Unless he gets hot over these final 30 games, Jay Bruce might have to get used to hearing one word around the Mets.
“Next!”
Acquired at the trade deadline to provide some thump to the middle of the lineup, Bruce has barely replicated a popgun. At this point, with the revived Mets well in the thick of the race for the second wild card, Bruce is looking nothing like a player who will cost the franchise $13 million on a team option next season.
It would be better at this point to pay him his $1 million buyout immediately after the season and use the remaining $12 million to convince Yoenis Cespedes, the true mover and shaker in the lineup, to re-up long-term.