The Boston Red Sox certainly have looked more stable than they do right now with spring training upon us.
But in spite of everything, Jackie Bradley Jr. shared a bold message for all the doubters Tuesday.
“We don’t care what anybody says,” the outfielder stated, per NBC Sports Boston.
First, the Red Sox mutually parted ways with manager Alex Cora in mid-January after Cora was mentioned several times in Major League Baseball’s ruling on the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. (Ron Roenicke was named interim manager Tuesday.)
Then there was Monday’s Mookie Betts-David Price trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which came after some mystery over what exactly Boston would receive in return. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom since has shed light on the rationale behind the deal, though that didn’t ease the heartbreak in the city of Boston — with Price, Betts, their now-former teammates and fans all taking to social media.
Now, Chris Sale is plagued by more health issues and will get off to a slow start in spring training.
Bloom referred to the mix of circumstances within the organization as “certainly not ideal.” But there’s one aspect that’s as steady as ever: The will to prove everyone wrong.
“You have to go out there and play the game,” Bradley said. “You don’t know who is going to win. You have to go out there and perform and take care of your business, because if you could always guess who was going to win, what’s the point of playing the game?
“You can write us off, you can give us some predictions, I want to see who’s going to be the closest.”
Roenicke has been impressed by the team’s resilience after all the moving parts this offseason, which is a good thing for the Red Sox considering the chaos is far from over. There still are a number of questions facing the club, like which starting pitchers could replace Price in Boston’s rotation?
In the meantime, Roenicke remains optimistic about the organization’s current talents — a sentiment seemingly shared by Bradley.
