Good things come to those who wait. That especially applies to Scott Boras clients, apparently.
Free-agent outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.‘s long stay on the open market reportedly came to end in the wee hours on Thursday morning, as Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reported the soon-to-be 31-year-old has agreed to sign a two-year, $24 million deal, which includes a player option following the 2021 campaign. This report was later confirmed by Robert Murray of FanSided. From the wording of both tweets, it sounds like this deal is still pending a physical.
The player option is a savvy move that’ll allow JBJ to re-enter the market next winter as a top target in center field, as the current crop of impending free agents in that part of the diamond doesn’t look all that inspiring.
Bradley enjoyed a solid 2020 at the plate for the Boston Red Sox, slashing .283/.364/.450 with seven home runs, 22 RBI, and 32 runs scored, all of which sussed out to a 120 wRC+. He finished with 1.5 fWAR in just 55 games played, which was more than what he produced in 2019 despite significantly more opportunity (1.4 fWAR in 147 games played). It’ll be interesting to see how Bradley fits into a Brewers outfield that also includes Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, but according to Roster Resource, Cain appears to be ticketed for right field to make way for Milwaukee’s newest addition.
American Family Field has long been a haven for left-handed hitters — like Yelich and Travis Shaw, just to name a couple of examples — so this could be the perfect spot for Bradley to land if he is planning on heading back onto the open market next winter.
The New York Mets and Bradley were connected quite often throughout the offseason, and more often once George Springer signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. He appeared to fit well with the Mets if the Universal DH came true for 2021, but with those talks appearing to be dead at the moment, there didn’t seem to be enough potential playing time to go around with New York’s current outfield mix if Bradley landed in Flushing.
