Mets Hoping Bruce Can Propel Mets To Pennant Like Cespides Did Last Year

The Mets acquired Jay Bruce at the trade deadline, just as they did Yoenis Cespides at the same time last year. New York then went on to win the National League pennant, primarily on the strength of Cespides.

Bruce will be expected to provide a similar surge for the Mets who, like last year, are trailing in the National League East. Instead of just three games back as in 2015, New York is seven behind Washington. Making a repeat even more difficult, however, is the fact the Mets this year are also two games behind second place Miami.

Catching the Nationals again would have been difficult, so New York upgraded its offense by acquiring Jay Bruce on August 1 for infielder Dilson Herrera and minor league left handed pitcher Max Wotell. Bruce’s numbers are even better than those of Cespides on July 31 at last year’s deadline.

With Cincinnati Bruce was hitting .265 with 25 home runs and eighty runs batted in, becoming the first player in baseball history to ever be traded while leading his league in RBI. Before the trade to New York last season Cespides was hitting .293 with 18 home runs and 61 RBI for the Detroit Tigers.

Having both sluggers for the pennant race would almost promise a return to the playoffs, if not another division championship, for the Mets. The only question would be how Cespides would fare defensively in center field, where he would shift to accommodate Bruce in right.

That question was put on hold when Cespides landed on the disabled list Thursday. Now the Mets have much more serious concerns, such as how to replace his offense.

New York cannot rely on Bruce the way they counted on Cespides last year. As a member of the Reds, Bruce did most of his damage against Milwaukee, whose pitchers have yielded nearly forty percent (35 of 98) of Bruce’s home runs away from Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.

Unfortunately for his new team, the Mets do not play but one series in Milwaukee. Instead, they will be needing Bruce to produce against the clubs in the N.L. East, especially first place Washington.

In that case, the prognosis is not favorable for a repeat trip to the World Series for the Mets. In 53 games against the Nats Bruce is a career .209 hitter, and in 235 plate appearances he has just six home runs off of Washington pitchers.

The strength of the Mets last year and this year remains its stellar starting rotation, but last year proved they needed a power bat to propel them to the top. The club can only hope that Bruce can be the impetus that Cespides was last year.

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