has disappointed this year. Although the 31-year-old dealt with his share of injuries in prior seasons, he typically fared well when healthy. In 2020, though, Paxton has stumbled to a 6.64 ERA over five starts and 20 1/3 innings.

  • Rays manager Kevin Cash hasn’t ruled out regular-season returns for third baseman Yandy Diaz or catcher Mike Zunino, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Diaz went to the IL on Sept. 1 with a right hamstring strain, while Zunino has been down since Aug. 29 with a strained oblique. Diaz has been a major on-base threat with a .307/.427/.386 line in 138 plate appearances, whereas Zunino has gone through a second straight horrible season on offense (.133/.235/.383 with 29 strikeouts in 68 PA).
  • The Phillies expect outfielder/designated hitter Jay Bruce to return this month, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. Bruce has been on the IL twice with quad problems going back to August, and his most recent placement came Sept. 6. He was a good power source before then with a .225/.276/.578 line and six home runs in 76 plate appearances. Meanwhile, Philly’s hopeful that left-handed reliever Jose Alvarez will make it back if they earn a playoff spot. Alvarez threw 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball before taking a 105 mph line drive off the groin on Aug. 20.
  • Reds left-hander Wade Miley “took a step back today” in his recovery from shoulder troubles, manager David Bell announced (Twitter links via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). Consequently, the Reds don’t expect Miley back this weekend. He last took the mound Aug. 27. The news is better for outfielder Nick Senzel, who Bell said is “pretty close” to coming back. Senzel hasn’t played since Aug. 14, but the Reds haven’t disclosed a reason for his absence.
  • Cardinals righty Johan Oviedo is in COVID-19 quarantine, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Oviedo hasn’t tested positive for the illness, but he was exposed to someone who did. As a result, the Cardinals – whose season was halted for a couple weeks last month because of the virus – are taking a cautious approach. They placed Oviedo on the IL on Thursday. It seems righty Carlos Martinez will take over in the Cardinals’ rotation for Oviedo, a 22-year-old rookie who has put up a 4.66 ERA/4.26 FIP in his first four starts and 19 1/3 innings in the bigs.

Phillies Place Jay Bruce, Roman Quinn On IL

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Prior to this afternoon’s game, the Phillies placed a pair of outfielders on the injured list, as per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Jay Bruce, who re-injured his left quad, will go to the 10-day IL, and Roman Quinn will head to the 7-day concussion IL after crashing into the outfield wall last night.

Meanwhile, outfielder Kyle Garlick and Right-hander Mauricio Llovera were recalled from the Phillies’ alternate training site, replacing the injured Phils on the active roster.

Bruce went on the injured list in late August with the same injury, but he’ll require a second IL stint after aggravating the quad last night. It will also be Quinn’s second stay on the injured list this year, though the two injuries are unrelated.

The Phils, with a busy schedule of games on the horizon, will have their outfield depth tested by the absences of Bruce and Quinn. With no Quinn and Garlick limited to the corner outfield, Adam Haseley is the only true center fielder on the roster. Meanwhile, some combination of Phil Gosselin and Neil Walker might assume the bulk of the DH duties with Bruce on the shelf.

Garlick has gotten only a brief look at the Major League level this year, going hitless in five plate appearances thus far. He posted a solid .842 in his first foray into the Majors with the Dodgers a year ago. Llovera, 24, is poised to make his Major League debut when Joe Girardi calls his name. He hasn’t pitched above Double-A in his career, but has had success in each of the last two seasons. For his minor league career, he’s notched a 3.45 ERA and has averaged 9.7 K/9.

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