New York Mets: Jay Bruce will be the newest “Met Killers” club member

After seeing what Jay Bruce has done already with the Philadelphia Phillies, it’s safe to say New York Mets fans already have a taste of what he will do to them in the future.

Jay Bruce has had limited success with his multiple stints with the New York Mets. After the end of 2018, it was about time for him to go as they wanted to free up some cap space to look to contend in 2019. His time with the Mets was bittersweet, but now, he is going to be the newest member of the “Met Killers” club.

Jay Bruce was traded to the Mets in 2016 to help them gear up for what eventually was a Wild Card berth for the team. For the rest of the 2016 season, he hit eight home runs with 19 runs batted in and had a .219 batting average. He had a more significant improvement in 2017 where he hit 29 home runs and 75 runs batted in with a .256 batting average before being traded to the Cleveland Indians.

After the second stint with the Mets failed where he batted .223 with nine home runs and 37 runs batted in, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners in the deal that would send Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano to the Mets. Bruce has no ill will against the Mets, stating that he cherished his time in New York and that he met a lot of people he is close to now and wishes them all the best, but now Mets fans may have some ill will towards him very soon.

Right after that trade, Jay Bruce did what any other ex-Met has done and made his impact with the Mariners very quick. In only 47 games, Bruce was already seeing a mass improvement from the year before. He was batting .212 with 14 home runs and 28 runs batted in. The problem with Bruce in Seattle was his strikeout numbers were very high, as he had 53 already.

Despite the strikeouts and low batting average, Jay Bruce was showing improvement and showing the great offense he is capable of producing. The issue was possibly the pressure of playing in New York. It was a question brought up before he was traded to the Mets in 2016 if he was comfortable playing for the Mets.

Now, Bruce has been traded to the Phillies and wasted absolutely no time making a huge impact already. In only seven games with the Phillies, Jay Bruce has five home runs with 12 runs batted in and batting with a .346 batting average. I’m sure Mets fans are not surprised at all with Bruce’s success as of late, and it only added salt to the wound when he was awarded National League Player of the Week.

Will the Mets be kicking themselves about trading Bruce? Probably not, nobody ever doubted Bruce and his ability to play, he was just in the wrong atmosphere, and now he is somewhere he can fully thrive.

Jay Bruce will have to be added to the list of ex Mets players who have had big big-time success with other teams and there is nothing they can do about it. All they can do now is prepare for June 24th, the next time the Mets meet the Phillies.