Mariners rejected Red Sox trade offer of Jackie Bradley Jr. for Charlie Furbush

According to a report from Gordon Edes, the Red Sox attempted to trade Jackie Bradley Jr. to the Mariners for reliever Charlie Furbush during spring training, but were turned down.

It comes as no surprise to hear that the Sox were trying to deal Bradley. Coming into the season they had quite the surplus of outfielders, with Bradley relegated to the minor leagues to start the year, only recently making his way back up to the majors. Allen Craig and Shane Victorino were often at the heart of trade rumors, but it's hard to imagine the Red Sox didn't explore every possible avenue to get some value back for their perceived excess.

Since then, Bradley has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in Triple-A, hitting .343/.393/.465 in 107 plate appearances with Pawtucket. He remains hitless in the majors, but it's a sample that's lasted all of eight at bats, so if it's not an encouraging start, it's still hard to draw any conclusions.

Furbush, meanwhile, has kept the runs off the board coming out of the bullpen for the Mariners. He doesn't have his usual strikeout totals just yet, and as a left-handed fly ball pitcher one does have to wonder how well he'd survive Fenway Park, but he's emerged as a reliable pen arm since being traded to Seattle in exchange for Doug Fister in a trade the 2011 Red Sox really, really should have thrown their hats into. Sorry, still a bit bitter about that one.

Still, if you're wondering why the Red Sox stood pat with their outfielders over the offseason, the fact that they couldn't even get a decent pen arm back for a guy who, one year ago, was a consensus top-50 prospect should give you a pretty good idea of why.