Milton Bradley’s only 30 years old, and hit 22 home runs, drove in 77 and hit .321 with an OBP of .436 in 414 at bats for Texas in 2008. Deemed unworthy of a multi-year pact by the Rangers, Bradley signed a 3-year, $30 million contract with the Cubs today, and along with the Sun-Times’ Neil Hayes acknowledging the OF/DH’s “anger management issues”, the ticking timebomb left handed hitter was characterized diplomatically as “not an ideal addition.”
His temper may not be just what the Cubs need. He may give the Cubs the left-handed punch in the middle of the lineup that they desperately seek, but he™s just as likely to go Michael Barrett the first time Zambrano questions his defense. At this point, nobody knows how this forced marriage will end.This much we do know: Mark DeRosa was sent packing in part to make room for Bradley. De Rosa was a versatile, valuable and clutch player for the Cubs last season. His departure, when combined with the loss of long-time clubhouse anchor Kerry Wood and the addition of Bradley, radically alters chemistry that has proven successful ” at least during the regular season.
Nobody can say the Cubs aren™t trying. With their latest move, they hope they acquired the missing piece of the postseason puzzle, and who™s to say they haven™t?
Hey, if it’s regular season credentials Hayes is concerned with, Moody Milton’s clubhouse presence didn’t stop the Dodgers or A’s from winning division titles in ’04 and ’06 respectively. As of this writing, he has exactly as many World Series rings as DeRosa and Wood combined. There’s obviously an element of risk in discarding a player as versatile as DeRosa, but if Bradley can stay healthy, he’s a genuine upgrade.
There’s no truth to the rumor, however, they’re installing airline cockpit doors on the entry to WGN’s TV booth at Wrigley.
Wood’s “chemistry” was successful because nobody fights with a guy warming the bench 80% of his career. Who was Wood going to piss off besides me? Certainly not Neal Hayes. I like DeRosa enough, but Milton is in another kind of player. He’s a big plus. Why do guys like Hayes get upset over a Milton Bradley’s outbursts like it’s some public issue we all have to seriously address, like drug dealing or health care? So what if he’s got a temper? He’s a baseball player, not the mayor.
That said, Milton and Piniella is the combination I most want to watch. For all Piniella’s acquired calm and mastery of the word “nice” in interviews, hints surface now and then that his clubhouse demeanor can be as hardass as ever. Soriano, Wood, and Fukudome were all subject to his one-on-one meetings in 2008, and only Soriano will be there opening day. Soriano, if I recall, caught it in the form of Spanish language harangues during the October choke of ’08.
Anyway, Milton is the perfect addition to answer the Guillen factor during this year’s Cubs-Sox classic.
Yeah, Wood got a free ride from too many fans and hack writers because he was a scruffy beef jerky munching white dude, which meant he was gritty and had heart. Nevermind that the tough as nails, gritty SOB spent an inordinate amount of time on the DL from a blister. I mean Lou Barlow can play through blisters but Wood can’t?
DeRosa was a nice player but whenever somebody says he was “clutch” I think of those clutch DPs he hit into down the stretch.
MB was a good pickup and team chemistry be damned. Of course it won’t matter much if Dempster confirms my worst suspicions about last year being a total fluke and if Zambrano shows up missing his pitching arm because he somehow lost it killing Commies in the off-season and if Lee continues his downward slide even further until he’s in late career Leon Durham territory.