The Red Sox and Jackie Bradley Jr may reunite if the price is right
Things have been pretty quiet for the Boston Red Sox as far as the offseason has been concerned. They recently added Hunter Renfroe to their outfield ranks but it looks like they may not be done making additions. There was a bit of news coming in the baseball world today as super-agent Scott Boras held a media conference through Zoom and shared plenty on his numerous clients.
One of the clients he spoke about was former Red Sox centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ became a free agent this winter and is sitting on the market fielding interest from several teams around the league. It should come as no surprise that the defensive dynamo is garnering attention from around the league but one team seemed a bit surprising to me, Boston.
"“They’ve certainly expressed the interest,” Boras said during a Zoom media availability Tuesday."
By the time this season came to an end, it felt like Jackie couldn’t get out of Boston fast enough. Not due to the fans, or lack of success, but thanks to the way he’s been treated over his tenure with the club. Never in my life have I seen a single player have more trade rumors with his name in them than JBJ. Every trade deadline, every offseason, it didn’t matter what the calendar said, the Red Sox were trying to ship him out of town.
When Boras mentioned that the Red Sox had reached out to Bradley I was a bit taken aback. For a team that has seemingly wanted to get this man out of the lineup for years, it intrigues me that they would want to re-sign him now. Adding Renfroe in addition to Andrew Benintendi, Alex Verdugo, and possibly Michael Chavis, it felt like the outfield was about set. But the murmurs surrounding Jackie’s name once again have my interest piqued.
"“He’s had great success there,” Boras added. “He’s a winning player. And the Red Sox’s intentions are to advance their winning ways certainly beyond what happened in ‘20. As with most free agent players, we get notice of interest and then we’ll wait and see how the market unfolds “"
I’ve been a big JBJ guy since he made his way to the big leagues. Though I can admit I’ve had times where I’ve been frustrated with his performance but we have to take that with a grain of salt. I wasn’t the first to say it and I won’t be the last, Jackie doesn’t earn his contract in the batter’s box but in the outfield. His defense is what will continue to bring him paydays and get his name into the lineup each and every night.
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He may not always be white-hot as far as the offense is concerned but you hit a ball to centerfield and my guy is going to track that thing down. I’ve lost count of how many home-runs that JBJ has robbed the opposition of while sprinkling in spectacular dives and throws into the mix. We’ve heard from the Red Sox front office recently that they will do what they have to in order to be competitive in 2021, and bringing back Bradley may be a step in that direction.
Jackie was one of the few that didn’t see a slump in 2020 as the season was short enough that he couldn’t hit his usual cold spell. In fact, he crushed it in both spring training and summer camp leading into the COVID shortened campaign. He totaled .283/.364/.450/.814 with 7 homers and 22 RBI. Considering his usual offensive output, that’s a hell of a season from the centerfielder.
I’m not sure where JBJ will land when the free-agency dust settles as the Jays, Cubs, and Phillies have all shown interest per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. If the Red Sox really do want to bring him back, then they probably needed to show him some love long before they started to feel desperation set in. Boston could easily bring him back with the right deal and have their outfield set for the foreseeable future but sadly they may have squandered those hopes long ago.