Jay Bruce: good pickup by Mets, warming up for the tournament. Yanks could have used him, too, in 2016 ... and 2017.

Jay Bruce plate appearances (PA), OPS+, HR:
Reds 402, 126, 25
Mets 177, 70, 7
Tot 579, 109, 32
Career 5179, 109, 240

HR: 21, 22, 25, 32, 34, 30, 18, 26, 32

This should provide a little perspective for those who maintain that Bruce was not a significant addition to the Mets and/or that Bruce cannot play in New York.

Bruce took a long time to warm up with the Mets. But with the tournament starting next week, Bruce may be ready to be an impact player. In the five most recent Met games, Bruce has homered in 1, 4, 5. Bruce has 7 hits (3 HR, 2B, 3 1B) and 2 BB in 18 PA.

OPS:
Career: .784
Tournament: .877 in 36 PA with Reds

Which New York team is in contention? Tuesday, August 2, 2016

The Mets, right? The Mets added talent and the Yankees subtracted talent, at least at the major league level...

If the Yankees beat the Mets again tonight, the teams will have identical records.

Both teams needed a bat. The Mets added Jay Bruce (25 home runs, 80 RBI) of the Reds. The Yankees traded their best 2016 hitter Carlos Beltran. That was after the Yankees traded their two best relief pitchers Aroldis Chapman and then Andrew Miller...

Yankees received ... ten minor league players. TEN!

... conventional wisdom or delusion sweeping through the media and filtering down to the more gullible fans. Quantity over quality...

The previous post asked if the (New York) fans would trade general managers ...

April 3 Bruce turned 29 and he's signed for 2017 for $13 million, half of what the Mets are paying Cespedes in 2016. Bruce is a good addition to the Mets but he would have also been a good addition for the Yankees, both to make a run this season and as a valuable player going forward...

Alderson was bold, two years in a row. Cashman was timid, passing on starting lefty David Price, both at the trading deadline in 2015 and in the off season when Price signed with the Red Sox...

During the off season the Yankees were the only one of the thirty teams to not sign a free agent... Cashman quit. Hal Steinbrenner quit. There's no other interpretation. Some Yankee fans have quit with them...

The Yankee players who remained showed a fire that their general manager and owner lack. They wanted to show Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner that they are wrong and that they could win in spite of the capitulation by upper management...

... the Steinbrenner Kids have sunk to a low without precedent in New York. Shame on them and shame on us for going along.

Winners never quit and quitters never win. Trite but true.
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Yank tank: was it worth missing the tournament by a couple of games? Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Yankee general manager Brian Cashman traded Aroldis Chapman first. Cashman could have flipped the three minor league players received for Chapman and acquired Jay Bruce from the Reds. As with the Mets, Bruce would have added a power hitting corner outfielder to the Yankees for the final one third of this 2016 season and had Bruce for all of 2017 and possibly beyond. Cashman could have kept both Miller and Beltran. Then no matter what nonsense Cashman did with the Yankees own minor league players Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin, the Yankees would have been much better off, both in 2016 and moving forward.