If you're the Red Sox, it's now been a long-vexing question (LVQ) - What should we do with Jackie Bradley?
It began back in March of 2013, when Bradley was tearing up the Grapefruit League and suddenly management was vilified as heartless, calculating bastards for even thinking about sending Bradley back to Pawtucket for a bit more ripening.
So he played on Opening Day, and for a few more weeks after that, before getting sent down with three hits in 31 at-bats. Since then he's been up and down and up and down and up and down; I believe he's now in the midst of his ninth stint with the big club since tearing up the Grapefruit League.
Speaking of young Red Sox, back in 2012, rookie shortstop José Iglesias batted just .118 in 68 at-bats. Which led some to wonder if Iglesias would ever hit. Which of course he did, playing key roles in 2013 for both ALCS entries: first the Red Sox, then (after a trade) the Tigers.
Which led Alex Speier to write this last week:
... on Thursday, for the first time in August, Bradley saw his approach actually net results. He went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks against the Yankees, with one walk coming against lefty CC Sabathia and the other coming off of lefty Andrew Miller, the two free passes sandwiching a single off a 96 mph fastball against lefty Justin Wilson.
At the end of the game, Bradley emerged with a .118 average – the same mark carried by the overmatched Iglesias in 2012 – along with a .238 OBP and .176 slugging mark. Maybe Bradley – who joins Dan Uggla and Jeff Mathis as the only position players in the majors who are amidst their third straight season of sub-.200 averages in the big leagues – will never figure out how to hit enough to start in the big leagues, a concern that manager John Farrell articulated on Wednesday. But there is at least one recent precedent to suggest he has a chance, with a game like Thursday’s offering a reminder that a rush to judgment is unnecessary.
That's the good news!
The bad news is that while Iglesias batted just .135 in his first 74 at-bats in the majors, Bradley's now batted .191/.270/.280 in his first 540 at-bats. Which, for me anyway, almost completely obliterates any real comparison to Iglesias's early, quite brief struggles.
Fortunately, there is other good news: Bradley's now put in a lot of time in the International League, and while his .281/.365/.451 line doesn't suggest major-league stardom, it certainly does suggest he's good enough to play in the majors, especially considering his stellar defense. Which of course is why the Red Sox keep trying.
At some point, though, the weight of past failure just becomes too great for everybody involved and something's gotta give. Bradley's now batting .148 this season, and if he doesn't have a fine September I'll be quite surprised if he's still with the organization next spring.
Maybe the Tigers will be looking for a center fielder...
