Why the new contract signed by Aaron Hicks isn't likely to impact Jackie Bradley Jr. anytime soon

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When it comes to contracts in baseball, very few happen in a vacuum.

When one deal signed, there is almost always a corollary that can be made.

Case in point: the contract reached Monday by Aaron Hicks and the New York Yankees.

Hicks and the Yankees agreed to a seven-year, $70-million contract extension which will keep Hicks off the free agent market next winter. He was entering his final season of control by the Yankees.

Without a doubt, the deal will have some ramifications for Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who will be eligible for free agency after the 2020 season.

Hicks and Bradley are roughly the same age: Hicks will play this regular season at 29 while Bradley will turn 29 in April. Hicks has one more year of service time.

The comps don't end there. Hicks has a career OPS of .724 while Bradley's is .717. They each have 70 career homers. In career WAR, Hicks is at 10.6, compared to 13.1 for Bradley.

Each has a reputation as a strong defender in center with strong throwing arms. Bradley has won a Gold Glove and has saved 41 defensive runs above average compared to 16 for Hicks. Assists -- which can be misleading, since baserunners seldom run on outfielders with good arms -- favor Bradley too, with 46 in his career compared to 30 for Hicks.

How close are the two? BaseballReference.com lists Hicks fifth in comparing players in baseball history most similar to Bradley.

But there are important distinctions at work here which could mitigate against the Red Sox and Bradley coming to a similar agreement between now and the end of the 2020 season.

First is the matter of representation. Bradley's agent is Scott Boras, who seldom advises his players to sign extensions before reaching free agency. His philosophy -- one which is difficult to argue -- is that players benefit by having more teams bid for their services.

Secondly, the Red Sox have more of a full plate than do the Yankees when it comes to free agency. While a number of the Yankees' core players are either signed to long-term deals (Giancarlo Stanton, Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino) or years away from qualifying for free agency (Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge), the Red Sox are staring down the barrel of five key free agents next offseason and the one which follows: Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Bradley, with another key player, J.D. Martinez able to opt out after 2019.

That represents a lot of tough (and potentially highly expensive) calls for the Red Sox the next two years. And while Bradley is a valued part of the Sox whose defense, in particular, will be tough to replace, the case could be made that, of the pending free agents lined up over the next two years, Bradley ranks as perhaps the least important of the group.

Certainly, among the position players, both Betts -- on a very short list of the best players in the game -- and Bogaerts are more integral to the Sox going forward. In particular, the Red Sox currently have no one in their system capable of taking over at short should Bogaerts leave after 2019. And, quite obviously for a player with three top-six finishes in the AL MVP voting the last three seasons, the loss of Betts would be incalculable.

Similarly, Sale profiles as one of the game's most dominant starters while Porcello has been an incredibly durable performer, pitching 172 or more innings in each of the last eights seasons while contributing more than 200 innings in two of the last three.

Meanwhile, there are alternatives should Bradley leave. The Sox could shift Andrew Benintendi from left to center -- as they did occasionally last year -- and have an easier time finding someone to play left.

Much will depend on how Bradley perhaps offensively going forward. If, indeed, he has finally found a swing that he can maintain, his production could continue to improve, and matched with his defensive brilliance, could make him even more attractive.

But unless the Red Sox fail to re-sign any of his teammates in the upcoming free agent classes, it's likely that Bradley will have to get his money elsewhere.