Don't think the guy has improved during his whole time in majors. What could we get for him in a trade?
Don't think the guy has improved during his whole time in majors. What could we get for him in a trade?
Magic beans maybe..
He tears pitching up for one month every year. The guy is just not as good as everybody thought he would be.
While at the game yesterday I was quite frustrated to see Bruce up in almost EVERY crucial at-bat, I still think it's premature to try and trade the guy. He's just turning 25, and still has plenty of time to continue to improve.
He looked incredibly lost against Weaver early in the game, and I think that really messed with his psyche for the remainder of it. The fact is, he's put up some great numbers the past few years for someone so young, and I believe was also top 10 in MVP voting last year, even with his streaky hitting. That doesn't scream "trade now" to me.
He has improved his homerun totals every season he has been in the major leagues.
He turns 26 tomorrow.
You need to ask if he is traded, who plays instead? No one who would be as good as Bruce, so why bother?
...the 2-2 to Woodsen and here it comes...and it is swung on and missed! And Tom Browning has pitched a perfect game! Twenty-seven outs in a row, and he is being mobbed by his teammates, just to the thirdbase side of the mound.
I am not saying he is not any good. I just don't see him improving that much at this point. He is the exact same player right now as he was 2 or 3 years ago. I just don't think he is a guy that you can count on to deliver unless it is during his one hot stretch. I think right now you could get some good value for him, but in 2 or 3 years when he is the exact same player as he is now, the value will go way down.
Now I hope in a couple months somebody pulls this thread back up and laughs at me for being an idiot b/c that would mean Bruce has turned it around, but I am not very confident that will happen.
I think Bruce is so polarizing because it's easy to play the "what if" game with him regarding his potential. In my maybe 13-14 games that I attended in person last year, I bet I saw him leave 20+ runners on base during his at-bats. Yet in spite of this he still ended the year with nearly 100 RBI. It's tempting to wonder what he could do if he improved contact with runners in scoring position, but I'm sure there are 29 other teams who wouldn't mind having his production in their outfield at his age.
This place is in mid-season form already.
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It's easy to get frustrated with Bruce. He's in rare company...very few have increased their HR and RBI totals every year over their first 5 years. It's just that his streaks are SO pronounced.
It seems that he's either SUPER hot or SUPER cold and those peaks and valleys really stand out. I was hoping that he would become more consistent with his hot streaks by now. Just imagine then numbers he'd put up if he didn't go through 4-5 cold streaks of 2 weeks or more during a season.
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