you just don’t.

What if you could swap Bruce and Bailey for Ryan Zimmerman? You fill the 3B spot with a proven hitter and power hitter.

Interesting that you should pick Zimmerman since there were a lot people giving up on Zimmerman as a flop when he seemed to get worse as 23-year old last year. Now suddenly he’s a proven hitter.

We have plenty of OFers coming up. Heisey may be better than Bruce.

Heisey has 2 months in the minors that look anything like what Bruce did in the minors. The Reds have nobody who has hit anything like what Bruce did consistently in the minors. Why should we suspect they are any different than him? And I’m as excited about what Heisey has done this year as anyone, but the fact remains that he’s a 24-year old playing in AA. Bruce was 20 when he was putting up similar numbers in Triple-A.

You people are hung up on his age.

I’m “hung up” on his age because there are 6 players who are younger than Bruce who have an AB in the Majors this year. You may not think that age matters, but it does. Bruce has already destroyed the minors. Now he needs to learn to make adjustments. It takes time. There are bumps in the road with young players. It happens.

Just because he’s only 22 doesn’t mean he’s going to pan out anymore than some 24 or 25 year old.

Agreed. But the talent he has shown in the minors indicates that he is a lot more likely to pan out than most 24 or 25 year olds who still haven’t made it to the big leagues. You don’t give up on a player after basically one season.

And Votto is the backbone of the offense, not Bruce.

I don’t know anyone who would argue differently. I also don’t know why it’s relevant.

I think he’s been way overhyped. So many fans fall in love with guys and fail to see the huge holes in their games.

You are acting as if a 22-year old is a finished product and can’t make adjustments. Less than a month ago, Bruce was batting .267/.351/.564. Are you going to give up on a young player because he’s struggling for a month? Does he holes? Sure. What a surprise that a 22-year old wouldn’t be a finished product.

Just because he’s only 22 doesn’t mean he’s going to pan out anymore than some 24 or 25 year old.

Not in every single case, but in general, sure it does. If a 22 year-old has performed as well at the same level as the 24-25 year-old, the younger guy has demonstrated a more accelerated learning curve. And like Slyde said, he’ll have more time to correct the flaws in his game.

Another young OF that started to slump around this time last year was Justin Upton. He hit .123 in June and was on pace to strike out 190 times. But you don’t bench a talent like that for one bad month, and you sure as hell don’t trade him. Now he’s OPSing about a thousand and should play in the all-star game. Be patient, dude.

take a breath. Jay Bruce is the most talented hitter the Reds have farmed since…Larkin? he has the ability to hit .300 and slug .550-.600 every season for the next 15 or so. you cannot expect him to do that right out of the gate though. the only people that do that are people like Ted Williams and Albert Pujols. is Bruce like Williams or Pujols? no. if you want to trade him because he’s not Pujols, then go right ahead.

i dont mean this as a personal attack, because although you havent been around here very long you seem like a great fella, but this is one of the stupidest ideas ive seen around here in a long time. i know it’s frustrating watching him right now, but give him some time.

I thought it was horrible that Dusty would hit Bruce in the 3 hole last year, and he continues to hit him high in the order this year too. When the guy struggles move him down in the order!

I just think you’re overreacting to the bumps in the road in a young player’s development. More than he’s struggled, he’s shown at every level that he has the potential to be a great ballplayer. Why give up on him at age 21 and trade him away for pennies on the dollar and take the risk of him realizing that potential somewhere other than Cincinnati?

Anything can happen. Who would have guessed that Joey Votto would end up on the DL with stress-related issues this season?

But the odds are that Bruce will be okay. It’s not like he’s a flash in the pan. He’s been a top prospect for years, and has performed accordingly. Chances are, he will continue to do so. It takes time to adjust to the big leagues, and every player goes into slumps sometimes.

This is the way it goes with young players. They get scouted, the league adjusts to them, and they have to make an adjustment in turn.

I think the reason most of us aren’t concerned is because you are basically talking about a bad month. Granted it’s been abysmal in terms of production, but it’s still just a month. And during that month, he has a .152 batting average on balls in play. Pitchers don’t have BABIPs that low typically. So some of what we’ve seen from Bruce has been bad luck on top of bad play, which makes him look terrible. But players have stretches like this from time to time, especially younger players who are still trying to make adjustments.

And you say that you don’t see adjustments from him, but I saw one in his at bat today. He took a much shorter swing on his double and actually hit the ball on a line. Hopefully that’s a sign of progress.

I wouldn’t give up on Bruce yet. He’s still got things to learn about the game and some adjustments are going to be harder than others. But he’s got super quick hands and incredible power for a kid his age. Once he gets that strike zone figured out, he’s going to be deadly.

by age 22, both Griffey and Mantle were much better players than Bruce, particularly because they were both in their 4th full season.