NEW YORK -- Early in the offseason, long before Jay Bruce fit together the puzzle pieces of his free agency, he spoke on the phone with Mickey Callaway. Recently hired as the Mets' manager, Callaway had come to know Bruce during the outfielder's brief tenure in Cleveland late last season. He outlined to Bruce his ideas and expectations for his new role.
If it wasn't the most direct of recruiting pitches, it was nonetheless something Bruce recalled as "a big deal for me" when it came time to make his decision. Reuniting with Callaway was one of the noteworthy factors that went into Bruce's three-year, $39 million signing with the Mets, who made the contract official Wednesday at a news conference at Citi Field.