Skip to content

Reds manager: Team could have handled Bruce's injury differently

Eric Hartline / USA TODAY Sports

Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price acknowledges that Jay Bruce's career-worst season may have been avoided had he not rushed back from knee surgery. 

The two-time All-Star underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus May 5 and returned to the lineup less than three weeks later. 

Bruce went on to slash .217/.260/.376 with 15 home runs and 117 strikeouts in the following 107 games and Price admits that, in retrospect, maybe the team should have given him more time off. 

"It's an after-the-fact thing," Price told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "If I could have known how it was going to turn out, I would have sent him out and let him do some rehab and really verify that he was feeling great. But there were a lot of components in that decision. We were scuffling. He was trying to be that responsible, middle-of-the-order player. We had injuries at the time. We weren't playing terribly well.

"Of course, we put him through all the paces. There wasn't anything he didn't do, except play. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to play for four or five days. But I'm saying this after the fact. He passed all the tests. He got the thumbs. We went with it. I don't think we saw Jay Bruce at 100 percent any time after the injury last year."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox