Jackie Bradley Jr.’s relationship with the Kansas City Royals is over before it even started it seems.
On Monday, the Royals decided to pull the plug and designate the veteran MLBbro for assignment and bring up speedster Dairon Blanco to replace him on the roster.
The Royals have DFA’d Jackie Bradley Jr.
In his place they’ve called up Dairon Blanco who leads the minor leagues with 47 stolen bases pic.twitter.com/n5YWb8DNgO
Jackie Bradley Jr. Had A Quick Cup Of Coffee With KC
Bradley’s tenure with the Royals lasted only 43 games after signing a minor league contract during spring training. This early departure comes for the second year in a row as the Toronto Blue Jays dropped him in a similar fashion after last season.
Bradley’s troubling hitting slash of .133/.188/.210 with one home run, five doubles and six RBI leaves doubt about what the future holds.
But based on this statement to the Boston Globe last month, Bradley has other things on his mind…
“I want to enjoy my family, travel, play golf and just relax,” Bradley said to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe last month. “I have plenty of things I enjoy outside of this game.”
Jackie Bradley Jr. Is A World Champion, ALCS MVP
Even though Bradley wasn’t a heart of the order hitter for the Red Sox career his ability to draw walks, occasional power and his strong glove in the outfield was enough to keep him in the lineup. But after his .283/.364/.450 during the pandemic 2020 season, a slash line of .176/.238/.275 with a walk rate of only 6.2% in his final 911 plate appearances probably will have back on the free agent market.
So, what are the options for a former 2016 All-Star and 2018 American League Championship Series MVP with career stats featuring a .225 batting average, 109 homers and 449 RBI in 1,181 spread out over four teams?
Bradley’s departure is just the first step in Kansas City’s early blowup project to the roster particularly in the outfield. The Royals own some of the worst offensive production in baseball with their outfield COMBINED hitting slash as of Monday, .200/.268/.328 with below-average production from Nate Eaton, Kyle Isbel, Drew Waters and MJ Melendez.
The team ranks 24th in homers (62), 25th in batting average (.230) and 29th in runs scored (243).
Now that Bradley has been designated for assignment, the Royals have these three options to ponder for a week.
Trade Bradley to another team. This is highly unlikely considering that he has been released from three teams unceremoniously since 2021.
Try to pass him through outright waivers with the chance another team claims him. The caveat here is Bradley has accumulated enough service time to reject any assignment that is offered.
Let’s assume option three happens and hope our MLBbro gets another chance if he wants to continue his career. From the way he sounded in an interview towards the end of May, JBJ seems to have lost his genuine love for the game. It’s a business that Bradley says he won’t even think about when he retires. That time might be now.
Jackie Bradley Jr. is coming up on 10 years of playing baseball in the majors.
But when he’s done playing baseball, he says he doesn’t want anything to do with the sport. That’s right, in an interview with the Boston Globe Today, Bradley stated “I have other things I want to do with my life.”
His longevity in the game alone is a significant accomplishment, and he still remains one of the best defenders in the outfield. When it’s all said and done, the 33-year-old will walk away from the game as a World Series champ, an all-star, and a Gold Glove winner. Not too many players will get to accomplish what Bradley has done.
But when asked what baseball memories he’ll tell his grandchildren one day,” Bradley’s answer would be shocking to some.
“Nothing,” he said. “I won’t talk about baseball once I’m done with it. I’m not bitter; I just have other interests. Baseball was fun but I liked it for what it was at the time.”
Jackie Bradley Jr. Giving MLB One Last Dance
Bradley did not know what the future would look like going into the 2023 season, but he is making the most of his time playing with the Kansas City Royals.
After he finishes helping to move along the KC rebuild, Bradley will most likely hang up his cleats to focus on his loved ones and possibly spending some time in another country.
“I want to enjoy my family, travel, play golf, and just relax,” Bradley said. “I have plenty of things I enjoy outside of this game.”
“Spain intrigues me,” he said. “I’d love to see my kids get that opportunity. I think living in a place where they learn a new language would be great. I wish I could have done that at their age.”
Bradley seems to already have one field off the diamond and into his golf shoes. And you can see that he and his family intend to join every minute of it. During his career, Bradley has played for four different teams, spending most of his career with the Boston Red Sox. That is where he won a World Series and was named the MVP of the ALCS. It was the peak of his career.
“Good times and some bad times. It’s all part of it,” Bradley said. “Everyone’s life is like that in whatever business you’re in. How it ended in Boston, that’s not something I think about.”
Bradley has had some rollercoaster moments in his career, dealing with injuries and also struggling at the plate at times. But he continues to go out there and play his heart out.
Now that he’s with Kansas City, Bradley wants to add value to a team that’s rebuilding.
“Helping out anyway I possibly can,” Bradley said. “I’m definitely enjoying it. Talking about my experiences and ultimately just being around the guys. It’s fun.
Through 36 games this season, Bradley has six RBI and has appeared in every position in the outfield with the Royals this season, seeing the most action in centerfield. Unsurprisingly, he has not committed an error and has three outfield assists. One thing that Bradley will always be known for is his defensive abilities.
And when his career is over, he will have no regrets from playing.
“Baseball doesn’t owe me anything,” Bradley said. “I had a great time and I still am. But when it’s over, I’ll have a lot of life to live.”
Malik Wright is ‘Live On Tape At the Ball Park’ again with veteran #MLBbro and super web master Jackie Bradley Jr. about his latest MLB stint as a member of the upstart Kansas City Royals
While most of the country was celebrating Labor Day with backyard barbecues to signal the unofficial end of Summer, some MLBbros were putting in work helping their teams in pursuit of an appearance in baseball’s Fall Classic.
Andrew McCutchen continues to push the Milwaukee Brewers back into contention. “Cutch 22” was the difference in Milwaukee’s 6-4 win over the Rockies, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one driven in.
The Brew Crew now sits just two games behind both San Diego and Philadelphia in the National League Wild Card standings. Milwaukee has won six of its last 10 games taking advantage of three game losing streaks by the Padres and Phillies.
There was a battle of the birds with the Blue Jays taking on the Orioles in Baltimore. Toronto took the first game 7-3 with George Springer doing damage from the leadoff spot. Springer collected three hits and scored three runs.
With Toronto clinging to a 4-3 advantage entering the 9th, he helped spark a three-run rally with a RBI single and the final run for the Jays.
In game two, Jackie Bradley Jr. helped Toronto extend its lead over the O’s to 4.5 games in the Wild Card standings. Better known for preventing runs than driving them in, JBJ went 3-for-4, smacking a pair of doubles to drive in two runs while scoring another to lead the BLue Jays to an 8-4 victory in the second game of a Toronto sweep.
(Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)
Of course, the biggest hit of the day was provided by none other than Aaron Judge.
Judge send a 404-foot shot into the second deck of Yankee stadium in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie with the Twins on the way to a 5-2 win. It was the third consecutive game with a home run for the likely AL-MVP and Judge’s fifth in his last seven games for the Bronx Bombers. He’s now on pace to finish the season with an Yankee and American League-record 65 homers for the season.
How dominant has Judge this season? He’s currently 18 homers ahead of Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead and has 23 more than Yordan Alvarez of the Astros among the American League leaders.
MLBbro George Springer collected three hits , including a 10th-inning double on the first pitch from Boston reliever Ryan Brasier that scored MLBbro Jackie Bradley Jr. and lifted the playoff-hungry Toronto Blue Jays over the Red Sox 3-2.
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