Does trading Hunter Renfroe to the Brewers for Jackie Bradley Jr. pave the way for the Boston Red Sox to re-sign free agent Kyle Schwarber as a left fielder, the position where he’s most comfortable?
Maybe. Maybe not. There are two ways to look at it.
Adding Bradley theoretically opens an outfield position. The Red Sox could sign Schwarber to play left field (and occasionally first base) and put Bradley in center field and Alex Verdugo in right field. They then would move Kiké Hernández (14 Defensive Runs Saved in center field during 2021) to second base, a position he has 18 Defensive Runs Saved in his career.
But Verdugo is a much better left fielder than he is a right fielder. Verdugo has posted 15 Defensive Runs Saved in left field during his two seasons with Boston. He’s at 0 Defensive Runs Saved in right field over two years.
One of the biggest benefits of re-acquiring Bradley is improving the team’s run prevention, something the Red Sox needed to do after they ranked 19th in the major leagues in Defensive Runs Saved (2) last season. But signing Schwarber and moving Verdugo to right field makes Boston a worse team defensively at both corner outfield positions.
It also makes the Red Sox lineup very left-handed heavy (three left-handed hitting outfielders). Renfroe bashed 31 homers and 33 doubles in 2021. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom needs to replace Renfroe’s right-handed production (at least somewhat).
“Obviously with this deal, it’s basically a one-for-one swap of position players,” Bloom said late Wednesday. “And I do feel we still have room to add position players to this crew. Obviously swapping Hunter for Jackie does change the handedness of our group a little bit. So maybe the dial moves a little more toward a right-handed bat where before it might have been towards a left-handed bat. But there’s different ways it can come together with the versatility and flexibility that we have. So we’re going to keep looking to supplement.”
Bradley won’t start against lefties and so the Red Sox need to add another outfielder. Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki, a right-handed hitter, certainly is an option.
How about this? It might seem far-fetched but let’s throw it out there ....
Boston could shock everyone by signing Carlos Correa, the top free agent on the market. In that scenario, the Red Sox would move Xander Bogaerts to second base and keep Verdugo in left field (where he’s best defensively). Bradley and Hernández (a combined 23 Defensive Runs Saved in center field in 2021) could share right and center field.
That would drastically improve the Sox’s run prevention, giving them one of the best defensive alignments, if not the best, in the majors. Correa, a right-handed hitter, also would give Boston’s lineup more balance (and of course explosiveness).
The Red Sox have four draft picks before the third round in 2022. So they can afford to part with a draft pick to sign Correa, who obviously is attached to a qualifying offer. Adding two young prospects in the Bradley-Renfroe trade also makes it more feasible to sign a qualified free agent.
Boston also has shown the past two days it is willing to exceed the Competitive Balance Tax threshold in 2022. Giving James Paxton $10 million knowing there’s a chance he might not pitch in 2022 (or pitch very little) makes it seem like the Red Sox are willing to exceed it. Bloom wouldn’t be adding a $10 million average annual value contract for an unknown if ownership had given him a mandate to stay under the base threshold in 2022.
Re-acquiring Bradley gives the Red Sox options and it improves their run prevention. We’ll have to wait to see what hitter they add until the lockout ends. It began last night at 11:59 p.m.
“Alex (Cora) has options,” Bloom said. “We also play in a park where it feels like you need two center fielders to cover our center and right. So just having options. We talked about the defense and Hunter is a great defender as well. But Jackie is really one of the best, especially one of the best in this ballpark that’s ever done it. And so to have him back, the more the merrier in terms of premium outfield defenders here.”
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