Red Sox place Jackie Bradley Jr. on the DL

Jackie Bradley Jr. has been slowed as of late due to an injury originally described as a minor shoulder issue. He missed a couple of games in late April, and when he returned, he slotted in as the designated hitter for the Pawtucket Red Sox rather than in the outfield. As he now hasn't played since May 4, however, Bradley has been placed on the minor-league seven-day disabled list.

It's being officially listed as tendinitis in his right biceps, which just so happens to be the same thing that pushed Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey to the disabled list, also on Monday. While you never want to see anyone on the DL, at least it's a minor injury, as initially reported before it was entirely clear just what it was. That, and now it's impossible by roster rules for Jackie Bradley Jr. to not be under team control in 2019.

The concern with Bradley coming up to Boston on Opening Day was that he would play well enough -- or the Red Sox would be injured enough -- that they would essentially end up trading an entire year of team control for a couple of weeks of regular season baseball in the present. Bradley didn't play well, though -- not entirely surprising for a player who jumped from 70-odd games in Double-A to the majors -- and was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket once David Ortiz was healthy.

Wednesday marks 20 days since his demotion, and 20 days is what was needed to push his service time around in such a way that his free agency would not begin until after 2019. So, if Bradley ended up back in Boston by the summer, either due to injuries or because he was actually ready instead of hopefully ready for the bigs, it wouldn't impact his team control at all, and the Red Sox would get six-plus seasons from him rather than just the standard six.