Sidearmer Chad Bradford is leaning toward retirement, Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times learned. Bradford told Topkin he'll still leave the door open for next year, and probably decide in January. The 35-year-old had elbow surgery in February and back tightness in July, resulting in only 10.3 big league innings this year. Bradford is finishing up a three-year, $10.5MM deal signed with Baltimore before the '06 season. He joined the Rays via a waiver claim last August.
If he's done, Bradford would finish with a 3.26 ERA over 515.6 career innings. He pitched in the playoffs seven different years, allowing just one earned run in 23.3 innings. He'll have earned just under $15MM for his efforts, according to Baseball Reference. Of course, Bradford is best known for being chronicled in Michael Lewis' 2003 book Moneyball.
