If we assume nothing too dramatic happens between Bradley and Sizemore in the next 2 weeks, am I right the options are:
1. Send Bradley to AAA, give the starting CF job to Sizemore, spelled here and there by Victorino in CF (and Nava to RF) vs a few lefties.
2. Give JBJ the opening day CF job and try to talk Sizemore into staying in extended spring training or accepting a mL assignment, but in either case (assuming no injury of course) he could refuse it, collect the 750K from the Sox and sign on as a FA with any other team.
3. Keep both and deal Carp or Nava.
It seems to me #1 is the clearly the most likely at this stage, largely because I doubt the Sox would risk losing Sizemore for nothing or risk dealing Carp/Nava for less than what they are worth on the speculative hope that Sizemore is still any good.
As for giving the job to Sizemore, I cannot help but worry about the effect of this demotion on Bradley's development, though admittedly this is impossible to measure. If it is accepted that there is some signficant risk that a demotion seriously hinders Bradley's development into our star CF of the future, it is a helluva risk to run for the Sizemore lottery ticket. Again it is impossible to really say, but I would have thought Bradley would have been best served by the Sox saying to him: you are our starting CF, go play defense and bat 8th or 9th and we will check in at the all-star break on how you are doing.
I also worry that once the decision is made to give Sizemore the CF job, unless Sizemore craters completely or Bradley hits .450 in PAW, the Sizemore experiment will drift along into for 50 games at the least. If Sizemore cant play more than 5 times/week doesn't that commit us to Nava in RF 2x/week, including especially vs LHPers? How much a better hitter does Sizemore need to be than Bradley to make up for what has to be a signficant defensive shortfall in CF? How likely is it that Sizemore is that much a better hitter than Bradley?
So despite Grady's fine day in FLA, I remain less than enthusiastic.