How Jackie Bradley Jr. could help Sox outfield

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Envision this late-inning outfield defense: Adam Engel, Luis Robert and Jackie Bradley Jr.

Tantalizing, isn't it?

For perfectly understandable reasons, folks focus on offense and pitching when it comes to constructing championship-caliber rosters. But defense plays its part, too, in getting teams to baseball's mountaintop. That's where the White Sox want to be. And with a hole in right field, why not look to a defensive wizard as part of a potential solution?

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Jackie Bradley Jr. is on the free-agent market, and much like fellow free-agent outfielder Joc Pederson, the White Sox have been rumored to be interested in Bradley Jr. in offseasons past. Now with only money needed to lure Bradley Jr., is this the time he finally makes his way to the South Side? That depends on what kind of role the White Sox would potentially want him to play.

Bradley Jr. has done enough to be more than just a late-inning defensive replacement at this point in his career, and though he's been best known for his defense, he's coming off a career year at the plate. During the shortened 2020 season, he slashed .283/.364/.450 with seven homers, 22 RBIs and 32 runs scored for an abysmal Boston Red Sox team. He's just two years removed from a World Series win, a postseason run in which he came through with some heroics, hitting three home runs in the ALCS and World Series.

The White Sox wouldn't acquire Bradley Jr. to hit in the middle of their lineup, of course. And perhaps he's not near the top of the list when it comes to obvious solutions in right field. George Springer is arguably the top free-agent position player and seems like a perfect fit for a White Sox team eyeing championship contention for the better part of the next decade.

But Bradley Jr. could indeed be an option should Springer and some of the other top outfielders land elsewhere. At the very least, Bradley Jr. provides what the White Sox are looking for, a dependable veteran presence, and one who's won the World Series, at that, while giving them another terrific glove in the outfield.

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