Mets trade rumors: Mets a potential landing spot for Cincinnati outfielder Jay Bruce

Just as the Carlos Gomez saga has come to an end with the center fielder being dealt to Houston, another batch of rumors has sprung up regarding the Mets and an outfielder from the National League Central.

This time we're talking about left-handed slugger Jay Bruce of the Reds. He's hitting .258/.340/.487 this year with 17 home runs and would likely serve as an improvement over Michael Conforto, Kelly Johnson, Michael Cuddyer, and whomever else the Mets feel like playing in left field for the rest of the season.

There are issues, though. First of all, Bruce only plays right field, so trading for him would force the Mets to move Curtis Granderson to either left or center field. If Granderson moves to left, it means the team has to demote Conforto and try to find a role for Johnson (he's mostly been playing second base so far). If Granderson is in center, the club must hope that he can must continue to hit well enough to make up for what is a significant difference in defensive skill between him and Juan Lagares.

The cost of Bruce is looking like Zack Wheeler and another piece, or roughly the same as what New York was going to give up for Carlos Gomez before all heck broke loose. Bruce also costs money. He's due to earn around $5 million for the rest of this year, then $12.5 million next year. In 2017, Bruce's contract has a $13 million option with a $1 million buyout.

If you believe that the Mets balked on Gomez because of money, then the Reds would certainly need to toss in some cash in any potential trade.