Phillies rumors: Trade for outfielder Jay Bruce complete
By John Town
The Phillies completed their trade with the Mariners for outfielder Jay Bruce, who will join the team when they face the Padres in San Diego.
After news that the Phillies were close to acquiring outfielder Jay Bruce broke Saturday afternoon, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported Sunday morning that the deal is now complete. Bruce confirmed the news himself, telling Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that he will join Philadelphia in San Diego Monday.
UPDATE: The team officially announced the trade Sunday afternoon. In exchange for Bruce, the Mariners will receive minor-league third baseman Jake Scheiner. The 2017 fourth-round pick has a .680 OPS and two home runs in 45 games for High-A Clearwater.
Bruce is currently in Seattle with the Mariners, who are playing the Angels this weekend. Bruce stated that the logistics didn’t work out for him to get to Los Angeles in time for the game. If only Seattle were visiting the Angels instead of the other way around.
Other news about the trade trickled out Saturday night. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that the Mariners will receive a minor leaguer in return for Bruce. That description indicates that it likely won’t be a high-end prospect moving to Seattle.
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Rosenthal also reported that the Mariners would indeed send some cash to Philadelphia along with Bruce. However, it likely won’t be too much as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the Phillies will pay most of the $21.5 million still owed to Bruce. Nightengale also said that they offered to pay more of Bruce’s remaining money than any other team.
At this point, we are just waiting for the teams to confirm the news of the trade to get the full final details of the trade. Most likely the deal will be announced Monday when Bruce can join the team. That way, the team can use Bruce’s future roster spot for someone else until Monday.
Bruce’s impact on the team is two-fold. First, he adds the left-handed power the club was reportedly seeking. While his .212 batting average is nothing to write home about, his 14 home runs and .321 isolated power, which ranks ninth-best among players with 180 or more plate appearances, give the team much-needed power.
Second, he alleviates the troubling lack of outfield depth on the roster. Injuries to Dylan Cozens and Roman Quinn and Odubel Herrera’s absence left Philadelphia’s outfield exceptionally then. Bruce fills the gap both this year and next, whether he’s a starter or coming off the bench.
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With the deal now complete, Bruce will join the team Monday and hopefully continue the power surge he had the first two months of the year.