Milton Bradley Signs With Cubs

I am....you know we're not done! We're in a small market....just because everytime we speak to a player you don't read about doesn't mean it's not happening...there are trades coming

""My point exactly--Beltre has been pretty good, not the monster that Seattle paid for."

According to Fangraphs, he has outplayed his contract.

Posted by: Aduncaroo |"

Some people will never ever learn, he has been outstanding in Seattle and worth every penny. He had a fluke '04 where fly balls he hit were leaving the park twice as often as they have throughout the rest of his career and people think because he doesnt hit 45 bombs he is a bust.

Milton Bradley will absolutely not repeat his '08 performance. but 100 games a year and he will earn his contract.

"At least you have Derosa to fill in when he gets hurt.....ohhhh wait......"

No, we just took your best middle infielder from last year and made him our backup.

As a huge Dodger fan, I can honestly say that I enjoyed having Bradley in the lineup. The fans really liked him. He is the last outfielder that we had that ignited the crowd.

Of course, Manny is an exception.

When he controls his anger (also, the incident when he threw a bottle at a fan's feet, or when he pulled off his jersey in disgust are exceptions) he is a great player. Good signing for the Cubs, although 2-years with an option would have been the better choice. Give him a "Furcal-type" contract based on at-bats and games. I'm not sure if the Wrigley grass is going to be good for his knees.

Cubbies, just wait and see. No use saying it is a bad deal until the season starts. He is a lot better than Fuku anyway.

"Now give me Jake Peavy, anytime before July 31st, and we might actually advance in the Playoffs."

Can there ever be a mention of anything Cubs without Peavy's name thrown in for good measure? My God.

If any fans doubt his skills, check out clips of his swing. He has a long swing, but a lot of pop.

The Cubs fans won't let him forget his mistakes.

His former manager, Ron Washington, was quoted as saying that Bradley cares more about winning than any player out there. By joining a team in dire need for a title and fans that care more about baseball than breathing, that attitude just might work.

I hope Bradley reads all the criticism about him and proves most people wrong and has a stellar year. Maybe it will be enough motivation for him. Once again I hope.

We got weaker. We don't really have a bench at the moment, outside of Miles. We subtracted Wood and replaced him with Gregg. We sent a guy who could play anywhere and post good numbers to Cleveland for basically nothing. And we just signed a potential Godzilla to go with Zambrano's potential King Kong.

I don't know whether I hope Hendry's not done and will bring in one of the guys everyone's tired of hearing about, or whether I want him to stop before he comes up with another crazy idea.

Isn't that worth 10M? Doesn't Abreu want 50% more $$$ and provide the same stat line?

Not for a guy who played little to nothing in the outfield last year, a contract year. If Burrell took 2/$16, Abreu's price dropped too. Also, Abreu has averaged 156 g, .290, 17, 102 & 26 steals over the last 3 years while Bradley is this: 95 g, .302, 16, 56, & 7 swipes. For some reason Hendry always seems to gamble rather that take steady performance. I just don't get it!

"So the Cubs are going to maybe get .310, 15 hr's & 80 rbi's for 10 mil."

Please people, stop quoting RBIs as evidence for anything either way...it makes me mad I took the time to read your post.

what is off?

Abreu signed 2yr/16 mil. thats weird that he got the same deal as Burrell did. You better let Tim know that Abreu signed..somewhere

I dunno. Yes I know they needed that LH bat, but 3/$30 mil? I keep hearing IF Bradley can stay healthy.... but look hes been in the league what 7-8 years already. When you are injury prone, you are injury prone. Cubs fans,above all, know this well. Does anyone expect this guy to not hit the DL? And im hearing from fans, "he can platoon". Guys Bradley is not platooning. You cant have two guys(Bradley,Fukudome) making big money and platooning, one of them is going to have to be a full timer. Bradley will be the full time RF'er....until he gets hurt.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
3/30HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
165 innings in the field
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA22.5 million for a RF platoon!HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Could've had Manny...Abreu...Dunn
Fukodome took less money to play RF in Wrigley...he sux...this guy is brutal in the field and won't stay healthy and will be a head case HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH
CUBS FANS ARE GONNA WAIT ANOTHER 100!!!!!!!!!!HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAA

IF the Reds had a real manager, they could probably really challenge the Cubs in 2009.

Derosa/Miles,Ceda/Gregg,Bradley,Wood...Your 2009 Chicago Cubs...Suck!Hendry rules!I think St Louis just got Peavy

And to whoever said the cardinals are in a small market- 100 million payroll isnt a small market. The Cards have money, and they spend it well for the most part. They would be smart to get Orlando Hudson and maybe Oliver Perez. After that if Ludwick can produce a similar year and they should compete all year.

marshall is not an option as fifth starter i would rather bring back jon lieber or sign pedro

There's a lot of "if he stays healthy" going on. And I hope he does, but no wagers coming from me ( I had him in roto in 07).

But it's not just the injury thing. It's, well, let Milton 'splain:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2007/08/05/SP3CRD9EQ2.DTL

Miles is a bench player for us this year. Fontenot will be starting at 2nd unless he is traded.

With Willy Taveras playing CF, Jerry Hairston Jr probably playing LF, Alex Gonzalez playing SS and a different Manager, the Reds MIGHT be a .500 team.

With Willy T playing CF and leading off, JHJ playing NO MATTER WHAT, A Gon at SS and Toothpick Baker as Manager (making numerous double switches because Weathers is old and will be ineffective and Rhodes can only Pitch to Left Handed batters; keeping Volquez and Cueto in Games much longer than he was allowed to do last season thus pushing up their Pitch Counts and Innings Pitched to dangerous levels) the Reds will be lucky to not lose 100 Games and be lucky to not finish in last place in 2009.

Marshall would be a #4 starter on most teams so don't know what your problem is with him.

Bradley has been worth $10M or more in 5 of his past 6 seasons and is simply better than Burrell so not sure what the bad deal comments are about.

He is close to as good a hitter as Burrell and a much better fielder. I doubt his ability to stay healthy playing in the field every day though so by playoff time he probably isn't helping the Cubs much.

cubz23,

THAT is a point a LOT of fans don't seem to understand. Throwing a lot of Innings isn't bad if the number of Pitches per Inning isn't too high. However, when a Manager allows a Pitcher to stay in Games where they have high Pitch counts and they do this on a normal basis, the Pitchers get worn out and either injured because of this or they get injured because they are tired and change their mechanics.

I remember looking at the stats pf one of the Pitchers on the Giants when Baker was Manager (I can't remember his name right now).

Anyway, one year Baker allowed that Pitcher to have three straight starts where he went only 4 Innings in each start but his Pitch count was over 90 in each of those Games. So, while most Pitchers throw that many Pitches in 6 (or more) Innings, Baker allowed this poor guy to do it in only 4 Innings and do it in three straight starts.

What I am REALLY worried about is how Baker handles Volquez and Cueto in 2009.

In 2008, Baker had his hands tied. This was because he was TOLD to keep both Volquez and Cueto's Innings under 190 for the season. Now, however, with each of them having one full year in the Majors as starting Pitchers under their respective belts, I am afriad Baker is going to be allowed to have free reign over these two and he is going to misuse and abuse them and wear them out just like he did with Aaron Harang last year.

Henry,

I imagine he and Neifi Perez are sitting by the phone, anxiously awaiting Toothpick to call......

The way I look at it is this: If you just switch the RF/2b situation from last year, it all makes sense. Bradley replaces DeRosa's production and Fontenot replaces Fukudome's production. The CF platoon of Fukudome and Johnson should be as productive as last year's CF platoon. So what you get is basically the same type of production from the lineup that you got last year (which led the league in runs) but with much better lefty/righty balance. Then add that you've got good speed off the bench with Gathright and Miles -- someithing we lacked last year (while understanding how much Piniella values speed) -- you start to see how the pieces fit. They're tailoring this team for Piniella. AND we've got Harden and Smardzija for a whole year....well, despite the gripes, I'm thinking that the Cubs will be just fine.

"I think St Louis just got Peavy

Posted by: rfro | January 05, 2009 at 05:29 PM "

Yeah.. Rasmus,Chris Perez, and Anderson is a start.. no way they get him.

"I don't like this signing one bit I would of preferred Adam Dunn, plus they should of got Bradley cheaper since Burrell signed for 8 million a year."

Completely agree. Dunn would have been SICK!! Who cares about his defense, his bat would more than make up for any deficiencies in that department.
Also, I don't give a rats ass about Bradley's supposed attitude problems. It's his ability to injure himself early and often that bugs me. I am truly disappointed in Jim on this one. Normally I'm the first one on the Hendry bandwagon, but you let us down this time. It looks like a signing that was made to appease the less knowledgeable fans out there and get some asses in the seats, so to speak.
Anywho, if Milton stays healthy and plays 150 FULL games in each of the next three years, I'll tip my hat to the Cubs. Anything less than 140 games per year is an epic fail, IMO.

i, for one, am delighted that the mouth-breathing web-tards have come out in full force to spew the over-abundant cub-hate. thanx for coming by fellas, you make the internet go round. just try not to get too much drool on your keyboard so it malfunctions. my days go by much quicker when i can read the incoherent ramblings of the simple-minded. laughter is a great time-waster...

Reed Johnson has a career line of .268/.327/.385/.712 vs righties which is pretty terrible. Don't see why the Cubs would want to start him full time.

Ender, the Cubs arent starting him full time, he's going to platoon with Fuku. I don't see why people are having a difficult time understanding this. It's Fukudome/Johnson, not Bradley/Fukudome. Fukudome will just cover games in right for when Bradley needs a rest (read: hurt). We don't need Bradley to play 150 games. Let's get him 120 games in the field, keep him healthy for the playoffs and see what we can do.

He is basically a younger Moises Alou, a good hitter but just gets hurt all the time.

Everyone on here keeps saying if he stays healthy, and I have to agree i think its scary too. But dont you think Hendry hired the best doctors in the world to come in and check him out before investing 30 million into a guy? This could turn into a very exciting lineup.

Can we please stop with the completely biased opinions of Marshall? Look up stats before you spew opinions, it makes you look like you are knowledable. I also like, Matt, how you say we need someone who can go longer, like Samardzija, who has not started in the majors yet...

marshall needs to be in the bullpen as a lefty long relief guy. hill, cedeno, pie, these three guys for derosa need to be traded

Could their had been of deal that could of sent Jhonny Peralta for DeRosa.

There are some people on here competing for idiot of the year.

Lieber? The guy that gives up 9 runs a game? Thats who you want in the rotation in front of Marshall, who would be most team's #4?

"if my math and memory is correct, the cubs have spent about 200 million dollars on their outfield the past three offseasons, and all three were overpayed and dont have much to show for it"

Man, are you serious?

Worth/Made

Soriano
07- 18/14
08- 12.3/14

Fukudome
08 - 9.0/7.0

Edmonds
08 - 5.6/ League Minimum!

Johnson
08 - 5.6/ League Minimum!

Oh, and yes, thats right people. Fukudome was actually worth 9 mil last year, and he wasn't paid that much. He outplayed his contract! That isn't going to sit well with all the Cubs bashers here though, is it?

i just wanna know where you get those worth/made stats from?

You're right ChiSox...its not leadership in the way of Ryne Sandberg, but its his ability to fire the team up that I want the Cubs to have. Thats an important aspect of a playoff team...and something the Cubs have lacked for several years. One of the reasons why we lose so quickly in the playoffs lately.

I still remember Shawon Dunston knocking a player's helmet off after a hard slide into 2nd base...and then pointing a finger in the guy's face assumably (is that a word?) cussing the guy out. Thats the kind of leadership Bradley will bring to the Cubs ;)

rich hill instead of marshall.he is out of options and is suckin it up right now.pie,cedeno,hill plus whatever minor leaguers it takes to get peavy.i like the signing of bradley.i would have preferred dunns bat.but bradley has been dhing for most of last year,so im sure his knee is 100% healthy.140 games in right,hands down.hendry is a top 5 GM.I HATE WHEN PEOPLE BASH HIM.he knows what hes doing,and marshall although i like him,will not be the 5th starter.they will acquire a staring pitcher.

all i know is that the cubs now have way too much in the way of players and need to get rid of them. cedeno, hill, pie, 3 prospects for derosa, and possibly vizcaino can all be trade bate for better players. i.e. peavy or roberts

cubz23 is so ignorant. He sugar coats the cubs like lame duck news stations do politicians.

?? can i get an example Boras. I defy you to dig up a post where i have been overly optomistic about the cubs- i am probably the most pessimistic cubs fan i know.

Mark my words, Peavy will be wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform by opening day! They are going to send so pitching prospect out to San Diego... I never thought about Rich Hill, he seemed MLB ready, until his melt down... Poor Richie!

send angel guzman also

And please keep Angel Guzman. I love that guy.

That line up looks like something Lou might do. He tweaks his line ups, that's for sure. With all of the Bradley talk, Fukudome is a big key this year.

I Think this lineup is the best first off because lee doesn't belong in the 3 spot and also to split up righty's
Lineup:
1)Soriano
2)Fontonot
3)A-Ram
4)Bradley
5)Lee
6)Soto
7)Johnson/fuc-U-do-me
8)Theriot
9)Z

....7)Put fukudome in with lefys unless he starts suckin a** then just keep Reed in

Also we need Roberts more than peavy easily and that changes the lineup a lot then!

This is a huge gamble from the Cub's side.

If they have language protecting themselves against injuries, I don't see how this can be a bad signing. I'm glad we finally have someone on our team to whom losing is not an option. He expresses it in ... odd ways, but he has fire.

weeha

I think a Fukudome/Johnson lead-off platoon has some promise. After watching what this team has done in the playoff the last two years, I am convinced the Cubs will not win until Soriano is moved from the lead-off spot. Runs are at a premium in the playoffs and you can't afford your leadoff guy swinging at 3 pitches every time. In my opinion Soriano should be in the 6 spot.

Fuk/Johnson
Riot
ARam
Bradley
Lee
Soriano
Fontenot
Soto

This makes it a very deep & balanced lineup & will force other maangers to actually manage a bit. Not a easy out 1-8. In the playoff the last 2 years, the other did not have to even consider using a top reliever for one batter, double switching etc.

Maybe the managers do run the show but with the Cubs 2 striaght playoff appearances 0 wins & 12 runs. Changes had to be made!! If anyoine thought that if the Cubs brought back the same team the woudl suddenly find "it" you are dreaming. Not saying I exactly like the changes but you had to do something