Jay Bruce is doing his part to make himself more valuable for the Cincinnati Reds. So far this season, the 29-year-old left-handed hitting slugger is batting .280 with 13 home runs, 40 RBI and a what would be a career-best .922 OPS.
Injuries for contending teams are making Bruce even more valuable now than he would have been otherwise. The Kansas City Royals are one potential trade destination for Bruce. Another market emerging for Bruce’s services is the San Francisco Giants, now that Hunter Pence is out for at least two months following a torn hamstring.
Bruce may make the Giants’ batting order too left-handed dominant, but his power at the plate makes Bruce a potent addition to any lineup. Since he broke into the league with the Reds in 2008, Bruce has the third-most homers (62) among active left-handed hitters against left-handed pitching.
Bruce is still an adequate defender in right field, even though he has slipped somewhat from his success last year when he had just three errors all season for a .990 fielding percentage and threw out 11 advancing base runners. Bruce has already committed three errors this year and thrown out just two runners.
Still, Bruce can play the cavernous right field in San Francisco and should help ease the eventual transition of the 33-year-old Pence from right to left field once he returns from surgery and rehab.
The Giants have Pence under contract through the 2018 season. Bruce has a club option of $13 million to keep him for 2017 or a $1-million buyout to release him next year.
The Reds are in a position to deal Bruce now that the team may have found a future replacement in current left-fielder Adam Duvall. The Reds traded Mike Leake to the Giants last year for pitching prospect Keury Mella and Duvall, who now ranks third in baseball in slugging percentage (.608).
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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