Jay Bruce, Cleveland Indian

Jay Bruce quietly has 29 home runs this year playing for a bad team in a non-hitters park. Today, the Cleveland Indians traded for Bruce by sending some guy named Ryder Ryan to the Mets. The Yankees were also in on Bruce, but because they wouldn’t pay the remainder of his $4.2 M salary in full, he’s headed back to the Buckeye State to most likely play in the postseason once again.

This is a weird turn of events. So many in the saber community think that Jay Bruce sucks. Fact of the matter is, there’s just not a better run producer out there over the past half-decade plus at this point that you can just plunk into your lineup at this point in the season.

I would have rather seen him been a Yankee. It’s going to be as weird seeing Bruce as a Cleveland Indian as it was a New York Met. It just never really fit.

Jay Bruce – once the top prospect in the minor leagues – has become a journeyman. A hired gun. An outcast in the saber community because his defense doesn’t score well in dWAR.

I still like the move, and I think he continues to hit in Cleveland and be a major shot in the arm in that stinky cabbage city up north.