CLEVELAND — When the Mets launched their fire sale this summer, willing to take penny-stock prospects for the raft of veterans they were intent on unloading, there were two teams who jumped to the head of the line for outfielder Jay Bruce: the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians.
The Yankees offered two middling prospects for Bruce but refused to pick up more than a small portion of the $3.7 million remaining on his contract.
The Indians offered only a fringe prospect — a 30th-round draft pick who had been converted from pitcher to infielder — but they offered to pick up the rest of Bruce’s contract, and the Mets accepted.