Orioles Interested in Jay Bruce?

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Orioles have at least some interest in trading for Jay Bruce:

While Rosenthal tweets that the Orioles might not have the prospects to get the deal done, Jon Heyman tweeted the following late last night:

This would seem to indicate that there is interest on both sides of this deal, particularly if Dexter Fowler ends up signing elsewhere. On paper, Bruce is a fit for the Orioles. Their outfield situation is pretty dire at the moment aside from the consistently solid Adam Jones. Their Right Field situation is especially in flux, with Mark Trumbo and Ryan Flaherty appearing as the leading candidates for the job. The Orioles would likely prefer Trumbo to DH, as their DH situation is also pretty sketchy and given Trumbo’s defensive deficiencies. For a team looking to compete in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, it makes sense to upgrade from Flaherty, and Bruce is the type of high power/low batting average player they seem to like.

I’m not so sure that this trade makes as much sense for the Reds, however, as the Orioles have one of the worst farm systems in baseball right now. Here is what Keith Law, who ranked their farm system 27th, had to say:

"“Hunter Harvey has been out for a year and a half; Dylan Bundy can’t stay healthy and could be done as a starter; and their best prospect is a catcher who might be a singles hitter. Their upside was almost entirely in short-season last summer, but they wouldn’t be in this situation if the last wave of arms had panned out.”"

From this, it’s hard to envision a scenario where a Bruce trade to Baltimore happens. The catching prospect that Law referred to is Chance Sisco, who has an impressive minor league OBP of .402, but has shown little power. Given that the Reds already have Devin Mesoraco, Tucker Barnhart, Tyler Stephenson, and Chad Wallach in the fold, it’s hard to imagine that they would be too interested in Sisco as a centerpiece. Dylan Bundy is definitely an interesting prospect, as he has ranked very highly on national lists in the past, but health and poor performance have held him back as of late. Formerly one of the two best prospects in all of baseball according to Baseball America, Bundy fell to #48 on their list prior to the 2015 season and is not considered a Top-100 prospect on their 2016 list. As Law mentioned, Harvey has been injured for over a year now, and is also no longer considered a Top-100 prospect.

It’s interesting that the Reds, at least according to Jon Heyman, think the Orioles have enough talent to get a trade done. If they traded Bruce for any one top player in Baltimore’s system, they would almost certainly be selling incredibly low. It would make more sense, then, to just hope for a rebound and then move him at the deadline. The Reds could potentially be asking for multiple top players, but I don’t think it’s likely that Baltimore will move multiple top prospects and thin out their already weak system, especially for Bruce, who is coming off of two poor seasons. Perhaps a deal centered around Dariel Alvarez and others would make sense for both parties.

We’ll keep you updated on any further rumors and news.