Jackie Bradley Jr called up, Steven Wright sent down
- Thread starter soxhop411
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They're probably going to need to send him back to borrow an extra pitcher again in a few days, anyway.
They were also very shorthanded on the bench, essentially down to Craig and Leon tonight with Napoli sick and an 8 man bullpen
If Panda is sufficiently hurt that Holt needs to play 3d for a few days (which seems like the reason you'd make a move like this), don't you need a back-up INF to take Holt's place? For all of their talk about Hanley not playing 3b, he's going to be forced into action if (God forbid) Holt or X go down if Panda can't play.
Barnes, Hembree and then Wright were called up to eat some innings as the 13th pitcher because the pen was being overused and we didn't have any off days for over a week. With the day off and a chance for the pen to get some rest there is much greater value in Bradley over Hanley/Craig in the final couple innings to preserve a tight lead. Wright wouldn't see this type of higher leverage situation unless a game went 14 innings or more again.E5 Yaz said:
With our starters not eating innings we'll probably continue to see many more moves with that 25th roster spot. It really is a good thing we have Holt around or else this would be a much more challenging situation than it is. Currently it's very manageable.....in large part to Holt.
I'm just surprised they didn't go with Weeks instead. He can play IF/OF and is that AAAA type guy that you don't mind taking minor league ABs away from to ride the pine for a few days. I figured JBJ was down in the minors until he sustained long term success or prolonged injury forced him onto the roster. I'm confused, and concerned by this move.YouDownWithOBP? said:
nattysez said:
You can move Hanley or Mookie to the infield in a pinch. You need Bradley to be able to move to CF (Mookie has no back up now that Holt is starting).
Edit - Hanley is not a bad 3B (but he has been a pretty awful LF)
Again, I think this comes down to the positional flexibility of Hanley (3B), Betts (2B), Craig/Nava (1B), and Holt (ALL).
The Sox may as well call up someone they know will be a terrific OF-only defender rather than a well-rounded mediocrity, because the outfielders already can cover every IF position in case of another 19-inning game or other emergency.
The Sox may as well call up someone they know will be a terrific OF-only defender rather than a well-rounded mediocrity, because the outfielders already can cover every IF position in case of another 19-inning game or other emergency.
Not specifically directed at you, but I wish people on here would do just a little of research before posting. The recall of JBJ makes sense. Weeks was outrighted a few weeks ago and is therefore not on the 40 man roster. Cecchanni is struggling at the moment and there is no other infielder worthy of recall. Bradley's defense especially late in games is more valuable than Steven Wright's ability in long relief. If Bradley would have been in right field on Saturday, maybe the Sox win the game.jasail said:
A little more research includes spelling our players' names correctly.richgedman'sghost said:
It's Cecchini.
I'm neither confused nor concerned, but am excited. I love JBJ, and I hope he gets some at bats and plays well while he's up here. God knows he can't be a downgrade from Nava or Craig, even if he uses a wet noodle with which to swing at the pitch.
JBJ said Farrell told him he'll likely be used off the bench/in late inning situations. Got notified of promotion at 1:15 pm today.
via: Jason Mastrodonato twitter
via: Jason Mastrodonato twitter
He's sitting tonight, with Holt in RF and Nava at 1B. Would love to see him in LF in the later innings if we have small lead...
I wonder if part of his promotion involves the Sox being curious to see him hit off ML pitching. Obviously he has value off the bench defensively, but if he ever started to hit, he'd dramatically increase his (currently rather low) value.luckysox said:
I've been following Bradley's strikeout rate pretty closely, as K% is both the biggest problem with his game and one of the earliest stats to stabilize.
K% stabilizes at 100 PA, and he has 81 — not quite there — but early returns are promising. He's striking out in an entirely reasonable 16% of his PAs, walking in 7%, and thus putting the ball in play much more. His contact rate is above 80% this season, after sitting below 75% in MLB last season. His slash line is inflated by a .383 BABIP, but with 25% line drives and a lone popup, that's not all luck.
If there's an area of concern in his early AAA numbers, it's power: 7 doubles and 16 singles in 81 PA. Back in 2012-13, he used to regularly post ISOs in the .150-.200 range, but those days may be behind us as he adjusts in favor of contact.
Take a look.
K% stabilizes at 100 PA, and he has 81 — not quite there — but early returns are promising. He's striking out in an entirely reasonable 16% of his PAs, walking in 7%, and thus putting the ball in play much more. His contact rate is above 80% this season, after sitting below 75% in MLB last season. His slash line is inflated by a .383 BABIP, but with 25% line drives and a lone popup, that's not all luck.
If there's an area of concern in his early AAA numbers, it's power: 7 doubles and 16 singles in 81 PA. Back in 2012-13, he used to regularly post ISOs in the .150-.200 range, but those days may be behind us as he adjusts in favor of contact.
Take a look.
Yeah. Well, *I* want to see how he does against ML pitching. And the customer is always right.alwyn96 said:
I was gonna say he hasn't played RF in Fenway, but he has 60 innings there so this makes good sense. Him in CF, and Mookie to RF and Holt to LF would also workBob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
Mookie should never play another position in Boston. Just leave him in CF batting leadoff for a decade.
Lose Remerswaal said:
With a totally straight face, that would be the best defensive OF in team history by a country mile.
If he's not going to stay up this year and get significant playing time, send him back down asap. His line in PTucket is promising. Don't let him lose whatever mojo he's got going by sitting on the bench.
Otis Foster said:
Well, they're going to have to send him back down, since Clay "Pigeon" Buchholz once again got blasted.
Hopefully, the K-rate will stabilize where it is. Even with limited power, so long as Bradley can actually put bat on ball at the dish, he becomes a viable CF at the major league level.
Buzzkill Pauley said:
Bradley actually has pretty good power a guy with his size and his minors numbers bear this out (excluding last year when he was totally messed up following his disastrous MLB batting performance). In 2013 he hit 10 homers in 80 games, and for his minors career he had an ISO of around .160 (.140 is about an average major leaguer, .200 is very good). It's really his pitch recognition and contact abilities which limited his functional power, and as with Bogaerts I'd say that an improved approach is really encouraging in that respect.
Super Nomario said:
Nice article. I particularly liked this: "[Harry] Hooper used to juggle fly balls as he ran back to the infield preventing runners from trying to advance until the ball was finally caught"