Milwaukee Brewers are “in the mix” for OF Jackie Bradley Jr.

When we think of positions that the Milwaukee Brewers could still address, of course, third base comes to mind. As does adding to the bullpen, and the Crew doesn’t have a true first baseman on the roster either.

But a recent report from Robert Murray of FanSided isn’t linking the Brewers to a player at any one of those three positions. Instead, they are reportedly “in the mix” for outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.

It would appear that the outfield in Milwaukee is pretty much set in stone already with Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Avisail Garcia as the starters. Not to mention that these players are also the three highest-paid players on the Brewers’ roster. Yet, that hasn’t stopped David Stearns in the past from trying to add more talent.

Bradley has spent his entire eight-year big league career with the Boston Red Sox. His three best seasons came in 2015, 2016 — he was an All-Star that year — and in 2020. In each of those seasons, he posted an OPS+ of at least 118 and an OPS over .810.

For his career, Bradley has slashed .239/.321/.412 for a .732 OPS and a slightly below league average OPS+ of 94. Although it’s worth mentioning that if we remove Bradley’s first two big league seasons where he really struggled, he’s recorded an OPS of .769 and an above-average OPS+ of 101 over the last six seasons.

Bradley has drawn a decent amount of walks over his career, getting a free pass 9.3 percent of the time. On the flip side, he’s struck out quite often as well–at a rate of over 25 percent. But generally, left-handed hitters have received a boost from playing at what is now American Family Field.

Defensively, Bradley has been a very good centerfielder and was a Gold Glove winner in 2018. By Baseball Savant’s Outs Above Average (OAA) metric, Bradley has finished well above average as a defender, recording between six and 12 OAA since 2016. In fact, over the last four seasons, he has ranked in the 97th to 99th percentiles in OAA among outfielders.

Now, the big question in all of this is where does Bradley Jr. fit in this crowded Milwaukee Brewers’ outfield?

As I alluded to above, this hasn’t deterred Stearns in the past from making an acquisition, but Bradley’s fit seems unclear at this time. At 31-years-old he isn’t looking to split time with Lorenzo Cain in centerfield, and while Garcia would end up being the odd man out within this group, that’s a lot of money he’d be receiving to be coming off the bench.

Maybe the Brewers are hoping — or banking — on the DH being available in the NL this year. Or perhaps this would simply be a move made with the future in mind. Cain’s contract is up after the 2022 season, and the Brewers can get out of Garcia’s deal after this season.

Following Murray’s report, Jon Heyman would also add that the Brewers are one of half a dozen teams looking into Bradley. Where exactly Milwaukee falls on that pecking order, who knows? But while the details of how Bradley would fit in are murky at this time, I’m of the mindset that you get as many good players as possible and figure out the rest later.

And signing Jackie Bradley Jr. would be doing just that.