MLB Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Jay Bruce, Scott Kazmir, More

With the All-Star Game now over, Major League Baseball enters the final weeks before the trading deadline. The teams who still feel that they have a chance to make the postseason will be aiming to add whatever spare parts or unwanted stars they can secure to bolster their rosters for the final drive.   

With well over half the teams in both leagues within striking range of at least a wild-card berth, it should be an interesting few weeks. 

Jay Bruce

On July 13, CBS Sports baseball insider Jon Heyman reported that "league sources say" the Cincinnati Reds will look to trade outfielder Jay Bruce before the deadline. The 28-year-old lefty will attract a lot of interest.

Nobody is ever going to confuse Bruce with Mike Trout or Bryce Harper. But he does own a very productive bat. His slash line at the break is a respectable .252/.341/.465, and he's rapped 19 doubles and 13 home runs. 

Discounting last season, when Bruce underwent knee surgery and played in just 137 games, his midyear stats are very much in line with his career production since his first full season in 2010.

	2B	HR	BA	OBP	Slugging	OPS
2010	23	25	.281	.353	.493	.846
2011	27	32	.256	.341	.474	.815
2012	35	34	.252	.327	.514	.844
2013	43	30	.262	.329	.478	.807

Teams will know what they are getting in Bruce: a veteran bat who can help win big games. 

One team that would seem to make some sense as a buyer for Bruce is the New York Mets. The Mets have ridden a very good pitching staff to reach the break just two games back from the Washington Nationals and well within striking range of the second wild card. But their offense has been atrocious. 

But as Joel Sherman pointed out in the July 14 New York Post, a corner outfielder like Bruce is not exactly an ideal fit for the Mets. The crosstown Yankees might be a more likely buyer, since he'd be an upgrade on Carlos Beltran at this point. 

With Alex Gordon down for an extended period of time, it's hard not to speculate on the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals as a potential destination for Bruce. However, it's unlikely that Kansas City has the payroll flexibility for another veteran run producer. 

Scott Kazmir

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Every team needs arms this time of year, so a proven commodity like Scott Kazmir is destined to draw a great deal of interest. Pitching for the scuffling Oakland A's, he turned in an ERA of 2.49 and a WHIP of 1.115 during the first half of the season while striking out nearly three times as many batters as he walked. 

Those are the kind of numbers that a team can anchor a rotation around. According to Ken Rosenthal, there were a lot of interested eyes at Kazmir's last start before the break:

But Kazmir left that game early with tricep tightness. Oakland A's beat reporter Jane Lee tweeted that night that the injury was "super minor" and that Kazmir felt he would be able to pitch again in five days if not for the break. 

Lee later tweeted that A's manager Bob Melvin reported Kazmir felt good after his next throwing session and that he didn't expect the arm problem to "be an issue moving forward."

Just the same, Kazmir would represent a big-ticket purchase for any team that picked him up. As this tweet from Peter Gammons demonstrates, teams could be a bit wary of him now:

Seattle Looking for a New Receiver

According to a tweet on Wednesday by Fox Sports' Jon Morosi, the Seattle Mariners are looking for help at catcher:

A follow-up tweet by Morosi later in the day contained this additional rumor:

At 41-48, the Mariners are probably well out of contention for a playoff spot this year. But there can be little doubt that they are very much in need of help at the backstop position, both this year and going forward. 

Mike Zunino has always been a terrible hitter, but this year his production has reached eye-popping ineptness. His slash line is a woeful .160/.223/.292. He's struck out a whopping 100 times in 250 at-bats and walked only 17 times.

At 38, A.J. Pierzynski is clearly not a catcher to build future plans around. Still, compared to Zunino, he's Johnny Bench. He'd at least remove an automatic out from the Mariners' lineup for the rest of this season.