Of the 231 players who have played in at least 250 games this year, his .578 OPS is ranked 220. Even with excellent defense – he was awarded 5 Defensive Rounds (DRS) by Baseball Info Solutions, and after saving 3 more points From an average right-hander by Statcast – The Red Sox made the decision to switch from Bradley due to the depth of his offensive struggles.
The acquisition of first base officer Eric Hosmer, who is expected to join the Sox team in Kansas City on Thursday, and defensive tackle Tommy Pham means the Red Sox need a place on their 40-man roster — which prompted the decision to hire Bradley.
After the Sox acquired Pham, the team committed to Jarren Duran as their daily quarterback as he moved Alex Verdugo to the right.
Doran, 25, hits .232/.280/.384 with seven steals, even though he has a .156/.200/.267 streak and a 36.8 percent strike rate since July 3. Below average by DRS, although Statcast reports that it turned the average number of balls in play into finals.
A commitment to Duran (for the next few weeks at least, while Kique Hernandez works his way back from a thigh lift) will give the Sox a better glimpse into his potential role in 2023 and beyond, while also giving Duran an opportunity to show if he’s willing to make the adjustments needed to tackle With great league offers.
The decision to hire Bradley is only part of what promises to be an action-packed day for the Red Sox squad. Righthander Kaleb Ort, who scored three rounds of Wednesday’s Bullpen in Houston, was sent to Boston, presumably chosen to return to Triple-A Worcester.
Righthander Matt Barnes is expected to be activated at some point during the road trip, though it’s not yet clear if that will happen Thursday in Kansas City.
Bradley, the Golden Glove winner and ALCS MVP for the Red Sox in 2018, is a career .236/.315/.404 hitter in 936 games for the team and is considered the best defensive player in recent team history.
Sox thought that with a return to familiar terrain, he had a chance to bounce back from his sad 2021 season with Milwaukee (. the Renfroe dealt team to the Brewers.
But while Bradley has performed well this year at Fenway (.288/.317/.468 with excellent defense at the right), his extreme on the road (.129/.196/.167) ultimately proved too big to keep. Him in his lineup instead of giving Turnover a chance.
Meanwhile, Renfrew scored .246/.299/.508 with 19 homes in 70 games. Defensively, he’s got 8 DRS – which would rank in the top 10 among the top league players – but by 2 below average by Statcast (the bottom 25% of defensive players). The loss of that production eventually led to Sox doing the Fam deal.
Between Bradley and Pham’s salaries and the absence of the less expensive Renfrew, this series of moves likely marks the difference between the Red Sox ending the year on and below the $230 million luxury tax threshold — something that has major implications for the potential draft pick compensation Sox would receive if agents left The Freebies Nate Eovaldi, Xander Bogaerts, and JD Martinez.
Julian McWilliams can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed. Alex Speier can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at Tweet embed.
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