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Jon Morosi kicked the Blue Jays fan ant hill again with this tweet:
Blue Jays are, however, working to add a left-handed bat to their lineup. One name they are talking about: Jay Bruce.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 25, 2014
Bruce would be a buy low target. He had an awful season, hitting just .217/.281/.373 wight 18 home runs. Fangraphs has his at a -1.1 WAR. Even his defense was bad, he had a -7.0 UZR/150 in RF for the Reds.
2013, on the other hand, was a terrific season for Bruce. He hit .262/.329/.478 with 30 home runs and a 4.0 WAR and his UZR was 10.1 in RF.
The question is, what will he do in 2013. Likely somewhere in between the great 2013 and the lousy 2014. He's a lefty bat, something we could use. He would fit in nicely in left field. He has a lot of power, hitting 182 home runs in 7 seasons in the majors.
He is owed $12 million in 2015 and $12.5 million in 2016 with a team option at $13 million, with the $1 million buyout.
There is no word from Morosi on whether the Jays had talked to the Reds about Bruce or if they are just having internal discussions about him. Bruce is just 27, he's really only had the one bad season, so wouldn't expect the Reds to be wanting to give him up too cheaply, but then maybe they would like to clear some salary too.
I'd imagine that the Jays would be offering a pitcher if they were to go after Bruce.