A's Designate Bradley For Assignment

In a surprising move, the Athletics designated Milton Bradley for assignment today.  The A's will have to trade Bradley and his $4MM contract within ten days or just release him and eat the cost.  Around $2.2MM remains.  He'll become a free agent after the season. 

Bradley is one of the most fragile players in all of baseball, the Kerry Wood of position players.  He spent 2006-07 as an Athletic, hitting .279/.371/.447 in 416 ABs.  Bradley remains a very useful center fielder when he's able to play, so a number of teams should pursue him.  At least at this moment, he is relatively healthy.  The Marlins and Cardinals could have interest.

Athletics Nation isn't sure why Billy Beane made this decision, but trusts his judgment.

Comments

[jza1218]

Wow...I wonder where he ends up

[Teetz]

Who is Nick Swisher gonna homerun dance with now?

[moebarguy]

I wouldn't mind if the Mets gave him a chance...

[WestCoastBias]

Kevin Towers made a comment yesterday about making incremental steps towards improvement in regards to the Barrett trade and also mentioned that the big bats will be hard to acquire. With that said, I could see him making this trade happen. I'd imagine that Beane would prefer to get rid of the rest of his salary and that that's his main objective. Kevin Towers could even send over Scott Cassidy as an extra bullpen arm for the A's, if needed. The Padres have the outfield depth to give Bradley plenty of rest and when he's on, he could do some damage to the NL West.

[WestCoastBias]

Kevin Towers made a comment yesterday about making incremental steps towards improvement in regards to the Barrett trade and also mentioned that the big bats will be hard to acquire. With that said, I could see him making this trade happen. I'd imagine that Beane would prefer to get rid of the rest of his salary and that that's his main objective. Kevin Towers could even send over Scott Cassidy as an extra bullpen arm for the A's, if needed. The Padres have the outfield depth to give Bradley plenty of rest and when he's on, he could do some damage to the NL West.

[deadbeat17]

funny, i was planning on saying the same thing westcoastbias was going to say.

i really think KT needs to jump on this one.

injury riddled or not Bradley is a MUCH needed improvement over Bocachica and Sledge.

this would bump cruz to 4th outfielder where he truly belongs when BGiles returns.

[Zonis]

Three way with the Marlins, A's and Devil Rays?

Rays get Bradley, Marlins get Dukes, A's get ???

[Andersklasen]

Twins GMG Terry Ryan should jump on this opportunity to replace Torii Hunter.

[tinathemetsgrl]

i agree with moebarguy. I wouldn't mind the Mets taking a chance on Bradley, but we already have an injury prone player in Moises Alou (what in the world is going on with him, btw??). Unless Bradley can stay healthy. Mets needs help in all places at this point.

[OchoaSTL]

I know the Cards won't go after him. Outfield isn't a pressing need right now.

[Papelboner]

D-Rays wouldn't have any interest in bringing on a guy who has an attitude problem, plays the OF, is injury prone, not young, makes too much money. No way a 3 way deal goes down like that. Why pay $2.2M the rest of the season for a guy like this when the playoffs aren't even a thought?

[Andersklasen]

Who says that the playoffs aren't even a thought for the Devil Rays? You can get back to .500 by the All-Star break, then have a decent run at the Wild Card. Remember the '06 Twins?

[Baseballfan79]

.279/.371/.447

pretty much double reggie abercrombie's production

I would love him in CF and for 2.2 million for the rest of the year it would be a steal. Our lineup would look pretty good specially when Jacobs get back.

Dukes or Bradley make a lot of sense either long term or short term for the Fish.

[Papelboner]

I hope you're not serious thinking that the D-Rays and the playoffs will be said in the same sentence this season (unless you were to say, "There's no way the D-Rays will make the playoffs). They are 31-39, 14.5 back in the AL East (Behind BOS, NYY, and TOR) and 10.5 back in the Wild Card (Behind Det, Cle, Oak, Sea, Min, NYY, and Tor). They will not make the playoffs. I will bet my Carl Crawford bobblehead doll it doesn't happen.

[darkstar1661]

Dont the Rays already have GameBoy pt2 in Dukes who they are trying to dump themselves?

Why would they want to replace him with, well an older him?

SD seems the most logical destination for the rest of this year at least. Fla fits, but it doesn’t really help them much this year so whats the point? The Mets have Millidge or other prospects they could give a shot instead. The Twins work IF they think they can keep him long term, but they might question his attitude too much…

[scatterbrian]

for some reason I think this is a precursor to another A's move, likely a trade for another OF.....Stewart adn Johnson aren't getting it done, and I think they prefer Swisher at 1B.....

Incidentally, Bradley will end up with the Rangers....

[WestCoastBias]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Billy Beane has a trick up his sleave. Maybe he's clearing some payroll to go after a big bat.

Adam Dunn, perhaps?

With Rich Harden coming off the DL tomorrow, he'll ideally showcase his health and effectiveness, allowing the A's to ship him off somewhere. I can see the Red's biting on that...

[Zonis]

I would love an Adam Dunn trade. And come to think bout it, it would make a lot of sense.

But, the A's line on why they let Bradley go... well, lets just take the Rotoworld quote on it.

"Milton Bradley was designated for assignment Thursday after expressing his discontent Tuesday that the A's waited a couple of extra days to activate him from the DL.
The A's apparently didn't think Bradley would respond well to sitting two or three times per week to accomodate their crowded outfield and decided to act now rather than wait for any further blowups. The A's have until the end of the month to trade Bradley after dropping him from the roster. If they can't find a deal, he can decline a minor league assignment and become a free agent. Expect a trade to get done."

Especially if Johnson is traded in a package with Bradley, or seperatley, I could see the A's calling up Daric Barton.

[Zonis]

But the A's wouldn't trade Harden for Dunn.

If the A's trade Harden, they'd expect a Mulder-like return, maybe more.

[WestCoastBias]

Do you really believe Harden's value is near where Mulder's was? Harden still hasn't proven himself to be a durable starter. If the Reds really do value him that much more then Dunn though, how about something like this:

Rich Harden & Dan Johnson
for
Adam Dunn & Bronson Arroyo

[Droptop]

Okay, let's stop all the Harden trade talks, A's need his arm too bad right now and he's still young and cheap. Let us all move on....

Bradley was designated this early because Chavez is hurt so they need another IF on the bench, not another overly crowded OF. Beane had talks with at least one team about trading him while he was on the DL. Beane also said they aren't even close to being done with all the roster moves needed as they expect Kielty and Snelling back soon as well. Travis Buck has proven he belongs which has greatly cut into Shannon Stewarts playing time(even though he was hitting over .300 until his foot acted up). I see quite a few trades and "designations" right around the corner....