Jay Bruce is a New York Met once again

Jay Bruce is going back to Queens on a three-year, $39 million dollar deal. This figures to be the last running of the bulls in Bruce’s career.

He may be dealt again at some point, and will certainly be dangled given the current state of the New York Mets.

We always kind of hoped that Bruce would finish his career in a city that was comfortable or smaller market without the media pressure of New York where there are 15 to 20 beat writers after every tough game grilling you. Bruce never seemed himself in New York, let alone comfortable.

This contract will take him up to his age 34 season. He’s sitting on 277 career home runs and .249 average to go with a .790 OPS. It’s not played out like we quite thought – of course we always pictured Jay as what Joey Votto has become in Cincinnati. The one lone star of the system that survived the rebuilds and fire sales. But he wasn’t. And that’s okay.

He held true to his word though. Money was never the driving factor in Bruce’s career. He’s already made enough money then he could ever spend in a lifetime. He just wants to play ball for a winner and we thought Cleveland was a great spot for him.

It will be enjoyable to see how the rest of his career plays out; albeit a little less because the Mets are a messy bunch and kind of a drag on left-handed power hitters. But one of our favorite guys in the game once again has a home and some stability. Good for Jay and his family.