Shortly after details of Jay Bruce’s three-year reunion contract with the New York Mets came out, so were the details of an offer made by the Giants for the 30-year-old outfielder. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Thursday morning that the Giants drew up a three-year contract for Bruce, but in their efforts to stay below the luxury-tax threshold, their offer was $10 million less than the $39 million he received from the Mets.
The #SFGiants also made a 3-year offer for OF Jay Bruce, but their offer was about $10 million less than the 3-year, $39 million contract Bruce received from the #Mets. They remain in talks with the #Pirates for CF Andrew McCutchen
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 11, 2018
Bound for his 11th year in the major leagues, Bruce is coming off a career-high 36 home runs in 2017. He’s averaged 32 home runs per year and has hit 69 over the last two seasons. Those numbers suited Bruce well when he played at Great American Ball Park, Citi Field and Progressive Field, but there was no guarantee that his power would transfer over to AT&T Park, especially as a left-handed hitter.
Nonetheless, it’s now nearing mid-January and the Giants are still in desperate need for an upgrade in the outfield. Right now, their only outfielder with more than four years of major league experience is Hunter Pence, while Jarrett Parker, Mac Williamson and Austin Slater have never played more than 63 games in a single season.
At the moment, Andrew McCutchen, an outfielder the Giants have been consistently interested in all offseason, shows the most promise. With Denard Span now on the Tampa Bay Rays, center field is open for McCutchen to takeover without causing too much positional disruption in the outfield. Although he’s in the middle of working out of an offensive slump that began in 2016, McCutchen hit a career-high 28 home runs last season and has averaged 24 long balls in his nine years in the major leagues.
