If this story from Hal McCoy’s blog is any indication, we may be one step closer to seeing Jay Bruce make his long-awaited debut in a Reds uniform. Bruce, the consensus top prospect in baseball, is destroying AAA pitching so far this season as a 21 year old.
For you West Coasters who may not be familiar with Jay Bruce, he’s similar to another uberthlete prospect, Justin Upton, except Bruce can actually hit.
“If he keeps playing like this, we’re going to have to get him up here some time soon,” said Jocketty. “What we don’t want to do is bring him up and not have him play.”
Bring him up and not play, Walt? Who is blocking his path? Could it be Corey Patterson and his .262 OBP* and 62 OPS+*? Or maybe it’s Ken Griffey, Jr. and his .365 SLG* and 82 OPS+*? Hitting these two guys leadoff and 3rd all season long, respectively, has cost the Reds countless runs. If you’re reading this, Walt, rectify one of those mistakes by bringing up the kid.
Personally, I think it’s time to trade/bench Griffey and let Bruce play RF. Patterson, while an abortion at the plate, is an elite defender. Considering how bad Dunn and Griffey are with their gloves, our pitchers NEED a good CF. Put [anyone in the fucking world but Patterson] at lead-off, Bruce at 2, EE at 3, Dunn at clean-up, and Patterson at 7 or 8. Then, the Reds might actually generate some runs.
*Caution: numbers in mirror may be worse than replacement level. These two d00ds blow ass.
Source: Busleagues
He should have been up here from day one. That said, I did hear one good reason for not bringing him up now on the radio broadcast the other day. If you bring him up now, there’s 10 times more pressure on him, because he knows the Reds are struggling and he’s coming up to make a difference.
That said, get his damn ass up here now.
I’ll overlook the fact that you said Bruce was better than Upton, and just say that I’m pretty excited that I picked him up in fantasy.
fetch,
i said that for Hef’s benefit.