Report: Phillies came close to acquiring Jay Bruce in trade

Jay Bruce has absolutely crushed the Phillies this season. The crazy thing is he actually could have been playing for them this season had things turned out a little differently.

According to Newsday’s Marc Carig, the Phillies came close to acquiring Bruce in a trade with the Mets during the offseason.

We knew the Mets were open to trading Bruce after he performed below expectations for them last season. The Blue Jays were one team reported to have interest, while Carig says the Giants and Orioles also were interested. Carig says that the Phillies came the closest to getting the outfielder.

The Mets ended up holding onto Bruce, and that decision has proven to be a wise one.

Bruce is batting cleanup for the team and entered Thursday batting .309 with six home runs and an OPS well over 1.000. Of note, four of his home runs and 11 of his RBIs have come against the Phillies, which is just rubbing things in.

H/T Hardball Talk