Ticats Trade Arland Bruce to BC for Assorted Snacks

Whoa. Looked on Twitter and the Cats have traded Arland Bruce to the BC Lions for a third round pick next year and a conditional pick. Considering his lack of production this year and the veritable festival of import receivers the Cats have this year this was rapidly becoming inevitable. Especially considering his salary. That's cash saved for whoever emerges after the NFL is done making their cuts, like Stevie Baggs last year.

Good that Bruce got traded to a team that can't really do any damage to the Cats. The Lions are 0 and 5 and could possibly still make the playoffs considering how bad Saskatchewan is, but it would be very unlikely for the Lions to make the Grey Cup this year.

Is Marquay McDaniel next?

Arland Bruce Contract Extension Analysis

Good news that Arland Bruce (the third iteration) signed a contract extension with the Ticats, as a Bruce retirement would have deleterious effects on the Cats upcoming season. Bruce's numbers the past two seasons have been excellent, 86 catches for 1303 yards and 8 TDs last year for Hamilton, and 88 catches for 1242 yards and 10 TDs between the Ticats and the Argos in 2009.

Clearly Bruce and import Dave Stala (1015 yards) are the main targets for Kevin Glenn this year, with Marquay McDaniel (994 yards) and Maurice Mann (787 yards) trying to usurp them. After those four, there's a considerable dropoff in talent. Can non-import Matt Carter (137 yards) emerge after the departure of Chris Bauman to the Eskimos as a viable fifth receiver? Possible, but I wouldn't bet on more than 500 yards max from him this year. Hopefully someone else emerges from the various import wide receivers invited to camp this year. Having a good fifth and sixth option receiver option, especially with the high probability of one of the receivers being injured at some point in the season is required if the Cats are going to beat out the Alouettes in 2011.

Hamilton Ticats Noteworthy Stats for 2010

Bruce still leads in receiving yards with 1291 and is in second with 85 receptions. With three games to go Bruce has a shot at breaking Tony Champion's 1656 yard receiving record although he needs 365 yards to do it. Bruce is already in the top ten for single season receptions since three were tied at 8th with 80. Darren Flutie holds the record with 98 in 1998. So Bruce only needs 15 in three games to break that Ticat record.

Dave Stala is tenth in receiving yards with 920 and looks pretty likely barring injury to break 1000 yards receiving. I have no idea what the Ticat non-import receiving record is. Could be held by Mike Morreale with 1076 yards in 1998, could be held by something else. The tenth best year was 1213 yards and I don't think any of the top ten is held by any non-imports so the record must be less than that. Stala is also tied for fourth in receptions with 74.

McDaniel has 886 yards so also has a really good shot at 1000 yards receiving. When have the Ticats last had 3 1000 yard receivers. Tigercatatonia has no idea. Some year with Danny Mac?

Cobb already has 1030 yards rushing, breaking the 1000 mark twice now (barring losing a ton of yards over the next few games). Tenth all time for the Ticats is Jimmy Edwards with 1046 yards, so Cobb is pretty much guaranteed to move up the top ten list. Troy Davis' 1628 yard mark in 2004 is in no danger, but Ronald Williams' third overall mark of 1,264 in 2000 is. Porter is second this year with 227 yards rushing for the Cats.

So some things to watch offensively over the last few regular season games of the year. Maybe a marketing opportunity for the Cats for the last game against BC.

Bruce Article

Hamilton at Toronto
Originally uploaded by philinator

Here's an interesting article from a US paper about Arland Bruce III and his success in the CFL today, especially this season. What's fascinating is that Bruce only caught 24 passes during his two seasons with the University of Minnesota Gophers. Sure maybe they were a run oriented offence (or maybe not), but that's amazing for Bruce to succeed at such a higher level in the CFL. The photo shows Bruce from last Friday's game in Toronto

Ticats Sign Arland Bruce the Third Iteration

Somewhat surprising to see Hamilton acquire Bruce in a trade with Toronto. Knowing that Bruce had pretty much burned his bridges with Argo coach Bart Andrus it seemed that no other CFL team would offer much at all. Since Hamilton placed last last year, they the first chance at Bruce if Toronto outright released him. Obviously another team could have offered a low pick, so Hamilton found a way to get a deal done. Giving up the rights to defensive tackle Corey Mace is a little bid sad, since Hamilton could certainly use a potential Canadian starter on the defensive line or even a great backup who could rotate in often. Didn't seem like Mace was particularly close to signing with the Cats anyways, so not an immediate lost to the team and Hamilton should in theory be better with Bruce in the lineup. Bruce's $180,000 salary is interesting, however Kenton Keith is already on the nine game injury list, so half his salary doesn't count against the cap, Bruce has already collected four games of pay and the Cats very likely have cap space that otherwise would have went to some wang coming back from the NFL at midseason who promptly gets injured and contributes nothing.

Bruce is a bit of worry in terms of character, especially the allegations that his route running sometimes includes going where he wants, however after getting shown the door, Bruce will probably be on his best behaviour for the rest of the year. Plus they can always release him in the offseason to get around his contract.

It will be interesting to see how he works with Porter or Glenn out of the gate. Certainly combining with Prechae, Davis and Stala makes for a better four receiver set than what the Cats have now. There may be some problems distributing enough balls for everyone however...

Sad to see the Cats are only expecting 18,000 for the game against BC, especially after the crowd was over 24,000 for the last game (although that was a bit papered with Hage's kids). I like their policy of offering cheaper tickets to season ticket holders, rather than everyone. It is always a good policy to keep the season ticket holders happy and give them as much value as possible. Maybe a few more fans will show up to check out Bruce. Certainly makes the Labour Day game and the followup game in Toronto more interesting. Perhaps Bruce is a possibility for Tigercatatonia's jersey.

CFL Odds and Ends

First, the BC at Saskatchewan game won the sports ratings weekend battle, with 457,000 viewers beating out Federer's record breaking Wimbledon win. Likely the rabid Rider fans inflated the number. With the current economic conditions in Ontario, I wonder if advertisers value a viewer in Alberta or Saskatchewan (with on average a higher income) over one in Ontario?

That tenth best program, the Jays versus the Rangers at only 80,000 viewers. Ouch. The sucking of the Jays should really start to hammer their ratings.

Michael Jackson devotee, Arland Bruce III, is getting treatment for hemorrhoids. Couldn't they have just said lower body injury and saved him the embarassment?

The Riders are in Toronto this week and coming off a win. It will be interesting to see if Rider faithful inflate the attendance this week in Dead Ted's Dome.