MLB Trade Rumors: Angels are (still) interested in Jay Bruce

Okay, so the MLB trade deadline looms, as we're all aware, and most teams seem to still be in posturing mode, thinking that they're guys are worth way more than other teams' guys, or perhaps they're all in We Will Win With What We Got mode. Either way, it's becoming a little too much like a high school dance where nervous teenagers stick to their comfortable corners of the gymnasium, broken up by little flirtatious asides and intermittent note passing. Then we have writers like Jon Morosi who come along and try to stoke some sort of fire out of what has, as of right now, been a very cold stove trade season.

#Angels interested in Jay Bruce. They have a scout watching the #Reds today too. @FOXSports

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 19, 2015

So, here we are again. The Angels are still interested in Jay Bruce, a name that's been thrown out to chum the beat writer/blogger waters almost as many times as Ben Zobrist has, but it's still quite murky and there could be another two or three "Angels are interested in Jay Bruce" pieces put onto the interwebz before we actually get a hard yes or no from either team. There are things to like about Bruce, who had a down 2014(as well as a slow 2015 start), but has recently come alive. In the past 28 days, Bruce is sporting a .320 avg and a .940 OPS, mostly due to a bounce back June and a (so far) scorching July. He's ticking upwards, and is owed roughly $19.5 milllion over the next two seasons.

The Reds have made anybody paying attention to MLB fully aware that they are in the midst of a fire sale, and are welcoming all offers, which probably means they'd be looking at a young, cheap arm from the Halos if there were a deal to be made. This is where the Jay Bruce Bandwagon begins to sputter for me, as they seem quite hesitant to pull the trigger on anything involving the likes of Sean Newcomb, Nick Tropeano, Chris Ellis or Trevor Gott. Not to mention that, per Buster Olney, the Reds have had Bruce available for some time already, so if they were hoping to get some help on that end, you have to assume they've already made some phone calls and presumably got nowhere or hit an impasse.

Still...the Angels like Jay Bruce. But do they LIKE like him? Or just like him? More importantly, do the Reds LIKE like the Angels' willing trade chips? Bill Stoneman is currently writing a note that says "If you want to maybe do a trade, circle one of these: YES  NO" while the Reds stand on the other side of the gym, pretending not to look the Angels' way while asking their nearby friend "Are they looking? What about now? Are they looking over here?". Teams these day, I swear.