Jay Bruce

Mets: Terry Collins pinch hits for Jay Bruce as the slugger's struggles continue

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Campbell pinch hit for Bruce in last night’s game.

Jay Bruce, who was brought here in a trade deadline deal from Cincinnati to be a formidable force in the middle of the Mets lineup, seemingly hit rock bottom last night when manager Terry Collins pinch hit right-handed Eric Campbell for the struggling left-handed bat against southpaw Ian Krol coming in from Atlanta’s bullpen.

Since arriving in Queens, Jay Bruce has collected 25 hits and 14 walks in 157 plate appearances, with 4 home runs and 11 runs batted in. This produces a .176 AVG with a .255 OBP and a .289 SLG.

You arguably couldn’t be doing worse than Jay Bruce has done with the Mets in this stretch. It’s a classic “star comes to Mets and sucks” scenario playing out before our eyes. Luckily, the Mets have stormed back into the hunt in spite of Bruce’s failings.

Now, for his career against lefties, Jay Bruce is batting .225 and that becomes .215 this year (INCLUDING with the Reds) so I get Terry’s thought process of sending a right-handed hitting player in place of a vastly struggling Bruce who has shown pockets like this before in his career.

I’m not even going to go into the idea Terry should have pinch hit with someone like Matt Reynolds because even though Eric Campbell came through, Reynolds is a vastly superior hitter than Soup. That’s not the point here.The point is that Jay Bruce wasn’t trusted to come to the plate as the tying run. That has to be quite an existential moment for a slugger.

According to SNY.TV, Jay Bruce said the following post-game:

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been pinch-hit for. I always think I’m the best choice. I think everyone in this locker room does. But he’s the manager and I respect his decision and it is what it is. … I don’t deserve any explanation from the manager. He’s the manager, he makes the decisions.”

Terry Collins responded to reporters as such, according to SNY.TV as well:

“It’s one of the worst things you can do as a manager, to pinch hit for a star, especially one of the elite power hitters in the game,” Collins said. “But you know, my job is to try to win the game. … I think he’s extremely frustrated. I know, I talked to him about it. … I told him, this is a different situation here…

“…The market, as you know, this is not Cincinnati.”

This is like Jason Bay all over again, except we’re lucky, or maybe eventually unlucky, it is happening around some winning September baseball. Still, it clearly is an ugly situation.

He also had this to say last night, according to SNY.TV:

“I definitely didn’t draw it up like this…Coming over here, it’s been tough on me. Fortunately, the team has been playing really well, we’ve been winning games, we’re in a good spot when it comes to the playoff race. … I’m worried about the team, I’m worried about winning games. I have plenty of time to think about myself. Right now is not that time.”

We keep waiting for Jay Bruce to have his big hit as a New York Met, but it may not be coming. We just have to hope for the best when it comes to the team, and hope that Jay Bruce doesn’t end up being in the middle of what brings us down. Maybe along the way he crushes one in a crucial moment like he has for the Reds before.

There’s some serious concern, however, of investing $14 million into this big a potential hole in next year’s lineup. Unless there’s a major turnaround, decline the option, invest the money elsewhere cough cough Yo cough cough, and just move on.