Blue Jays: Why I like Jackie Bradley Jr. over George Springer

According to Jon Morosi, the Blue Jays have shown interest in signing Jackie Bradley Jr., an idea I like a lot more than pursuing George Springer.

In case we didn’t have enough rumours about the Blue Jays, there’s a fresh one from the MLB Network’s Jon Morosi on Tuesday. The latest from the rumour mill is that the Blue Jays, along with the Phillies and Cubs, have checked in on free agent centre fielder, Jackie Bradley Jr.

While the Blue Jays have been linked to some big names so far this offseason, this latest rumour might be the one that makes the most sense to me. In fact, I like the idea of signing Bradley Jr. even more than pursuing George Springer, and I’d love to tell you the reasons why.

First, the reason the Blue Jays are interested in one or both of the veterans is because they could use an upgrade at the position, especially on defence. Incumbent Randal Grichuk is adequate up the middle, but he’s ultimately better suited for a corner spot, where he might even play at an above-average rate. As it is, he posted a -0.7 dWAR mark over 55 games last year, and that’s not what you want to see from an important position.

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Bradley Jr. can still bring above-average production in centre field, as he rated as a 0.7 dWAR defender over the same 55-game sample last season. While he’s never completely put things together at that plate, he remains as one of the elite glovemen in baseball. By comparison, Springer posted a dWAR mark of 0.4 in 2020, which is still good, but not quite up to Bradley Jr’s standards. You could argue that the sample size was small, but it’s been the same throughout their careers, with Springer having a total of 1.3 dWAR over his seven seasons in the big leagues, and Bradley Jr. with 7.8 over eight seasons.

Of course, defence is only half of the on-field production that GM’s are looking at, and admittedly Springer has Bradley Jr. beat in the offensive department. The former Astro slashed .265/.359/.540 with 14 home runs and 32 RBI last year, finishing 13th in AL MVP voting. Even with a bounce-back year in 2020 while slashing .283/.364/.450, I’ll readily admit that Bradley Jr. is nowhere near the same offensive asset as Springer. However, his left-handed bat would help balance a right-heavy group at the moment, and that wouldn’t hurt.

All that said, I haven’t gotten to the two biggest reasons that I’d rather the Blue Jays sign Bradley Jr. over Springer. The obvious factor is money, with mlbtraderumors.com predicting that Springer will get 125 million over five years, while Bradley Jr. would settle for 18 million over two. I have no problem watching Rogers spend money, but I do know that if they sign Springer that it could limit their other moves. A two-year pact with Bradley Jr. wouldn’t change much of anything else that they might want to do, other than making an outfielder available to trade.

Other than money, the biggest appeal to signing the former Red Sox outfielder would be a two, or maybe three year term to the deal. With him being 30 years old, you’re likely going to get similar production for the life of his short contract, and he’ll be able to stick in centre. In Springer’s case at 31 years old, I’m guessing he might have two, maybe three years left at his current position before he has to move to a corner. That’s fine and all, but by then they may not want to pay 25 million a year for an aging corner outfielder. That’s not to minimize Springer’s value, or even to suggest that he’s in for a nosedive in value, but there’s a lot more risk with a five-year deal for a player in their 30’s.

In an ideal world, signing Bradley Jr. to a two-year deal could provide a bridge to Austin Martin taking over sometime in 2022, and would allow the Blue Jays to spend the savings in another area, like the starting rotation. Martin may end up as an infielder, but even still, signing Bradley Jr. would buy time to find another solution if that were the case. For those reasons and more, that’s the direction I would try to go if I were Ross Atkins and the Blue Jays’ front office.