Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox will be getting on a plane to New York in preparation for opening day after today’s Grapefruit League game against the Minnesota Twins—and rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. will be one of the players on that plane.
Red Sox manager John Farrell still won’t confirm whether or not Bradley Jr. will be on the team’s 25-man roster which is due Sunday at 3:00 pm, but all signs are pointing to just that.
The team has already established the first 24 players on the roster, but two issues are holding up the process in naming that last player. First, Bradley Jr. is not on the 40-man roster, which means the Red Sox will have to release or trade someone in order to add the youngster to the opening day squad. Second, the team is still waiting on a decision from Ryan Sweeney as to whether or not he will accept an assignment to Triple-A. Sweeney was informed on Thursday that he did not make the big league club.
Bradley Jr. had a phenomenal spring. In 26 games, the 22-year-old batted a team-high .441 (26-59). He had two homers, scored 12 runs, and knocked in another 12. His .521 OBP and 1.165 OPS were nothing short of sensational.
The Red Sox are trying to figure out exactly how to coordinate Bradley Jr.’s 2013 season, since the rookie will at some point need to return to the minors in order for the team to hold an extra year of player control. If Bradley Jr. is sent to the minors prior to opening day, he’ll only have to stay there for 11 days. But with the team’s current injury situation, it may be beneficial to add the outfielder to the 25-man roster now. In this case, the Red Sox will be expected to send him down at some point during the regular season—likely when David Ortiz returns from injury. In this scenario, Bradley Jr. would have to spend 20 days in the minors before he can return to the big leagues.
The player control rules in Bradley Jr.’s case are silly. Even though he excelled in spring training and absolutely earned his way onto the big league roster, the Red Sox are being forced to send him back to the minors at some point. They’d be crazy not to. But no matter what the final decision is, it’s all but a given that Bradley Jr. will be in some way apart of the 2013 Red Sox.
(JM Catellier is the author of the book Fixing Baseball, a guide to restructuring the Hall of Fame. Follow him on Twitter: @FixingBaseball and Facebook, and check out his site: www.fixingbaseball.com)
