Mets Sign Jay Bruce

Jay Bruce: 36 HR, .254/.324/.508, 1 SB, 118 wRC+, 2.7 fWAR

Three years, $39 million, annual five team no-trade clause

The Mets added some actual lineup protection for Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto, bringing back Jay Bruce on a three year, $39 million deal. While this won't help the Mets catch the Nationals in the NL East, the Mets may be able to compete for a Wild Card spot if Noah Syndergaard can bounce back and young prospective stars Amed Rosario and Dom Smith can quickly transition to MLB pitching by living up to the hype right away. Bruce may end up with quite a few defensive homes, likely seeing time in left field, right field, and first base, though the Mets will want to keep his bat in the lineup as much as possible. With Cespedes injured a fair amount and Conforto coming off shoulder surgery, he could see time filling in for them, or we could even see Cespedes slide to center field occasionally to get all three in the outfield at once. Additionally, 22 year old first baseman Dom Smith is not a given to produce at first base, and while the Mets hope he can be a productive bat this year, Bruce can play first base if Smith's bat is a liability. Now for Bruce's bat; it's pretty interesting. He's really only good for one thing, home runs, but he's really good for that one thing, clubbing at least 30 in five of the past seven seasons and 36 last year. In fact, this past season was one of his best, as he slashed .254/.324/.508 with those 36 home runs, putting up a 118 wRC+. He'll need to keep popping those home runs, because he doesn't do much otherwise. He's an average defender who figures to lose a step as he ages, and he has an average walk rate to go with low batting averages, meaning his on-base percentage hasn't climbed north of .329 since 2011. The length of this deal, three years, is very good for the Mets, because when Bruce's power begins to slip later in his 30's, he won't be able to contribute much with those low on-base percentages. Overall, this was a smart move by the Mets. For his career, Bruce has 277 home runs, a .249/.319/.472 slash line, and 20.3 fWAR over 1416 games.