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« Red Sox Sign 19 | Main | Stark On Red Sox Offseason Moves »
Milton Bradley Comments
Milton Bradley's comments to Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are causing a mini-stir. He spoke about how the Rangers wouldn't commit to him:
"My agent was saying that Jon Daniels was telling him, 'There are days when he doesn’t want to play because of his health.' Well, you can get a healthy guy to go out there and play 162 games, but he won’t do what I did in 120."
As Lebreton said, the comment was "crudely self-serving" but "mostly right" given his production last year. Worse, though, Bradley seemed to admit to prioritizing his stats:
"If I'm being paid, and I've got the commitment to me that I give to them, you make more of an effort to be out there every day. When you're on one-year deals constantly, you've got to put up as good numbers as you can. When you have days where you’re not feeling like you can contribute, you're not going to go out there, because you’re not going to want your numbers to suck. So, if you're in a situation like I am now, if they want me to go out there when I'm feeling a little banged up, I've got no problem doing that because they've made the commitment to me."
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Selfish players do play for stats. Stats are used in contract negotiations. This is why it is so important to understand the intangibles when evaluating players.
Posted by: Svengoolie | March 10, 2009 at 05:30 PM
That's the truth, Bradley is a great player but he only played when he wanted to last year. I wonder what he could do if he got his head on straight.
Posted by: rjcnattc | March 10, 2009 at 05:34 PM
Well, at least he was honest about it.
Posted by: Ink&Paper | March 10, 2009 at 05:37 PM
I'm not sure you can call it selfish at this point. Everybody wants job security, particularly when not having it means you're potentially uprooting everything and moving across the country.
That said, it might not have been in his best interest. He essentially traded potentially sucky numbers for an even stronger belief that he's injury prone, and that in turn may also contribute to teams not wanting to make long-term commitments to him.
Not a fan of the attitude for sure though.
Posted by: Jon B. | March 10, 2009 at 05:41 PM
97 of those games he was a DH and was batting behind Josh Hamilton most of the time. How much is he gonna be out when he has to play the field everyday. Cubs fans get ready for those hamstrings to pop.
Posted by: Rangerfan | March 10, 2009 at 05:42 PM
Yeah its going to be impossible to get someone to come into Texas and hit 22 HR and drive in 77 in 162 games. You know Texas? The AL Coors Field. Next 3 years GMJ and Bradley will be making good money from dumb teams thanks to the helpful Rangers.
Posted by: XD23 | March 10, 2009 at 05:44 PM
Yeah, totally Svengoolie. 9 david ecksteins > 9 milton bradleys. Grit and scrappiness win championships, not good players.
Posted by: metsftw | March 10, 2009 at 05:45 PM
Milton has never been known for being tactful.
Posted by: mford | March 10, 2009 at 05:46 PM
Props for honesty, but dayum.
Posted by: The Globalizer | March 10, 2009 at 05:47 PM
When did Bradley become a good player? Don't good players want to play 150 games hit 25+ HR and drive in 100+ runs?
Posted by: XD23 | March 10, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Bradley is a chump. This is going to be a bad signing well before the contract expires.
Posted by: bjsguess | March 10, 2009 at 05:59 PM
RangerFan is right, Josh Hamilton....kept him healthy? and allowed him to post a monster OPS (a stat that measures purely individual performance) ??
Posted by: hammer | March 10, 2009 at 06:06 PM
No, good players OPS over 950, which is what he did last year in the reverse park to what SD is to pitching, so even though he's produced when he hasnt been hurt, he was still a little inflated and the Cubs were dumb to sign him that long.
These comments are nothing new, I remember when he came to Oakland how he talked about when he played he always ran out and gave 200% because he wanted to have a respectful character in the MLB video games as well as fantasyball. I specifically remember him saying something like that "This ones for all the guys who have me on their fantasy teams" lol.
Posted by: Athletic Domination | March 10, 2009 at 06:06 PM
"When did Bradley become a good player?"
Seriously? Maybe when he led the AL in OBP...
He also had a .410 OBP away last year.
He isn't the best player in the league, but to say he isn't "good" is just ignorant.
Posted by: Aduncaroo | March 10, 2009 at 06:16 PM
"9 david ecksteins > 9 milton bradleys. Grit and scrappiness win championships, not good players."
yeah right. i can't wait to buy tickets for the 09 world series featuring the Padres... Eckstein will teach them to be gritty and scrappy and that should do the trick. They will easily beat the AL team stacked with actual good players.
Posted by: Baseball@Europe | March 10, 2009 at 06:17 PM
first I have to say I am one of the few fans who thought Bradley was the guy the Dodgers should have kept and dumped Jeff the Junt. He has an honesty about him which is refreshing in people today. From every event I ever read about him, he is a very good guy with a good heart.
Even in that infamous water bottle incident, the guy went out of his way to NOT endanger the fans. I mean who can blame him for reacting as he did because the bottle thrown at him could easily have been something worse. Still even a half-full bottle of water can cause injury. What if it got under his foot, hit him in the face or ??? He did not over react.
The issue with Kent, well, Kent probably was more responsible for it than Bradley. Kent was supposed to be the sage vet who has "been there done that" so instead of diffusing the issue to help his team, he chose to let it explode far out of proportion. And yes, Bradley was wrong to play that race card too...even if Jeff the Junt was a racist, that comment did NOT help the team at all. I am sure his Mom gave him a BIG earful. She was great when asked about Bradley's latest escapade... ;) She loves him but at the same time kept trying to get him to accept his limits as well as understand hoe very luck he was in life to be where he was.
At his core Bradley does really see like a person I could befriend. Chip on his shoulder or quick temper or not...at least he is who he is and everyone knows where he stands at any given instant. Maybe because I am the same way myself. People take directness and honesty for hostility because we live in a society where everyone is on some form of medication to keep them docile and calm...it is against human nature.
As to his health, I can relate because I am lucky enough to have lived with Juvenile onset Rheumatoid Arthritis which was Dx'd when I was 9, or over three decades ago. I have daily pain which defies relief and is there 24/7. It took a long time to accept I no no longer able to do even 50% of what I once was able to do. If I do not rest enough every day and try to do too much I am unable to function for the next month or more. The problem is I look perfectly healthy and am as strong as I ever was at any time in life. So I too hear the whispers about being lazy and shiftless. Health issues people cannot see are perceived and a scam by so many out there. And for me there is no pill I can take which will fix my pain.
This relates to Bradley's health because while we cannot see anything wrong because the guy is conditioned and in good shape physically. So people think he should be an iron man. But he has grown up enough to know he now must listen to his body and do what he can to maximize his effectiveness. So, he takes time off in order to be overall more effective. Teams know this about him when they sign him so fans need to grow ti understand these limits also and give the guy a break. He is a very dedicated team guy who simply gets frustrated, not with his teammates but rather, himself. Pain which affects your performance is extremely frustrating to an athlete, or anyone for that matter. People who are ignorant enough to not understand this and instead consider it a personal weakness, only make the issue worse and engender an adversarial relationship where none should exist at all.
I suspect that Bradley has maybe his ideal manager finally. Someone who is very hard nosed yet does relate to the issues players face with health. A manager who values the fact giving your best for 120 games is of more value to the team then pushing yourself too far during the first 60-games then not being able to give more than 40-60% the rest of the way down to almost nothing at the end when it matters. Lou Piniella is cut from the same cloth as Bradley so, hopefully there is finally a place for the dude to have some fun in the game.
Take this post and not a woe-is-me sort of thing for Bradley but rather a chance to look at the whole thing from a different perspective...I mean holy cripes, it is only baseball and a game...why search out the negative in a non-issue when all it will bring is a decrease in your enjoyment of the game. Of course opinions will vary because some out there were toilet trained at gunpoint and refuse to try and understand the world around them, rather insisting that world conforms to their demands.
Posted by: grumpy3b | March 10, 2009 at 06:23 PM
The comment from Bradley may not be good for his public image because fans are generally stupid and so jealous of professional.
People will be all over Bradley for this comment. However, it's completely logical and legitimate.
He is playing the game to make enough money to set himself up for life. Before this contract ($30MM) he had NOT done that yet. Now that the Cubs have set him up for life, he can lay it on the line for them. Why would he play hurt for Texas? Risk serious injury? Risk deflating your numbers and future contract? That would be stupid.
Posted by: kbrooks2LA | March 10, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Bad for PR, but thankfully (for him) Bradley has already signed the contract. And he's still a monster player.
And he has plenty of incentive not to go on the DL in '09. 2011 vesting option FTW! Although he can pretty much spend all of 2010 on the DL.
Posted by: melonis rex | March 10, 2009 at 06:38 PM
I don't think you can begrudge a player his health and if he takes time off because he doesn't think he can compete then it's something you deal with. That said, if a player takes a day off because he doesn't think his batting average will go up, then you've got a problem. I'm willing to give Bradley the benefit of the doubt but given his history of behavioral problems this is troubling. Hopefully we can take him at his word that now that he's got a commitment from a team he'll do whatever he can to play. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out.
Posted by: pageian | March 10, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Bradley has had 1 season with 500 plate appearances. Last year he did well in a hitters park. If he was good he wouldn't be on his 7th team in 10 years. If he was good his career high in RBI wouldn't be 77.
In Texas .358/ .466/ .679
Away .290/ .410/ .462
He can take walks and get hits anywhere. But his Slugging was over 200 points lower away from home.
So he was Albert Pujols in Texas but was Johnny Damon everywhere else. Of course without the Stolen bases.
Posted by: XD23 | March 10, 2009 at 06:50 PM
What a JOKE
Posted by: JH32 | March 10, 2009 at 06:53 PM
If Bradley can come even close to his numbers from last season, then I could care less what he says.
The guy has legit 25-30 HR power, good contact ability to all fields, and a simply fantastic approach at the plate. He's average in right field as well, so it's not like his defense hurts his value. He only played DH in Texas to keep his bottom half healthier.
Anyone that can post a .300/.400/.500 line over the long run has the right to say whatever the hell he wants, just so long as he maintains his production.
If he gets hurt this year though, then I don't think Cub fans will take too kindly to him.
I'm still in love with his offensive potential though.
Posted by: scribbletone | March 10, 2009 at 07:10 PM
I don't really have much of an opinion on this since it's pretty much a worthless article. However, I was amused to see a poster named Rangerfan. Holy crap, I had no idea anyone was a fan of the Rangers. Does that team really exist for any other reason than to build of players and prepare them for roles on real MLB teams?
Posted by: jamalhornsby | March 10, 2009 at 07:26 PM
"9 david ecksteins > 9 milton bradleys. Grit and scrappiness win championships, not good players."
That was a joke right?
Haha....? Right?
Posted by: Google Boy | March 10, 2009 at 07:52 PM
1 great year out of NINE years. One season of 130+ games (5 years ago).
The guy can swing the stick - no one is arguing that. His problem is, and always will be, his health. Fans will put up with him if he is healthy and produces offensively like he is capable of doing.
Problem is ... he can't stay healthy and there is NO way he approaches his Texas numbers with the Cubs. An OPS+ of 120 would be a solid year (last year he was at 163). Anything over 100 games should be considered a bonus.
Between Bradley and Harden it will be interesting to see what the Cubs can extract out of these 2 massively talented players.
Posted by: bjsguess | March 10, 2009 at 08:14 PM
Athletic Domination,
The cubs were dumb to sign him "that long"? Two years with a third option is too long? Soriano was too long. This was a pretty small risk signing.
Posted by: msk86 | March 10, 2009 at 08:16 PM
"97 of those games he was a DH and was batting behind Josh Hamilton most of the time. How much is he gonna be out when he has to play the field everyday. Cubs fans get ready for those hamstrings to pop."
One could argue that Hamilton was heavily protected by Bradley. Further, it isn't like the Cubs' lineup is weak. Indeed, Bradley wouldn't be out of place hitting leadoff with the bats on that team.
"The guy has legit 25-30 HR power, good contact ability to all fields, and a simply fantastic approach at the plate. He's average in right field as well, so it's not like his defense hurts his value. He only played DH in Texas to keep his bottom half healthier."
Does he have legit 25-30 HR power? He has never hit more than 22, and is almost 31 years old. As for DHing to keep healthy, he wont have that option with the Cubs. Further, it is not the quality of Bradley's defense that is the issue. Bradley's CF defense wipes the floor with that of the defensively challenged Josh Hamilton. In a perfect world, Bradley would have been playing center and Hamilton DHing, but Bradley has no chance of staying healthy if he does that.
"Anyone that can post a .300/.400/.500 line over the long run has the right to say whatever the hell he wants, just so long as he maintains his production."
Well, he has done that twice, though each time was in less than 130 games.
"He also had a .410 OBP away last year."
Yet his AVG and SLG were down significantly. There is no question that Bradley is a talented, patient hitter. He isn't, however, as good as he was with the Rangers.
"Yeah, totally Svengoolie. 9 david ecksteins > 9 milton bradleys. Grit and scrappiness win championships, not good players."
I don't think that was Svengoolie's point. Jeff Kent was a hell of a hitter, but most would agree that his attitude was had a tangible, negative effect. The 2007 Dodgers are a prime example.
BTW, I really don't get why people pick on Eckstein. He has been playing out of position at SS his whole career (he is a natural 2B) and the guy has put up a rather healthy career OBP. He has also been a monster in the World Series. Hard to argue.
Posted by: AA | March 10, 2009 at 08:17 PM
Well, you can get a healthy guy to go out there and play 162 games, but he won’t do what I did in 120."
Milton Bradley cant do what a guy who plays 162 games does and that is have a chance to win 162 games. You cant win if you dont play.
Posted by: sanjaygolf | March 10, 2009 at 08:24 PM
Bradley once again does whatever he can to shoot himself in the foot, giving people who already hate him further reason to think he's a bad guy.
I live in DFW (sadly), and I watched every game last year... so I have an educated opinion about the dude. He's not a clubhouse cancer like so many claim he is. He is a very likable guy who just gets caught up in his emotion, and doesn't seem able to control himself at crucial times. He isn't stupid, but appears to lack the kind of filter that would prevent many players from disclosing this kind of personal information, even though most likely the great majority of players feel the same way and behave the same way. It's unfortunate, really, because he's just setting himself up for another epic fail, and then he's just going to further spiral in and believe even more completely that the entire world is out to get him.
Great hitter, too.
Posted by: J the Dizzolla | March 10, 2009 at 08:26 PM
Let me guess, jamalhornsby, you're a Red Sox fan, right? Yankees? Mets? Cubs? Dodgers? Whatever team you follow, you are clearly a blockhead.
Posted by: J the Dizzolla | March 10, 2009 at 08:28 PM
Those of you calling him selfish, let me ask you a question: As an athlete, you make your living by staying healthy and producing, right?
Well, we all know Bradley's injury history. Now, putting yourself in his shoes, if you were on a ONE-YEAR CONTRACT, and you physically can't give your 100%, would you play? Because, on a one-year deal, if you get hurt, then it has an effect on your contract for next year, no matter how good of a player you are. You want job security, so you would do your best to stay healthy to get that job security, right?
Look at Ben Sheets. He was looking for a multi-year contract, for job security. And we all know how injury prone he is. You would do the same thing as them: try to stay healthy, so your next contract will be big money and good years.
This is like the Jerry McGuire movie, with what Gooding Jr's character experienced. An athlete wants job security, knowing that he/she will continue to get paid for as long as possible. If you're injured? Who cares, you're still getting paid. Health and production is a factor on getting a contract.
So I don't blame him for doing what he did. He's only trying to make a living.
Posted by: Ink&Paper | March 10, 2009 at 09:17 PM
So Bradley is selfish for not wanting to go 0-for-4 with 3 K's? How would that help the team?
Posted by: explodet | March 10, 2009 at 09:32 PM
Bradley is completely backwards in his thinking. Even if he was being selfish he was misreading his audience. The knock on him was a lack of durability not a lack of ability. If he wanted to get better security going forward then he would have played even when not 100% to send the message that he could be counted on the suit up and play rather than the fragile player you'd be scared to commit to. If he played 150+ games all his counting stats would be better and (unless he was selectively skipping games against pitchers he can't hit) his averages would still be in the same range. His explanation is just another example of his thinking being goofy. I stand by my earlier belief that his mommy filled his head with BS.
Posted by: LargeBill | March 10, 2009 at 10:17 PM
i'm posting this so my good friend Pageian can see this. This was from the post today odds and ends Crosby, Vizcaino. If anyone wants to some entertainment, check it out...
Posted by: xxgochisox09 | March 10, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Pageian,
Actually the thing you cut and pasted about "The cubs being in serious trouble if Ramirez went down" I didn't post in here. Scribbletone did. Anyone that doesn't believe me please feel free to scroll back up this page and look at Scribbletone's post at 12:43 today... then scroll down some more and look at my post 4:54 today in here.
Posted by: xxgochisox09 | March 10, 2009 at 10:03 PM
and one more thing...
Seeing how you cut and pasted it the way you did. You purposely did that so it would look like I said it so you could be a big tough guy and yell and a white sox fan. If you scroll back through this post it's obvious since there the way you pasted it never appears before you did it that way.
Here was my logic in the cubs getting Crosby if they can.
i've actually been on record on this website saying the cubs will win their division and havn't once tried to bash them. Here was my thinking though...
If they get a guy like Crosby, maybe they can rest Ramirez more often if they have a competent backup 3B. I don't know if you've noticed,but the cubs seem to have a problem with those things called the playoffs...you know the thing your team hasn't won in 101 years now.
Pretty sad when a white sox fan knows more about the cubs then a cubs fan does.Until I make you look stupid again. Have a nice evening
Posted by: xxgochisox09 | March 10, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Oh you're the same idiot that can't get over the cubs not trading for Peavy. Ok sorry i shouldn't pick on handicap people
Posted by: xxgochisox09 | March 10, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Posted by: xxgochisox09 | March 10, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Is it really necessary to paste comments from a different thread in this thread?
Posted by: wagunk27 | March 11, 2009 at 08:03 AM
"9 david ecksteins > 9 milton bradleys. Grit and scrappiness win championships, not good players."
"That was a joke right?
Haha....? Right?"
Well sure 9 David Ecksteins would win because only 4 or 5 Bradleys would play! LOL
Posted by: Twins GM | March 11, 2009 at 09:03 AM
Can people here stop acting like Bradley is going from Arlington to Petco? His new home is Wrigley people, and he plays in a division where there are no Oaklands...and there are places like Houston with a short porch. I think other than losing some points to Arlington being a better hitters park than Wrigley, he would gain some for the rest of the division being more hitter friendly, wouldn't he? And a .410 OBP is just fine with me, even if he only slugs .450, in front of A-Ram.
Posted by: Aduncaroo | March 11, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Last year Rangers Ballpark had ratings of 103 batting and 104 for pitching. This gives it a good edge to the offense, considering the medium rating is 100... above is a positive for batting, under a positive for pitching. For a comparison, PetCo ranked 88/89... and we all know what a disaster trying to hit in PetCo is.
So, the conversation has turned into how Bradley only put up big numbers in Arlington mainly because of the stadium's tendency to favor offense. No question, however... could the fact that the Rangers have traded every worthwhile pitcher they've gotten their hands on for basically nothing over the past 20 years have something to do with that rating? I'd think so, considering their pitching staff gets shelled no matter where they play... and almost equally so to how they get shellacked at home.
I digress. Rangers Ballpark had a rating of 103/104 last year. Bradley will now be playing in Wrigley for half the season for the next 2-3 years. Wrigley's rating: 104/102. And that's with a vastly superior pitching staff for the Cubs actually pulling those ratings more to the pitching side than what the Rangers' staff could dream of.
Here are the rankings for the majority of stadiums Bradley will play in next year compared to those he played in last year.
Wrigley: 104/102
Minute Maid: 103/103
Great American: 104/105
PNC: 94/95
Busch: 98/98
Miller: 98/97
Rangers: 103/104
McAfee: 97/97
Angel: 100/99
Safeco: 95/97
Only one of the ballparks in the AL West favored offense last year, while 3 in the NL Central did. The problem with that is the fact the Miller Park had been an offensive-oriented field until Sheets finally put up big innings last year AND the Brewers managed to get Sabathia. In other words... expect 4 of the 6 NL Central stadiums to favor offense this year... and to about the same degree that Rangers Ballpark does.
So, why should Cub fans be worried about a drop in Bradley's production overall if he manages to put together 140+ games again?
Posted by: Unlitedsoul | March 11, 2009 at 05:06 PM
Oh, and for the record, I see very little with Bradley's comments. Sure he could have worded it better, but for the most part, he's basically telling you he did the same thing you do when you decide to call in sick to work with an illness you could easily work through... or... when you call in with the "flu", but are really heading out to the afternoon game.
Remember the old sayings: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." and... "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
The major difference here, if Bradley goes out and plays without being 100%, he risks destroying his career. Particularly with the previous injury history. Let's also not forget the entire reason he was DHing last year was because he underwent major surgery due to the ACL incident in September of '07... and they were not sure he would even be able to play until midseason. It's not quite the same if you went to work with a sore throat and stuffed-up nose. The worst you will do there, most likely, is drop your own production temporarily... and maybe infect someone else in the process.
Posted by: Unlitedsoul | March 11, 2009 at 05:23 PM
Good stuff U.S.
I don't understand why people are acting like Wrigley might as well be Oakland or Petco here...
Posted by: Aduncaroo | March 11, 2009 at 10:58 PM
The 8 paragraph analysis is going a little overboard. I'm a Rangers Fan and Bradley was solid when we had him but NOT worth resigning w/ the surplus of OF's and guys that can DH. He'll keep pointing the finger at everyone else as he always has and will be outta Chicago after he play 60 games this year. Good riddance. Maybe he'll go try to attack the Royals announcers again this year in interleague. SPARE!! Bring on Nelly Cruz
Posted by: ELVIS | March 12, 2009 at 11:22 AM
So I'm being called a "blockhead" by someone who calls himself "J The Dizzola"! How's that for irony? Yes, mr Jizzola, I am in fact a Cubs fan. Yes, I realize they haven't won a series in 101 years, and I for one have a sense of humor. I give credit where it is due though. The Rangers do a great job of building great players to ship off to real teams. They also do a great job of reviving the careers of players, also to ship them off to good teams. So kudos to the Rangers. Where would all the respectable teams in the MLB be without them? Also, using Charlie Brown insults does not portray very much intelligence. Perhaps you could move up to Archie insults or maybe even The Jetsons! So Jizzola, I'm very sorry if I offended you by insulting the MLB's doormat. Perhaps some more losing seasons will help you develop a sense of humor!
Posted by: jamalhornsby | March 13, 2009 at 12:16 PM