Jackie Bradley Jr. Shouldn’t Be a Trade Target for the Cleveland Indians

For the second time this year, an article suggesting trade targets for various MLB teams linked the Cleveland Indians to the very same player.

This past weekend, Dan Szymborski penned a piece for ESPN titled ‘MLB Trade Deadline: Eight Realistic Targets for Contenders.’ Within the column, Szymborski claimed Cleveland should pursue Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.

It comes almost four months after TheScore published ‘1 Hypothetical Trade Each AL Central Team Should Make,’ which also suggested the Indians make a run at Bradley.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, Cleveland should absolutely be working the phones to make a move. However, despite several outlets suggesting as much, Bradley shouldn’t be someone the Tribe targets.

There was a time, sure, when the Red Sox outfielder would’ve been a huge get for the Indians.

In 2016, Bradley broke out for Boston, slashing .267/.349/.486 with a wRC+ 18% above league average (118). All in all, he wrapped up the campaign with more wins above replacement than anyone on the roster not named Mookie Betts (5.3).

That was four years ago. In the time since, Bradley’s value has been slowly diminishing.

While he’s maintained a strong defensive presence in the outfield, he’s had below average numbers in wOBA and wRC+ every season since his 2016 campaign. He’s been getting on base less frequently, while also seeing upticks in his strikeout rate.

Essentially, while Bradley would be a solid addition defensively, he likely won’t provide an offensive boost.

His current campaign isn’t doing much to dissuade such a suggestion. Bradley is currently boasting a subpar slash line (.235/.300/.358), a wOBA 32 points below average (.288) and his lowest wRC+ since 2014 (76).

Meanwhile, Cleveland’s outfield is currently carrying a combined slash line of .166/.273/.249 with only 31 RBIs on the year, 12 of which have come from Domingo Santana. Offense is clearly an issue with this unit, making the idea of trading for Bradley even more questionable.

Heck, even when you compare his offensive performance to those who’ve manned center field for the Indians this year, it’s hard to point out where he’d be a major upgrade.

Bradley has more plate appearances (90) than Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado and Delino DeShields Jr. this season, so the comparison is a bit uneven. Still, his numbers don’t stand out as notably better than the rest of Cleveland’s center fielders.

Bradley -- .235/.300/.358, .288 wOBA, 76 wRC+
DeShields -- .250/.333/.250 , .273 wOBA, 66 wRC+
Zimmer -- .162/.360/.243, .298 wOBA, 83 wRC+
Mercado -- .111/.167/.111, .135 wOBA, -28 wRC+

As you can see, even though a few of Bradley’s numbers are higher than those of Cleveland’s current options, they certainly aren’t high enough to merit viewing him as an improvement.

This isn’t meant to suggest the Indians should just stick with the status quo, continuing to hope DeShields, Zimmer, Mercado or even Greg Allen can eventually become a solution. Instead, it’s just pointing out that Bradley wouldn’t be one. Not offensively, at least.

Within his article, Szymborski suggests trading for Bradley could serve as one of Cleveland’s trademark “buy low and hope for the best” outfield acquisitions. While the Indians have definitely shown a propensity to do such a thing over the years, the reasons why this instance would be questionable go beyond Bradley’s aforementioned numbers.

The trade deadline is exactly 27 days before the final game of the 2020 regular season. In trading for Bradley, Cleveland would be trying to resolve its outfield woes by hoping a struggling player can drastically turn it around offensively in about four weeks.

It’s bold, to say the least.

Considering Bradley is in the final year of his contract, he likely wouldn’t cost much, so the idea of trading for him at the very least has that going for it.

Of course, in the aforementioned piece from TheScore, it was suggested Cleveland sends prospect Triston McKenzie back to Boston in exchange for Bradley’s services. Said proposal became even more outlandish after McKenzie's sparkling debut Saturday.

In the end, even if the Indians could acquire Bradley for pennies on the dollar, the lack of outfield offense would still remain unaddressed.

Cleveland’s front office will most certainly be busy in the coming days when trying to add more plate production to its lineup. Acquiring Bradley wouldn’t be an effective way to do so.

Though such a move has now been proposed twice this year, it’s a suggestion I’d respectfully disagree with.