Texas Rangers rumors: Jay Bruce, Jonathan Lucroy top names on deadline day

Texas Rangers rumors:  Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds has joined Jonathan Lucroy as a hot name connected with the Texas Rangers in advance of today's trade deadline, with Jon Heyman saying that the Rangers, the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets are the most likely destinations for the Cincinnati outfielder.

The 29 year old Bruce is having a quality bounce-back year for the Reds, putting up a .265/.316/.559 slash line this year, after putting up a .222/.288/.406 slash line from 2014-15.  The defensive metrics don't like Bruce's work in the field this year, but still, with a $13 million team option for 2017, he's an affordable bat that would help cover for the absence of Shin-Soo Choo (should Choo miss more time), and would be very easily moveable in the offseason.

While Heyman says Bruce appears likely to be moved today, the Lucroy situation is less clear...the Rangers and Brewers apparently have talked at length about a deal that would include Lucroy, Joey Gallo, and a reliever from the Brewers, but it doesn't appear anything is particularly imminent at this point, and its possible Milwaukee simply hangs onto Lucroy for the time being.