NEW YORK

One year later, the New York Mets finally landed All- Star outfielder Jay Bruce to boost a struggling lineup. And now, he’ll provide protection for Yoenis Cespedes rather than an alternative to him.

Minutes before Monday’s trade deadline, the third-place Mets obtained Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds for young infielder Dilson Herrera and minor league left-hander Max Wotell.

The 29-year-old Bruce, expected to arrive Tuesday, was hitting .265 with 25 homers and a National League-leading 80 RBIs. He made the NL All-Star team this season for the third time.

“This was an opportunity to deal from a position of relative strength in the system to acquire some offense that we felt we needed,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said.

New York also pursued All- Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy, traded by Milwaukee to Texas instead. But the Mets did complete an additional deal, reacquiring left-hander Jon Niese from Pittsburgh for reliever Antonio Bastardo.

Niese will work out of the bullpen at first but also gives the Mets an experienced starter who could fill in for a rotation missing injured Matt Harvey and rehabbing Zack Wheeler.

The moves follow last year’s trade-deadline acquisition of Cespedes, whose offensive spark helped the Mets reach the World Series for the first time since 2000.

Before getting Cespedes from Detroit for pitcher Michael Fulmer, the Mets nearly finalized a deal with Cincinnati for Bruce. When talks fell through, New York soon turned its attention to Cespedes.

“Look, it was an extraordinary turnaround last year. All we can do is try to acquire as many good players as we can to put ourselves in a position to maybe have that magic again,” Alderson said. “I do think, given our situation right now and the quality of players we have right now otherwise in the clubhouse, somebody like Jay Bruce can be a catalyst for more productive performance out of the other players that we have, especially sitting in the middle of our order.”

The banged-up Mets began the day with a .237 batting average, lowest in the majors. They lost to the Yankees 6-5 in 10 innings Monday night and dropped to 54-51, leaving them 7 1/2 games behind NL Eastleading Washington and 2 1/2 games back for the league’s second wild card.

Bruce has been a clutch hitter this season, and New York is in dire need of one. Dreadful with runners in scoring position, the Mets started the day ranked 13th out of 15 NL teams in runs.

“I think he’ll make a big impact,” manager Terry Collins said.