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Why Dombrowski keeping JBJ was one of the smartest moves of this off season

With all the hype surrounding whether or not the Red Sox will eventually sign JD Martinez,  Dombrowski made one smart move which was not dealing away JBJ.

Image result for jackie bradley jr photo credit: MassLive.com

Throughout this winter, the Red Sox have been hooked up to an ongoing dance with agent Scott Boras regarding his client J.D. Martinez, and whether or not he will agree to the proposed contract offer of 5 years and between $100 and $125 million, Yet, it was Dombrowski's believe in the current outfield arrangement of Andrew Benintendi, JBJ, and Mookie Betts, that had Dombrowski not wanting to break that up. Dombrowski has always been a fan of one player in particular first from afar and now he gets to see this player on an everyday basis. That player is Jackie Bradley Jr.

Just two season ago, Bradley Jr, had what I along with many others would consider his "coming out year" That 2016 season saw Bradley Jr, hit .267 with 26 home runs and 87 RBI.  He was rewarded for his play that year by not only becoming an AL All-Star for the first time but was named a gold glove candidate for his outstanding defense.  
  Many had hopes that this would be the springboard for him that would lead him to many more awards and acknowledgment that he well deserved.  
  However, last season was even by Bradley Jr's own words deemed"subpar"  He struggled early on offensively, then to add on to his struggles at the plate, he would also find himself dealing with some mechanical issues while throwing from the outfield, which he would fix.  Yet it would be the injuries that would limit the time that JBJ was on the field in 2017. 
 The first time JBJ dealt with the injury bug, was during an early April game in Detroit, when in the top of the ninth inning of that game, Bradley would hit a deep fly out to left field. As he was rounding first, he collapsed to the ground and stayed there for a few minutes as trainers and manager John Farrell jogged onto the field attend to him. JBJ would be put on the 10 day DL two days later and miss a couple weeks, before being activated on April 21st.  
Then after being activated JBJ would once again be put on the DL this time for a thumb injury which he suffered during a game against Cleveland in August. JBJ would be activated once again in September and play through the rest of the season. 
However, his offensive statistical output took a hit, with all the time he missed due to his injuries. Overall last season saw JBJ, hit just .243 with 17 home runs and 63 RBI's.

 Heading into the 2018 season, like the rumors surrounding Martinez, Bradley Jr. also had to deal with rumors regarding whether or not he would be suiting up for the Red Sox for this upcoming season.  First, it was rumored that the Red Sox had been in talks regarding potentially trading JBJ to the Dodgers for their outfielder Yasiel Puig ( here is an article I wrote regarding those talks
https://soxsphere.com/2018/01/05/boston-made-correct-decision-in-retaining-jbj/)

 Dombrowski made the right move by not pursuing this trade. Then came the story regarding yet another trade possibility involving JBJ.  This trade proposal would have sent JBJ to Cleveland for Edwin Encarnacion. While Encarnacion would have added the right-handed power that Dombrowski is soo enamored with, it would have weakened the current Red Sox team by dealing their best defensive outfielder.  So once again this proposal was shot down by Dombrowski. 

 While JBJ may not be able to return to the player that he was just two seasons ago when he was an All-Star, and as he enters his fifth season as a member of the Red Sox, he is coming to camp healthy and looking forward to once again proving that while most will point to his defense as his calling card, if he can put together an offensive season like he has the capabilities to do, then he will go from being a defense-first player, to hopefully considered as one of the more well rounded and versatile players in all of Baseball.


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