Friday, September 18, 2015

Mookie On The Move!: Betts To Slide Over To RF Tonight

(Getty Images)
Starting tonight, we will be seeing the likely Red Sox outfield alignment for 2016: Rusney Castillo in left, Jackie Bradley, Jr. in center and Mookie Betts in right. The new Dave Dombrowski regime is determined to put together the most productive outfield it can—sticking the best overall defensive player (Bradley) in the middle. While the case could be made that Bradley's range and arm are better suited to right field at Fenway, we certainly can't argue with the new configuration. Boston might be one the verge of having the best overall outfield in baseball—youth, athleticism and also some pop. Said Sox manager Torey Lovullo, "Mookie is working hard to get reps out there. He's verbally given us the OK, he's ready for that challenge physically and fundamentally." Betts stated, "Jackie is arguably the best outfielder in general in baseball so I completely understand it. I'm not mad about it at all. But as long as he's on my side I really don't care. He covers a lot of ground. He talks to me. He makes me comfortable out there and I think that's the most important thing. Going out to right with him in center, I know he'll make sure I'm comfortable with everything and I think it'll be pretty smooth." Nice. Obviously, 2016 is going to be fun with these guys out there every day.