Kuzul

The Seattle Mariners are pulling out all of the stops in order to stay away from the cellar of the AL West. Their next move: calling up another top prospect.    

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reported Tuesday afternoon that the Mariners are promoting the top position player in the organization, Mike Zunino, from Triple-A:

Zunino has played the entire year in Triple-A Tacoma and hit .238/.303/.503 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI in 47 games. He has less than 100 games of professional experience, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Mariners have had a tough time getting production from behind the plate all year long. They’re currently ranked 27th in the league in terms of WAR for catchers, according to FanGraphs. The problem was Jesus Montero, who hit .208/.364/.327 through 29 games and had to be demoted.

Zunino was the No. 3 overall draft pick a year ago, taken by the Mariners. That came after a fantastic collegiate career at the University of Florida. He helped the Gators to three straight College World Series appearances and was named the SEC Player of the Year in his senior season.

As the official Twitter account of the MLB Draft notes, Zunino is the first position player from last year’s draft to get called up—Kevin Gausman was called up by Baltimore earlier in the year:

David Cameron of FanGraphs doesn’t think that Zunino has earned the opportunity to be called up, citing his weak slash line and his biggest problem at the plate:

The Mariners promoted Nick Franklin, another top prospect within the organization, a few weeks ago after Dustin Ackley wasn’t getting the job done. Now, it appears that if a regular performer isn’t producing like the Mariners want him to, Seattle is going to bring up some young talent to see if they can do any better. 

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There are some Major League Baseball players that make a mockery of playing defense.

Whether it is constantly booting balls hit to them, dropping high pops or throwing the ball nowhere close to where it was intended to go, some players just don’t have what it takes to play a position on a regular basis.

Players that know they can’t play defense—usually due to athleticism reasons—tend to take on designated hitter roles, such as Billy Butler and David Ortiz. While they could play first base in a dire situation, it’s better off if they stay in the dugout while their teammates are on the field.

Many players don’t have the opportunity to DH and take the field on a regular basis, even if it’s well known that something is bound to go wrong. At the absolute worst, teams lose games because of poor defensive plays—which happens more often than you might think.

Here are five players that when they make an error, all you can do is laugh.

*All statistics in this article were obtained via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Between poor pitching and a severe injury, 2013 has not been friendly to Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ.

Happ was drilled with a comebacker off the bat of Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Desmond Jennings on May 7. Happ was rushed to the hospital and was later diagnosed with a minor fracture to the left side of his skull, according to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

Happ also managed to twist his knee while falling to the ground, but it will not require surgery, reports Chisholm.

Happ was placed on the 15-day disabled list by Toronto a day later and on Friday was moved to the 60-day DL, according to Andrew Simon of MLB.com. July 7 is now the earliest that Happ can return, but as Shi Davidi of SportsNet reports, he’s still waiting on his knee to fully recover:

Before the injury, Happ hadn’t been pitching very well. He made seven starts for the Blue Jays, going 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 33 innings of work. He had some serious command issues, though, averaging 5.18 walks per nine innings, the most of any Toronto starter with at least five starts.

The Blue Jays have started the season on a poor note, entering Friday in the cellar of the AL East, 8.5 games behind the division-leading New York Yankees. While most of the team has yet to click yet, the starting rotation has clearly been Toronto’s biggest weakness.

Over the winter, though, it appeared the Blue Jays would have a very strong staff. They acquired R.A. Dickey from the New York Mets and Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from the Miami Marlins. None of those three have an ERA under 4.50.

The Blue Jays in general have the fourth-worst starting rotation in baseball in terms of WAR, according to FanGraphs. They’re walking more batters every nine innings than all but two teams in the league. Things just haven’t gone according to plan for the team north of the border.

Once Happ comes off the disabled list, presumably after the All-Star break, in my non-professional opinion, it’s make-or-break for the Blue Jays. He can either spark this team and potentially lead them to a postseason berth or he can continue to pitch like he did before getting hurt and Toronto can battle for a top draft choice.

Toronto certainly has the talent to make a strong second-half push, but everyone is going to have to hit and pitch their best, including Happ.

Since 2009, though, Happ hasn’t been very good. He went 6-4 with a 3.40 ERA and a 4.84 BB/9 in 2010 between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros. He went 6-15 in 2011 with Houston and 10-11 with the Astros and Blue Jays last season. This season has easily been his worst nightmare, though.

In Happ’s first full season in the big leagues, he looked great. He went 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 35 appearances (23 starts). He had solid command of nearly all of his pitches and looked to have a high ceiling. As I mentioned, he’s been a bit of a letdown ever since.

Happ is more than capable of pitching like an ace—or at least a front-of-the-rotation stater. It may be a bit bold to say, but the remainder of the Blue Jays’ season rests in the left hand of Happ.

His teammates will want to put as many runs on the board as possible for him once he returns, and if he can have a couple of quality starts, Toronto could turn its season around. But it could go even more south just as quickly. 

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The Boston Red Sox have begun an experiment to see what else Jose Iglesias is capable of defensively.

It’s well-known that Iglesias is a great defensive shortstop—easily the best in the organization—but it’s been his offense that’s kept him from being a starter in the big leagues. As Iglesias currently continues to develop in Triple-A Pawtucket, there are plans in place to move him around the infield.

Iglesias will be getting playing time at second and third base in the near future in addition to fielding grounders at shortstop frequently, according to Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal.

“They said I’m moving around, just to get an idea,” Iglesias told MacPherson. “They haven’t told me anything else.”

Well, Pawtucket told Iglesias that he was going to make his first career start away from shortstop on Tuesday afternoon. MacPherson was present for the game and tweeted out some of his thoughts on Iglesias at playing the hot corner.

MacPherson noted in his article that “all indications are that Iglesias will remain primarily a shortstop” and “the work at positions other than shortstop is not a sign that Iglesias is becoming a utility infielder.”

While this is important to keep in mind, it’s also interesting to ponder what the future could hold for Iglesias if he’s able to play positions other than shortstop at a high level defensively. For one, it would certainly open up a series of doors.

The Red Sox are relatively set at second and third base for the moment. Dustin Pedroia is under contract through the 2014 season and there’s an $11 million team option for the 2015 season. Will Middlebrooks is under team control for even longer, considering he just made his major league debut last season.

Depth, though, could turn out to be a problem. The Red Sox don’t really have a major-league-ready backup at third base if anything were to happen to Middlebrooks.

There are a handful of prospects in the minor leagues that could be impactful in the next couple of seasons.

There isn’t a clear-cut replacement for Pedroia either. Pedro Ciriaco is the backup middle infielder for now, but he’s hitting .184/.289/.342 in 19 games this season while playing mediocre defense at best. To say that he’s a replaceable backup would be a major understatement.

If Iglesias could play second or third base well enough, it would definitely increase the odds that he stays with the Red Sox long-term the next time he gets promoted.

But his offense still needs to improve, considering he entered Tuesday hitting .205/.262/.330 in 31 games for Pawtucket.

As I’ve now mentioned twice, offense is Iglesias’ biggest weakness. It’s going to become an even bigger problem at some point this season or definitely next season when Xander Bogaerts—Boston’s top prospect—gets promoted to Triple-A.

MacPherson and his co-worker, Tim Britton, told me in a chat a few weeks ago that “every indication is that the Red Sox want to keep Bogaerts at short as long as possible.” That came after I asked whether it would make sense to transition the top prospect to third base in the wake of Middlebrooks’ offensive struggles.

Bogaerts played a little third base for Team Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, but has been a shortstop throughout his career.

Because of his size, though, some think that he might be better-suited at third base or at a corner outfielder position in the future.

If Boston plans to keep Bogaerts at shortstop, Iglesias is basically out of the job. This is why these next couple of weeks are so important for Iglesias’ future. If he can handle grounders and routine plays easily at positions other than shortstop, he boosts the likelihood that he’ll eventually be in the major leagues full-time.

If Iglesias can’t play second or third base well, which I think is unlikely, then he’s going to continue to struggle finding time with the Red Sox. Defensive versatility can do a lot of positive things for his career.

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Major League Baseball’s midsummer showcase, also known as the All-Star Game, is less than two months away, and many players have already made strong cases to make their respective league’s team.

But which players will be fortunate enough to try to secure home-field advantage throughout the World Series for either the American or National League?

Some players will be voted into the AL or NL squads via the fans, while the remainder of each team’s 34-man roster will be determined by the coaching staff.

This year’s teams will likely be made up of seasoned veterans as well as a handful of young players who are just starting to make their mark. Don’t be surprised when you see an abundance of first-timers on the rosters.

Let’s jump right into each team’s roster, determining who has done enough thus far to earn a spot in the 2013 All-Star Game.

*All statistics in this article were obtained via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted and are accurate as of Monday, May 20, 2013. All injury information was obtained via Baseball Prospectus. All contract information was obtained via Cot’s Contracts. Stats up to date through games on May 19, 2013.

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Just blame it on the manager.

In Major League Baseball, when a team that appears dominant on paper but underperforms on the field, managers tend to take the brunt of the fault. Often times, they’ll lose their jobs because of it even though they aren’t the ones playing.

Through the early stages of the 2013 season there have been three teams that haven’t played like many expected to: the Toronto Blue Jays (15-24, 9.5 GB), Los Angeles Angels (14-24, 10 GB) and Los Angeles Dodgers (15-22, 7.5 GB).

But should fans be blaming John Gibbons, Mike Scioscia and Don Mattingly for their respective teams’ woes? And if so, who deserves the most criticism?

Is It John Gibbons’ Fault?

The Toronto Blue Jays made a slew of offseason moves in order to attempt to make the postseason for the first time since 1993. Toronto acquired several Cy Young-worthy starting pitchers and a couple of impact bats as well.

Toronto also hired John Gibbons, who hadn’t managed in the big leagues since 2008 when he was fired after a 35-39 start in his fifth season with the Blue Jays. It’s safe to say that Gibbons hasn’t been able to capitalize on his second opportunity just yet.

“We’re kind of just sputtering,” Gibbons told Evan Peaslee of MLB.com back in mid-April. “We haven’t been able to get anything going. We’ve had some well-pitched outings and haven’t gotten a whole lot of offense with it. Nothing has come together yet. I think it will, it’s just a batter of time, but you know what, it’s time to start playing some better baseball, there’s no question about it.”

Toronto was 7-10 when Gibbons made those comments. The Blue Jays are 8-14 since.

The starting rotation looked like one of the best in baseball before the start of the season, but R.A. Dickey (2-5, 5.06 ERA) has been a disaster, Mark Buerhle (1-2, 6.19 ERA) has been the worst pitchers on the team in terms of WAR and Josh Johnson (0-1, 6.86 ERA) is currently on the disabled list with inflammation in his triceps.

Jose Reyes, the top offensive player acquired by Toronto this winter, suffered a severe ankle sprain after just 10 games. While Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have been their normal selves, Toronto still has the third worst offense in baseball, according to FanGraphs.

But is it really that Gibbons isn’t playing the right players or making the right decisions as to who goes on the mound?

That’s not the case here. Gibbons, who hasn’t managed in the big leagues in five years mind you, is coaching a bunch of stars that haven’t lived up to expectations yet. Injuries are out of his control. The Blue Jays would still be last in the division at this point in the season no matter who was hired over the offseason.

Is It Mike Scioscia’s Fault?

The Los Angeles Angels have spent tons of money the last two offseasons and still have nothing to show for it. Los Angeles signed Albert Pujols after the 2011 season and still finished third in the AL West.

This past winter, Los Angeles emptied its pockets in order to sign Josh Hamilton. So far, that move hasn’t paid off either.

Hamilton is hitting .212/.261/.344 with four home runs and 11 RBI through 38 games. Pujols hasn’t been much better and has a slash line of .234/.315/.393 with five long balls and 21 RBI. The offense hasn’t come through for the pitching staff yet, which hasn’t been great either.

T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times recently wrote how Scioscia isn’t the problem, but could get the axe regardless. Simers writes that it isn’t his fault that general manager Jerry Dipoto has left him with “a bunch of journeymen pitchers.”

Sure, Joe Blanton (0-7, 6.46 ERA) probably isn’t the best guy to have in the rotation these days. Other than that, the rest of the starters should be good when healthy. Unfortunately, Jered Weaver is out with a fractured elbow and Tommy Hanson was recently placed on the restricted list.

What’s Scioscia really supposed to be able to do when two of his top hitters are experiencing the worst stretches of their careers and his ace is sidelined for an extended period of time? Well, there’s not much he can do except for playing the guys that are available and hoping they have what it takes to win.

Maybe Hamilton and Pujols could use a bit of a pep talk considering it appears that if they continue to slump, Scioscia is going to be out of a job. Whether he gets another is regardless; he has to get the Angels moving forward quickly.

Los Angeles is 10 games under .500 through 38 games, which is completely unacceptable. The poor start hasn’t been the skipper’s entire fault, but I do think that he’ll ultimately pay the price for it.

Is It Don Mattingly’s Fault?

In several ways, Don Mattingly is in the same position as his crosstown rival, Scioscia. Mattingly is managing a team of underperforming stars that haven’t clicked yet. The Los Angeles Dodgers are also without one of their top starting pitchers, Zack Greinke.

Mattingly has been the manager in Los Angeles the last two seasons and hasn’t had much success. The Dodgers finished three games over .500 his first year with the club and 10 games over .500 last season. Through 37 games, finishing over .500 for a third straight time seems highly unlikely.

Despite having the likes of Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez (injured for most of the season so for) and Clayton Kershaw, among others, the Dodgers have been very average this season. But he hasn’t had much to do with it.

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports puts it perfectly when he says:

…the Dodgers have had a player problem, not a Don Mattingly problem, and that will continue for as long as they hit like they hit, and pitch like they pitch and rehab as often as they rehab.

This is on Kemp, League and Andre Ethier, and it’s on Josh Beckett and Ronald Belisario. It’s on Hanley Ramirez’s thumb/hamstring, and Zack Greinke’s collarbone, and Adrian Gonzalez’s neck and Mark Ellis’ quad.

A handful of injuries and poor offense and pitching has brought the Dodgers to where they currently are: last place in the NL West. There’s nothing that Mattingly could’ve done to avoid this from happening. He’s playing the best players he can and it just isn’t working out.

Kemp is arguably the top offensive weapon the Dodgers have and he puts their season in a nutshell. Through 37 games, he’s hitting .277/.327/.348 with one home run and 15 RBI. Mattingly could move him down in the lineup, but it’s Kemp who needs to starting hitting like an MVP candidate instead of a below average outfielder.

Could Mattingly take Josh Beckett, who’s 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA in eight starts this season, out of the starting rotation? Sure he could, but there aren’t many other options that Mattingly has to flirt with.

The Dodgers have to start winning sooner rather than later unless they like last place. But it’s not up to Mattingly; it’s up to his players.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to see why John Gibbons, Mike Scioscia and/or Don Mattingly could lose their jobs during or after the 2013 season comes to a close. Poor play usually results in the man at the top getting fired because that’s the easiest course of action at times.

But none of the trio deserves to have the brunt of the blame put on them or be fired for their teams’ awful starts to the season.

The Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers are playing poorly because of the players on the roster and not because of the guy that decides who starts and who sits. Injuries have taken a toll on each of the three teams, which has made it difficult to turn things around.

But there isn’t much and Gibbons, Scioscia or Mattingly can do at this point except to keep motivating their players to play well. Making minor changes in the lineup, rotation or bullpen could potentially win a game here or there, but overall, it isn’t going to do much.

Ownership, front offices and fans need to wake up and smell the coffee. It’s not the managers that take the field, strike out each time and blow leads in the eighth and ninth innings; it’s the players.

The players deserve 100 percent of the blame for the way the Blue Jays, Angels and Dodgers are currently playing. It’s not the managers’ fault.

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The Boston Red Sox may need an additional starting pitcher down the stretch, and Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee is one name that could come up in conversation.

Lee is a name that the Red Sox have considered in the past but have never been able to acquire. This past December, Boston offered to send center field Jacoby Ellsbury to the Phillies in exchange for Lee, but the Phillies rejected it, according to Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly (h/t WEEI):

According to multiple sources, the Red Sox approached the Phillies about a Jacoby Ellsbury for Cliff Lee deal and were told that Lee was not available, … The Phils won’t break up their Lee-Cole Hamels-Roy Halladay trio. (Check back in July if the team is not in contention.

It’s not July yet, but it’s not too early to start thinking about what could happen over the next two months. The Phillies currently sit in third place of the NL East at 13-16 and don’t seem to be playing their best baseball right now.

While Lee has been fine, for lack of a better term, through six starts, that trio that Philadelphia didn’t want to break up yet has been a bit of a disaster.

The Red Sox could become interested in the left-hander should the current rotation start to falter as the season drags on. Sure, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester have both been outstanding, and Ryan Dempster has looked good so far, but will Felix Doubront or John Lackey hold up the rest of the way?

Lackey has already dealt with biceps problems just a couple of starts since undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Doubront continues to have pitch-count issues—averaging less than six innings per start despite throwing over 100 pitches.

Boston could have Alfredo Aceves and/or Franklin Morales ready to go in an emergency situation, but having Lee on the mound instead gives the Red Sox a much better opportunity to win.

All Boston has to do is keep winning and hope that the Phillies continue to lose, and the Red Sox may have a decent shot at acquiring him. Salisbury wrote Friday:

The Red Sox inquired about Lee before the winter meetings and were told he was not available because the Phillies believed they needed him to make a run in 2013 … If that run fails the Phils will likely change their mindset and Lee will become the prize of July trade market. Lee has a limited no-trade clause, but these things have a way of being resolved.

Salisbury also talks about how, although Lee is a very expensive option—owed $25 million this season and $62.5 million the next three seasons—teams would be interested for one reason: “To win the World Series.”

Lee has veteran leadership and has been a good postseason pitcher over the course of his career, despite only a handful of trips to the playoffs.

The question remains as to what the Phillies are going to want in exchange for a player of Lee’s caliber. Philadelphia said no to Ellsbury, one of Boston’s best trade chips, last season, but the price could drop depending on whether the Phillies are ready to restart the rebuilding process.

The main idea of Salisbury’s article is to talk about how the Phillies have inquired about Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but they don’t have a great farm system in order to acquire him. As Salisbury puts it, “Close-to-major-league-ready pitching is the Phillies’ strength, but the team could be reluctant to move too much of that supply as the core of its big-league pitching staff gets older.”

So what if Boston offered Philadelphia some prospects that would allow the Phillies to keep their top pitching prospects and still enhance the likelihood that they’d acquire Stanton?

Now we’re talking.

In a sense, the Phillies need to acquire talent that would interest the Marlins. Boston has that type of talent. In my estimation, Miami should be all set in the outfield, at catcher and somewhat on the mound. The Marlins could use a middle infielder and probably a corner infielder as well.

Hypothetically speaking, Boston would receive Lee, Philadelphia would receive Stanton, and Miami would receive a bunch of top-to-mid-level prospects that would likely include the likes of Rubby De La Rosa, Bryce Brentz, Garin Cecchini and maybe even Jose Iglesias. But hey, maybe the Marlins want even more than that.

The point here is that the Red Sox need to provide the Phillies with the assets to potentially acquire Stanton down the road—or at least convince them they’ll have enough to do so by dealing Lee to Boston.

If the Red Sox are going to win the World Series this season, they’ll likely need to add at least one “big” piece at or before the trade deadline. Lee could end up being the guy who helps bring another title to Boston.

*All statistics in this article were obtained via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. All contract information was obtained via Cot’s Contracts.

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April results may not give Major League Baseball the big picture just yet, but it’s not too early to weed through which teams are contenders and which are pretenders.

Some teams have had great starts that will soon fade, while others have had forgettable Aprils and will look to get back on track come May. Eventually, there will be 10 playoff teams—six division winners and four wild-card teams.

Can we project those 10 teams now? No, but we can somewhat tell which will be in the playoff hunt down the stretch and which will focus on the 2014 season.

October is still a ways away, but here are the teams you should keep an eye on as baseball’s second month gets under way, as well as the others that won’t play for much down the stretch.

*All standings current as of 1 p.m. ET of Tuesday, April 30, 2013. All statistics obtained via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. All contract information obtained via Cot’s Contracts. All injury information obtained via Baseball Prospectus.

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Just because someone is an outstanding baseball player doesn’t necessarily mean that they get the opportunity to play Major League Baseball.

There are, at times, obstacles to overcome which block that path. The two most prevalent examples of that have been racial segregation and top prospects not panning out.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1957, although many Negro Leagues players never got the chance to take a MLB field.

Meanwhile, since the MLB First-Year Player Draft was implemented in 1965, many No. 1 draft picks have failed to play well through the minors and some never even got the call to the big leagues.

There are plenty of players who could be on this list, but I’ve selected five who really stand out in my mind. For those who didn’t make the cut—pun intended—please place their names in the comments section below for a discussion.

Let’s take a look at who did make the cut, for the purpose of this article at least.

*All statistics in this article were obtained via Baseball-Reference, unless otherwise stated. All contract information was obtained via Cot’s Contracts. All injury information was obtained via Baseball Prospectus. 

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The Jackie Bradley Jr. experiment will likely come to an end in the coming days once David Ortiz is healthy enough to return to the Boston Red Sox.

Boston made the popular decision of promoting Bradley to the big leagues after his monster spring training and when it was apparent that a roster spot would be open due to the array of outstanding injuries. In 28 games, Bradley hit .419/.507/.613 with seven extra-base hits, 12 RBI and 13 runs through spring training.

But while some may have felt that Bradley’s production would carry over once the regular season began, it hasn’t. Not even in the slightest. In the first three games of the season, playing the entire series against the New York Yankees, Bradley went 2-for-10 with four runs and three RBI. Since, over the course of seven games, he’s 1-for-21 with 10 strikeouts.

Among all Red Sox position players, Bradley has been the worst in terms of wins above replacement (WAR), according to FanGraphs. In fact, his negative WAR suggests that it would be better if Boston were playing a replacement player instead.

It doesn’t matter if it’s only Bradley’s first 10 games of his young career because the Red Sox need to focus on playing those who give them the best opportunity to win baseball games. That hasn’t been the case when manager John Farrell has written his name on the lineup card.

But despite his recent struggles offensively, Bradley is still upbeat about the future, according to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe.

“This is one of those periods. Every hitter goes through it,” Bradley said Friday after the game against the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed by rain. “I’m willing to work through it. It’s definitely not going to affect me in the long run.”

The problem for Bradley, however, is that he doesn’t have much time to prove that he belongs in the major leagues.

Ortiz is very close to making it back to Boston and could be back as soon as Friday, according to Evan Drellich of MassLive.com. Once Ortiz returns, though, someone is going to have to be sent down to Triple-A Pawtucket. For now, it appears that the player most likely to get demoted is Bradley.

Ortiz might not be playing on a daily basis once returning, but he’s sure to get the bulk of the at-bats as the designated hitter. Jonny Gomes, who has been DHing frequently in Ortiz’s absence will likely head back into the outfield mix. Daniel Nava, who has been surprisingly good this year, is much too valuable to send down. That leaves Bradley.

Although Bradley’s future might be bright, there’s no way to spin how he’s been playing. “The learning curve is always going to be there,” Bradley told Abraham. “I’d rather face adversity now. People will say, ‘He didn’t waver when he first started.’ I’m seeing the pitches just fine; I’m just missing them. I’ll hit the ball.”

In 38 plate appearances, Bradley has struck out 31.6 percent of the time, the third-highest mark on the team, behind David Ross, who has only played in four games, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. In order to work out the kinks in his swing, which seems to be an inability to hit inside fastballs, he has to be playing every day.

But in order to do so, putting Bradley in a low-pressure environment is the only option. The secret is out among big league pitchers. When he steps up, everyone in the park knows he’s going to get at least a few inside pitches because he just hasn’t hit them yet. Triple-A pitchers may know this information, but at least if Bradley doesn’t adjust immediately, it won’t be on the front page of every Boston-based newspaper.

Alex Speier of WEEI points out that the Red Sox don’t really have another minor league outfielder to replace Bradley, should Boston send him down. Jose Iglesias can’t get called up again yet, and the other options are catchers and Brock Holt, who’s an infielder.

Boston, however, doesn’t really need five outfielders on the 25-man roster. Unless Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes or Daniel Nava gets hurt in the coming days, the four should be more than capable of getting the job done. A fifth outfielder is rather unnecessary.

The logistics of the demotion are beside the point, though. Boston promoted Bradley because it felt that he could make a positive impact on the team through the first handful of games. He hasn’t, and now the Red Sox are forced to send him back to the minors where he can continue to develop into what the team hopes will be a star.

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