Mets Trade Rumors from the Past: A Jay Bruce for Brandon Nimmo deal

With the announcement of Jay Bruce retiring from baseball, Mike Puma of the NY Post shared a tidbit I think many either didn’t know or forgot about in regards to the New York Mets trade rumors surrounding his arrival to Flushing.

Before eventually trading Max Wotell and Dilson Herrera for Bruce, Brandon Nimmo’s name was on the table. Imagine that.

If these old Mets trade rumors don’t make you cringe, I don’t know what will

This all took place in the summer of 2016 when the Mets were looking to get back to the World Series. Bruce was on a Cincinnati Reds took headed nowhere. The Mets picked him up in the swap, hoping to add some power to the lineup.

Bruce didn’t produce right away. In fact, he was quite dreadful during his early days with the Mets in 2016. His first month with the Mets produced a .183/.262/.290 slash line. Bruce hit just a pair of home runs in his first month with the ball club. He did eventually turn things around in September and went on to have a productive 2017 before he was traded again.

At the time of these Mets trade rumors involving Bruce, Nimmo barely played in the big leagues. Hungry to capitalize on the team’s starting pitching prowess, the Mets seemed eager to do whatever they could to build a championship roster.

We can now look back at this in hindsight and see just how horrible of a trade this could have been. Nimmo is killing baseballs in 2021. Even prior to his hot start this year, he has entrenched himself as a productive offensive weapon.

Jay Bruce isn’t the only former Mets player in the news

Another player linked to Bruce, Anthony Swarzak was designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks. What pairs them together is that both were traded to the Seattle Mariners in the infamous Robinson Cano deal.

Are we still calling it the Cano deal? I think it’s too soon to call it anything else.

Swarzak didn’t almost land with the Mets via some potentially horrific trade. Instead, he was just a bad free agent signing prior to the 2018 season.

Ghosts of Mets trade rumors past often fall into two categories. We either look at them and cringe at how horribly bad it could have gone or we look on in disappointment as to what might have been. In this instance, it’s the former.

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Bruce had some good times with the Mets but he certainly didn’t accomplish what Nimmo looks like he could. As if the Bruce to Seattle deal doesn’t pain fans enough (for reasons not involving him whatsoever) it’s this other never-happened-trade that could have had fans ripping out their hair far more.