The Cincinnati Reds means business in the coming season. After series of trades were done which included Johnny Cueto, Todd Frazier and Aroldis Chapman since mid-2015, there are now speculations that they will also move Jay Bruce out from their roster. According to reports, the Reds are wanting to have players who possess talent in packages which they can immediately utilize, thus trading the injury riddled outfielder to other teams, and most probably to Cleveland Indians.
The soon to be 29 year old right fielder this coming April had a knee surgery last year which somehow affected his game. However, despite appearing 157 games in 2015, he still managed to have a fair performance while not having rebound at-bat, he posted a combined .695 OPS since 2014 according to cbssports. He is expected to make $12.5 million in 2016 and another $13 million club option in the following year.
As of the current speculations, there are eight clubs on the limited no-trade provision of Bruce. These are the Yankees, Red Sox, A's, Rays, Marlins, Twins, Indians and D-backs. And according to some report, among the eight clubs, the Indians would most probably be the next team of Bruce for they have already shown interest on the said player over the past season.
MLB also highlighted why Bruce would be tempting for the Indians, for just last year, despite some struggles he still managed to have batted 226/.294/.434 with 26 homers and 87 RBIs, and averaged .222/.288/.406 with 22 homers and 76 RBIs over the past two struggle-filled seasons.
From 2010-13, Bruce averaged .262/.337/.4 over the past two seasons. This is of course a sign that there is still more in Bruce that meets the eye. And that something could actually be maximized by the Cleveland Indians.
However, there is still no telling on which club Bruce may end up, or whether the Indian would still pursue him, for there are other options of outfielder and players on the free agent market, which would include Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon.
