A few teams, including the Royals and Cubs, inquired about Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. at the Winter Meetings only to be told that he was not available, according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe. The 25-year-old Bradley (26 next April) posted a nice .249/.335/.489 bating line in 2015 and justified the considerable defensive hype that comes with his name, saving eight to 10 runs (based on his respective Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating marks) while logging a combined 608 innings across all three outfield spots. It’s no surprise that he drew interest and also not a surprise to hear that the Red Sox are choosing to hang on to him.
Here’s more from today’s column:
- The Red Sox and Royals also discussed Wade Miley before he was shipped to the Mariners. A big league source tells Cafardo that Boston asked KC for Kelvin Herrera while the Royals preferred to move Luke Hochevar. The Red Sox ultimately opted for the Mariners deal. Miley’s first season with Boston got off to a slow start, but the lefty rebounded from a ghastly 8.62 April ERA to 4.10 ERA with a 137-to-58 K/BB ratio across his final 178 innings of the 2015 season.
- It “appears that” Cody Ross’ career is over. The free agent outfielder suffered a bad hip injury with the D’Backs two years ago and he hasn’t been the same player since. The 34-year-old Ross was released by Arizona last season and later went 2-for-25 in nine games with the Athletics. Ross has played parts of 12 MLB seasons, suiting up for the Tigers, Dodgers, Reds, Marlins, Giants and Red Sox in addition to the Diamondbacks and Athletics, and hitting .262/.322/.445.
- Agent Joe Sambito tells Cafardo that free agent third baseman Will Middlebrooks has gotten inquiries from 11 teams. Cafardo speculates that the Brewers could bring Middlebrooks into their third base mix.
- Most execs and scouts that Cafardo spoke with at the Winter Meetings said that they wouldn’t give Jason Heyward a $200MM deal. Of course, the Cubs felt differently.
JBJ is exactly the player Boston should be selling right now. He’s been absolutely horrible outside of a few weeks last August, and selling high on him now before he regresses again would be a very smart move.
If he has a bad April his value drops to zero. They probably could have gotten a useful reliever for him if they sold now. Very likely they will regret not moving him.
You honestly want to move him for a reliever? Give me a break, he’s worth holding onto hes a great defensive center fielder, He had a very productive 2015 playing in 74 games his defense was great and he showed some promise with the bat.. I believe are bullpen is coming together nicely, so no need to waste a young center fielder on a RP… Hes sh0wn in the minors that he can get on base, his 2014 season was a struggle I cant deny that. But he showed promise in 2015 so lets see what happens.. Who would play center field if he left anyways?
You can’t always give up on these young kids so fast. When Bradley was coming up in the minors people were excited, now after 238 games everyone is giving up on him..
People were excited back in 2013. He’s been a question mark ever since.
Given the extreme value added from his defense, if Bradley can stay hot as he had last year youre looking at a player comparable to Heyward for near league minimum.
Heyward 2015: 293 .359 .439
JBJ 2015: .249 .335 .498
No wonder the Sox dont want to trade him; his ceiling is enormous.
Most teams probably don;t value him that highly because he has a lot to prove still. No point in trading him when you don’t need to. It would only open up a spot in the OF that would need to be filled whilie probably bringing back a bullpen piece to a team that already has improved its bullpen greatly and has prospects that might fit in there and all still could sign lower tier free agents.
Definitely not
JBJ posted 2.5 WAR in a half season. No he is exactly the type of player they should be keeping. The reward (upside) fr outweights the risk (not hitting).
His defense is so so good, he doesn’t even have to be great at the plate to be an everyday regular.
BOSTON SHOULD TRADE JACKIE BRADLEY JR. TO SOMEONE FOR EXAMPLE, SAN FRANCISCO, ACQUIRE A YOUNG STARTING PITCHER AND 1B LIKE BELT. BOSTON NEEDS A 1ST BASEMAN AND SF NEEDS AN OF. PACKAGE EXAMPLE: BELT AND HUSTEN FOR BRADLEY JR. AND HANLEY RAMIREZ, MIGHT HAVE TO EAT 5-7 MILLION YEARLY OF HANLEY’S SALARY. THIS WILL FIT BOTH CLUBS.
Why would San Fran make that deal? Lol let me get this straight. What you’re trying to do is unload a terrible contract (Hanley) onto the Giants and you expect in return Belt +? And Jackie Bradley Jr. is whats going to push that trade over the finish line?
We’ll give you LaRoche for Jackie Bradley Jr. if you really want a first baseman.
Miley and all Boston pitching was not as bad as it looked when Hanley, Nava & Craig were 2 of the OF’s. Once JBJ & Rusney joined Betts to form the best OF “D” the pitching ERA got a lot better.
Betts was in the outfield from day one last season and Craig didn’t play out there at all. Not sure what Nava and Craig really had to do with with the pitching performance. Hanley sure, but it’s more about comfort level for the pitchers playing for an new team than bad outfield defense.
The Cubs didn’t give Heyward a $200MM deal, so how did they feel differently?
The Cubs, Nationals and Cardinals felt differently.
Joe Sambito’s an agent? The same one that pitched in the 1980’s, or are there two?
Same Joe Sambito. If remember correctly.. He was with Boston for a season or 2 after he hurt his arm and used as a middle reliever.
Since when is .249 nice?
Still using batting average to determine value? Connie Mack, is that you?
Oh boy, saber metrics. Plain and simple I would pay more for a guy who hits career .299 than a guy who hits .249, it’s not that hard, if a guy has a lower batting average than they should have a lower slugging % etc. let’s be honest, Bradley had an extended hot streak. I watched him before he got “good” during a tigers v. Red Sox game, he was terrible batting wise, he did have a double saving catch though he had a hot streak now BoSox are all high on him saying he’s a top guy. He’s a top guy for now since his hot steak ran through the end of the season, he’s high value, they should have sold him sooner than trying to wait on him.
And Juan Pierre would thank you for that paycheck.
Saying a lower batting average implies a lower slugging percentage is not an accurate statement. Last year Jose Bautista’s AVG was almost 90 points below Miguel Cabrera’s and yet he had a slightly higher SLG. On the other hand Dee Gordon and Xander Bogaerts had the 2nd and 5th best AVG, respectfully, in the game last year. But they didn’t even make the list of top 75 SLG leaders. I could make many more examples.
There’s a reason why we can’t look at a single stat has a general rule for a player, it over simplifies a complex data set.
When the OBP is .086 points better and the Slugging % is .240 better than that. It shows he can get on base and get some XBHs. If he’s able to get his BA to like a .280-.290 then that OBP would be close to .400.
He had a 820 OPS… That combined with his elite defense is a near MVP caliber player if he can sustain that kind of production.
Bradley is the best defensive outfielder in baseball and he has the best arm. His improved hitting was the result of a more aggressive approach early in the count. Other teams value him a great deal and he’s unavailable because Boston’s front office knows he’s going to be great this year and for many years to come.
Are you sure you are talking about the right player? JBJ is not even ranked in the top 5 of all of baseball in outfielders. While he is a good and serviceable outfielder I would not build my team based around him if I had other options.
You obviously havnt watched him play… And it’s kinda hard to be ranked in the top 5 when you only played 1/3 of the year. Wait till he plays a full season. You will see mark.
Got news for you. Trout, Harper, McCutchen, Hayward, Springer, Stanton, Pillar, and I am sure I can name a few more are all better players the JBJ. I said he is a good player but he is not the best in MLB right now. Now even in the same league as the best. See how the ranks look after nest year but I can say he still wont crack the top 5 next off season.
Top 5 OF defensively, not overall. Gold gloves seem like an inevitability for him.
Lol okay mark. Come back her at the end of the season and you will see. He is better then them now defensively just hasn’t had enough games to show it yet.
Nobody argued Defense. It’s about his overall value. And after 238 career games, his bat has been terrible outside of 1 very good month in August
Can he get better? Of course. But he has a lot to prove.
Trout, Harper and McCutcheon are all mvp’s. Stanton is one of the most feared hitters in baseball when healthy, but he isn’t a better all around player. Time will tell.
3 =American league center fielders better then him are Kiermaier, Pillar, and Trout.
I guess you will tell me and the GG winner next year JBJ was still better then them after a full year right?
He (jbj) was a finalist for the GG already after the 2014 season. All had to tell the other uninformed who refuse to understand how great of a defensive player JBJ is,
JBJ wasnt ranked in the top 20 OF on defense. He isn’t a top 5 defender in CF. He is good, but not close to that good.
I tried to find a new ranking chart for just outfielders and the newest one I could find was for the start of 2015 season and he was not even on the chart. Rusney came in at the best Red Sox out fileder at 32. No JBJ and he may have a chance to make the top 50 this off season he is not by any means a ELITE outfielder like you make it sound. Sorry
Lol okay mark. Read any article about Jackie and you will see that he could be one of the best defenders the Redsox have ever seen
Why are you saying he CAN BE the best? The original post said he is the BEST. I could be the best you have ever seen also but I have yet to show it have I?
And just cause you say he can be the best the Red Sox have ever had does that mean they are the best in MLB? Even in terms of fielding I would still rather have about 5 different players over JBJ.
Just my opinion.
I spoke to one of MLB TV people this past week at the owners meetings and he said he really liked Heyward but that he was no Jackie Bradley in the outfield. Not downgrading any of these other players, but JBJ IS a great player.
I am sorry that you are just a Red Sox fan. A baseball fan would know about elite players. JBJ is a good player and if there was not already 5 better CF in MBL I would want him on my team. He will need to beat out Kiermaier, Pillar and Trout to be the next GG winner and I dont see him beating all 3 anytime soon. Kiermaier alone set a record this year for runs saved since they started to keep track of advanced metrics. Even a full season of JBJ would not come close to that. Sorry you feel different but if you want to post facts then post numbers to back it up. It is OK to be a fan of your team and root for him as the best the RED SOX have but he is not the best in the league and no other team in baseball will team you that. The Red Sox front office would not even to be able to tell you that with a strait face.
lol obviously all of those players are better than him but not defensively. So just stop you don’t know what you are talking about
You can’t argue with Sox fans because they don’t use logic or stats, only their own beliefs.
What a tool LOL Good think you are not a scout 😛
Bradley is a decent outfielder, but he ranked 24th in DRS and his arm also ranked 24th. He is pretty much the equivalent on defense of Alex Gordon or Christian Yelich. He is not in the vicinity of Kiermeier, Inciarte, Heyward, Cain, Marte or Pillar. Look up leaders on Fangraphs. Sort for defense and OF.
“Doesn’t it feel like Jose Bautista will be a Red Sox this time next year?” No Cafardo it really doesn’t.,, you wish
Why hasn’t this website reported that Johnny Cueto’s agent said Cueto wants to play for the Red Sox, is that not more important news than where Will Middlebrooks is going
Unquestionably an outrage not focusing content that way, but this particular piece was about Cafardo’s article. Blame Nick, I suppose
Cafardo also called the Red Sox the “prohibitive favorites to win the AL East.” Maybe they are, but the games have to be played first, And expecting Jose Bautista to be in Red Sox uniform this time next year takes the same approach.
Cafardo building up Bradley and putting down Heyward? Heyward wasn’t just “overvalued” by the Cubs–there were comparable offers including an apparently higher one from St. Louis. i’m sure many think it’s an overpay. Obviously, a few didn’t see it that way
This is just typical Boston crap. Every year they are said to be the favorites and every position prospect they have is the next MVP and every pitcher they have is the next CY. If they want it or have it then its the best and if they dont have it or dont want ti then they are just garbage.
I mean, its not like they just produced Bogaerts and Betts, 2 5 WAR players at the age of 22 or anything..
Sounds like you are a Blue Jays fan that’s just realized the window just slammed shut
If you don’t care to read it? Go read and then post about it in the NY Times. They have a lot of fantasies that may better suit your particular wants and leave here okie dokie ?
Isn’t Heyward’s contract with the Cubs quite a bit less than $200M?
JBJ has nothing but defense.
Can’t run or can’t hit.
He’s no doubt a nice guy to have, but not a bat in an everyday line up IMO.
You’re silly
JBJ hanley and a prpspect or two for anthony rizzo then the cubs go trade soler for carrasco from the undians its a win win on both sides
Please tell me you’re joking. Please
Yes im joking obviously the red sox would have to offload a ton of prospects for rizzo
Just saying if your going to make a deal with epstein who basically knows the inside and out of the red sox farm system because he drafted most of them then get something in return epstein knows what he wants from the red sox