Jay Bruce is not playing in Thursday night’s Yankees game, and it’s possible that he has put on the pinstripes for the final time.
Thursday was the day where, if the Yankees hadn’t told Bruce he would be making the 25-man roster, he could trigger an opt-out clause that would give the Yankees 48 hours to add him to the roster or lose him. Manager Aaron Boone wouldn’t officially reveal if Bruce had done so, he did intimate it when saying that discussions were being had about his future, and that “in his case, we have 48 hours.”
“He won’t be here today, and I think he’s gonna stay away here until we make a decision,” Boone said. “We actually just got off a long phone call right now with a lot of people, centered around the roster, so those conversations are happening,” Boone said. “We’re trying to get different points of view, and everyone's able to weigh in on different things before we make a final decision.”
Bruce has hit two home runs and played both corners and first base, but is hitting just .194 in 13 games. Boone knows never to take too much stock in Spring Training performance (or underperformance), especially with veterans, but it can’t help that Bruce’s prime competition, Mike Tauchman, has hit .269 with three homers this spring and would cost about half of what Bruce would if he made the roster.
That said, it seems as if the Yankees were more interested in seeing Bruce at first base more than any performance at the plate in what Boone called a “really good” spring for the veteran.
“One of the things I really wanted to do is get him a lot of work at first base and kind of see what that looks like. I don't want to say I’m pleasantly surprised, because I know he's done that before, but he’s certainly looked the part to me over there,” Boone said. “I feel like he moves naturally over at first base, we know what he can do over in the corner outfields. I feel like he's healthy. His swing's in a pretty good place, and he's impacted a number of balls for us. He's shown, I think, everything we could've hoped for when we brought him in."
All good, but whether Bruce’s opt-out makes the decision this weekend or not, the Yankees likely can’t take both Bruce and Tauchman – and have to choose one of them soon, likely meaning one or the other will be employed elsewhere a week from today after a difficult conversation.
"I mean, we try to be transparent where you can be," Boone said. "There's always a compassionate element that I think is important, and I think we do a good job of never taking it lightly when we are dealing with somebody's livelihood. But, we also understand that this is our job to make this call and to make difficult calls, and we'll do it to the best of our ability and try and serve our team and individuals as best we can."
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