Wire reports

Jay Bruce on Thursday became the first Cincinnati Reds outfielder to win a National League Silver Slugger Award since Eric Davis in 1989.

The Silver Slugger, created in 1980, goes annually to the best offensive player at each position in both leagues as determined by coaches and managers.

Bruce, 25, batted .252 this season with 34 home runs, 35 doubles and 99 RBIs, all career highs. He was third in the league in homers, ninth in RBIs and also ranked among the leaders with 74 extra-base hits (fourth), 288 total bases (ninth) and a .514 slugging percentage (10th).

Reds who have won Silver Slugger awards recently include shortstop Felipe Lopez (2005) and second baseman Brandon Phillips (2011). Bruce is the Reds’ first left-handed hitter to win one.

NL Silver Slugger Awards also went to Adam LaRoche, 1B (Nationals), Aaron Hill, 2B (Diamondbacks), Chase Headley, 3B (Padres), Ian Desmond, SS (Nationals), Andrew McCutchen, OF (Pirates), Ryan Braun, OF (Brewers), Buster Posey, C (Giants) and Stephen Strasburg, P (Nationals).

Roster change sought: Baseball is considering a change to its longtime rule allowing active rosters to expand from 25 to 40 from Sept. 1 through the rest of the regular season.

Some teams have been reluctant to use the larger limit late in the season. They have cited not wanting to disrupt minor league teams in their playoffs, and those decisions have led to big league games in which teams have differing numbers of available players.

“Each team should have equal number of players available every day,” said Joe Torre, executive vice president for baseball operations. “I just think you play the whole season with one set of rules and the most important time of the year, especially for clubs that are in a pennant race, I just don’t think it’s fair for it to be done (with a) different number of roster people.”

Torre said one possibility would be setting a fixed number of players who must be on the active roster for September games.

Rockies hire Weiss: The Colorado Rockies hired former major league shortstop Walt Weiss to replace manager and Hamilton native Jim Tracy, who resigned Oct. 7 with one year and $1.4 million left on his contract.