‘Extremely hard’ for Reds to part with Bruce

CINCINNATI — The Jay Bruce era with the Reds ended on Monday just before the non-waiver Trade Deadline, when the right fielder was dealt to the Mets for infielder Dilson Herrera and lefty pitching prospect Max Wotell.

“It was extremely hard. We all went downstairs to say goodbye to him when he came in,” Reds president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty said of Bruce. “It was very tough. He’s part of your family. He grew up in the organization. We saw him as a young kid. … Jay was a special kid.”

With the Reds in rebuilding mode, they were seeking to trade Bruce for more than a year to shed his contract. Although it’s not a prohibitive payroll-eater, he is making $12.5 million in 2016 with a $13 million club option for ’17 that has a $1 million buyout.

Although aggressive suitors for Bruce were initially slow to materialize, activity picked up over the past few days while the Reds were in San Diego.

“With Jay, there were several clubs involved,” Jocketty said. “When it got down to it, the Mets were the most serious and most active. We ended up making the deal with them in the end.”

There were rumors that the Reds have talks to trade Zack Cozart to the Mariner but Jocketty downplayed them. There were never serious talks.

“There was a little bit of talk, but not really, no,” he said.

Adding Herrera adds gives the organization another young position player. The 22-year-old has spent this season with Triple-A Las Vegas, and he was batting .276/.327/.462 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs in 86 games. In 49 big league games …

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