Bradley Signs with Cubs 3/$30 million (p. 33)

[UK1679666180]

You're not aware that Jones had to endure racial slurs from some of the idiots at Wrigley on a daily basis for most of his stay with the Cubs?

 

The same right field bleacher Wrigley fans who used to give Sammy a standing ovation every time he took the field and would collectively kowtow to Andre Dawson?

 

 

I think the issue with Jacque might have had more to do with the fact that he was horrible than some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans.

 

The reason they disliked him was because he wasn't very good, not based on race. With that said, they decided to respond with racial slurs as far as their method of letting Jones know of how disgusted they were of his play.

 

Regardless of why they used racial slurs whether it be lack of production or color of skin, they're still racist of that is their method of response. Yes, the racist nature of some of those inbreds has become an issue with players like Jones as well as Baker and if I was Bradley, it would likely factor in my decision process.

[Exile on Waveland]

You're not aware that Jones had to endure racial slurs from some of the idiots at Wrigley on a daily basis for most of his stay with the Cubs?

 

The same right field bleacher Wrigley fans who used to give Sammy a standing ovation every time he took the field and would collectively kowtow to Andre Dawson?

 

Exactly. Some of my best friends are black too.

[Backtobanks]

You're not aware that Jones had to endure racial slurs from some of the idiots at Wrigley on a daily basis for most of his stay with the Cubs?

 

The same right field bleacher Wrigley fans who used to give Sammy a standing ovation every time he took the field and would collectively kowtow to Andre Dawson?

 

 

I think the issue with Jacque might have had more to do with the fact that he was horrible than some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans.

 

The reason they disliked him was because he wasn't very good, not based on race. With that said, they decided to respond with racial slurs as far as their method of letting Jones know of how disgusted they were of his play.

 

Regardless of why they used racial slurs whether it be lack of production or color of skin, they're still racist of that is their method of response. Yes, the racist nature of some of those inbreds has become an issue with players like Jones as well as Baker and if I was Bradley, it would likely factor in my decision process.

 

Unfortunately, you are probably going to find inbreds shouting racist comments in most ML cities (certainly the larger cities), so I'm not sure it should factor into Bradley's decision. Also, I'm sure Bradley will hear all kinds of comments when on the road, because fans know they can get under his skin.

[TruffleShuffle]

dude bradley played in texas last year, i'm pretty sure that texas is more racist than chicago.

[The Other 15]

You're not aware that Jones had to endure racial slurs from some of the idiots at Wrigley on a daily basis for most of his stay with the Cubs?

 

The same right field bleacher Wrigley fans who used to give Sammy a standing ovation every time he took the field and would collectively kowtow to Andre Dawson?

 

 

I think the issue with Jacque might have had more to do with the fact that he was horrible than some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans.

Wow, I'm going to assume you didn't just write that players play their way into being called racial slurs. If that's the case, then how can that not be "some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans."

 

No, Wrigley is not full of racists. But there is a certain element there that acts privileged to use language that is deemed ugly by most civilized people. It coincidentally has been used with players like Jones, Hawkins and Alfonseca. I invite you to ask Prince Fielder what he thinks of the idiot that was yelling to the Cubs pitcher to stop throwing him watermellons during a game last year. I assure you I didn't hear that kind of stuff used when Ryne Braun drove the ball. Jones handled the idiots with the kind of class that if it matched his playing ability he would have been a Hall of Famer. I just don't know how Bradleys volatile personality will handle it.

[mdwilla]

Jacques Jones problems will not affect Bradley signing with the Cubs. How many players come through wrigley ever year and have no issues with this problem element of wrigley fans? Exchanging words with a few ignorant fans only never helps. Hawkins could hear racial slurs from the pitchers mound? A cubs fan tried to punch Randy Myers in the face for sucking and he's white.

40,000 plus , mostly male , booze, 80 degrees anywhere in the world, your gonna hear slurs of some sort be it race,relgion,gender, social, it's a sad reality that isn't exclusive to just the bleachers at wrigley. Milton Bradley will be safe in right field.

[JeffH]

dude bradley played in texas last year, i'm pretty sure that texas is more racist than chicago.

 

Wrong. Not even close.

[rocket]

let's not try to ignore the fact that a good portion of cubs fans are horrible people.

[Mark_R]

let's not try to ignore the fact that a good portion of cubs fans are horrible people.

 

And this is exclusive to the Cubs how?

[JeffH]

let's not try to ignore the fact that a good portion of cubs fans are horrible people.

 

Not true. Stupid, maybe.

[Jehrico]

First off, as we all know already, Bradley is the cheaper option. Second of all, if we sign Adam Dunn we will officially have two train wrecks in the outfield. I mean, heck, whoever plays CF is gonna have to bring a motorized scooter out there to track down balls in the gap.

Soriano is far from perfect out there, but he's not nearly as bad as you're painting him to be. He's got speed and good range and has a pretty good arm. He just gets bad jumps and doesn't always take the best routes. He's at least slightly above-average out there.

[Little Slide Rooter]

First off, as we all know already, Bradley is the cheaper option. Second of all, if we sign Adam Dunn we will officially have two train wrecks in the outfield. I mean, heck, whoever plays CF is gonna have to bring a motorized scooter out there to track down balls in the gap.

Soriano is far from perfect out there, but he's not nearly as bad as you're painting him to be. He's got speed and good range and has a pretty good arm. He just gets bad jumps and doesn't always take the best routes. He's at least slightly above-average out there.

 

Soriano is pretty solid, witha great arm. Its just that he made some particualrly memorable, mind bogglingly awful plays that people peg him as a horid fielder.

[Elrhino]

Wow, I'm going to assume you didn't just write that players play their way into being called racial slurs. If that's the case, then how can that not be "some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans."

 

No, Wrigley is not full of racists. But there is a certain element there that acts privileged to use language that is deemed ugly by most civilized people. It coincidentally has been used with players like Jones, Hawkins and Alfonseca. I invite you to ask Prince Fielder what he thinks of the idiot that was yelling to the Cubs pitcher to stop throwing him watermellons during a game last year. I assure you I didn't hear that kind of stuff used when Ryne Braun drove the ball. Jones handled the idiots with the kind of class that if it matched his playing ability he would have been a Hall of Famer. I just don't know how Bradleys volatile personality will handle it.

 

You accused Wrigely Fans of being inherently and uniquely hostile to blacks players, so much to the point that Bradley would probably be less inclined to play with the Cubs. You point to one example of of where a player (allegedly) experienced racism for your proof. I counter by pointing to two examples of the opposite behavior in Wrigley Fans. We can go back and forth exchanging anecdotal experiences, but you still haven't shown me how Wrigely Fans are inherently and uniquely hostile towards black players anymore than they would receive playing any other city.

 

While I have no doubt there may be racists at heart in the crowd of any sporting event, forgive me for being highly skeptical that words and slurs that might incite a beat down are openly, freely and loosely being thrown around around in a stadium of 45,000 people in a city with one of the largest black demographics in the US.

[UK1679666180]

You're not aware that Jones had to endure racial slurs from some of the idiots at Wrigley on a daily basis for most of his stay with the Cubs?

 

The same right field bleacher Wrigley fans who used to give Sammy a standing ovation every time he took the field and would collectively kowtow to Andre Dawson?

 

 

I think the issue with Jacque might have had more to do with the fact that he was horrible than some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans.

 

The reason they disliked him was because he wasn't very good, not based on race. With that said, they decided to respond with racial slurs as far as their method of letting Jones know of how disgusted they were of his play.

 

Regardless of why they used racial slurs whether it be lack of production or color of skin, they're still racist of that is their method of response. Yes, the racist nature of some of those inbreds has become an issue with players like Jones as well as Baker and if I was Bradley, it would likely factor in my decision process.

 

Unfortunately, you are probably going to find inbreds shouting racist comments in most ML cities (certainly the larger cities), so I'm not sure it should factor into Bradley's decision. Also, I'm sure Bradley will hear all kinds of comments when on the road, because fans know they can get under his skin.

 

I don't know of any team beyond the Cubs that have had a recent incident where people were yelling racial slurs, let alone racial slurs at players at their home stadium.

[UK1679666180]

Wow, I'm going to assume you didn't just write that players play their way into being called racial slurs. If that's the case, then how can that not be "some latent, inherent racism of Wrigley fans."

 

No, Wrigley is not full of racists. But there is a certain element there that acts privileged to use language that is deemed ugly by most civilized people. It coincidentally has been used with players like Jones, Hawkins and Alfonseca. I invite you to ask Prince Fielder what he thinks of the idiot that was yelling to the Cubs pitcher to stop throwing him watermellons during a game last year. I assure you I didn't hear that kind of stuff used when Ryne Braun drove the ball. Jones handled the idiots with the kind of class that if it matched his playing ability he would have been a Hall of Famer. I just don't know how Bradleys volatile personality will handle it.

 

You accused Wrigely Fans of being inherently and uniquely hostile to blacks players, so much to the point that Bradley would probably be less inclined to play with the Cubs. You point to one example of of where a player (allegedly) experienced racism for your proof. I counter by pointing to two examples of the opposite behavior in Wrigley Fans. We can go back and forth exchanging anecdotal experiences, but you still haven't shown me how Wrigely Fans are inherently and uniquely hostile towards black players anymore than they would receive playing any other city.

 

While I have no doubt there may be racists at heart in the crowd of any sporting event, forgive me for being highly skeptical that words and slurs that might incite a beat down are openly, freely and loosely being thrown around around in a stadium of 45,000 people in a city with one of the largest black demographics in the US.

 

Attending a Cubs game is an extremely segregated event, IMO. The demographics as far as racial diversity is very one sided as it is in every MLB stadium.

[OleMissCub]

I didn't go through all the pages on this thread, but has anyone else mentioned that the guy has only exceeded 400 AB's twice in his 9 year career (516 in 04, 414 in 08).

[UMFan83]

I didn't go through all the pages on this thread, but has anyone else mentioned that the guy has only exceeded 400 AB's twice in his 9 year career (516 in 04, 414 in 08).

 

Yeah its a valid concern. As most people have said, I would put him in the Rich Harden "As long as he's healthy in October" camp. It's not like Reed Johnson or Fukudome couldn't shift over to right when the inevitable injury occurs

[17 Seconds]

I didn't go through all the pages on this thread, but has anyone else mentioned that the guy has only exceeded 400 AB's twice in his 9 year career (516 in 04, 414 in 08).

 

Yeah its a valid concern. As most people have said, I would put him in the Rich Harden "As long as he's healthy in October" camp. It's not like Reed Johnson or Fukudome couldn't shift over to right when the inevitable injury occurs

 

I think the first option when bradley is out would be to move DeRosa to right and put Fontenot as second. Lou said he wants to get him more playing time anyways.

[UK1679666180]

I think it would be wise to limit some of Bradley's ABs and give him some rest to have him more of a lefty vs. RH'ed pitching than try and get 160 games out of him by having him hit as a righty vs. lefties.

[17 Seconds]

I think it would be wise to limit some of Bradley's ABs and give him some rest to have him more of a lefty vs. RH'ed pitching than try and get 160 games out of him by having him hit as a righty vs. lefties.

 

But he's actually significantly better as a righty. His career OPS as a LHB vs RHP is like .798 or something like that.

[UK1679666180]

I think it would be wise to limit some of Bradley's ABs and give him some rest to have him more of a lefty vs. RH'ed pitching than try and get 160 games out of him by having him hit as a righty vs. lefties.

 

But he's actually significantly better as a righty. His career OPS as a LHB vs RHP is like .798 or something like that.

 

You're right, for some reason in my mind I had it backwards.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I would have no problem babying Bradley. Give him some day games off after night games, games where the weather is bad, etc. Treat him in a way that can keep him healthy later in the year.

[cubsfan26]

From Bruce Levine today

 

 

Bruce Levine mentioned during his Saturday show that he thinks Bradley will be a Cub right around the first of the year (to be more exact as to what Mr. Levine said, he believes Bradley will be a Cub right before January 1st or directly after the New Year.)

 

The Cubs worked out Milton Bradley at their facility in Mesa last month according to Bruce Levine. He said the Cubs put Bradley through a complete flexibility test because they want to make sure he can still play the outfield. Mark O'Neal, the Cubs trainer, was present.

 

 

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2008/12/cubsrumors1213.php#more

[Ski]

Lol at the ad at the bottom:

 

http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/imgad?id=CP7Jr9OC3YuCPhCsAhjvATIIcaC-R1ylrw0

[badnews]

I'm sorry, enthusiasm for Milton Bradley is an utter joke and just shows how low disappointment can drag standards down. Here is why Bradley is a bad fit:

 

#1- He is not "Dennis Rodman crazy." He does not at Dennis Rodman's talent level commensurate to his own sport. The Dennis Rodman comparison is desperate people grasping at straws. Milton Bradley is an emotional basketcase who will be less successful at handling Cubs fans than Jacque Jones was. I'd give him a week before he starts crying about everyone is mean to him and no one understands him.

 

#2- For all the talk of needing a lefty bat, once again, Bradley is a switch-hitter who, for his career, mashes lefties significantly better than righties.

 

#3- His 2008 numbers are preposterously unconvincing. He slugged nearly .700 at Texas and under .500 away from Texas. Let's see, also, is he going to have a .388 BABIP again in 2009? Highly doubtful. Who had the highest BABIP of qualified players in 2008? Milton Bradley.

 

#4- He can't stay healthy playing a position, and even as a DH he only played in 126 games in 2008.

 

#5- This "healthy for the playoffs" idea is as dumb as it was last year. Enough already.

 

#6- 4 years, $40 million and what's Bradley going to do? Play 85 games and post an .820 OPS? Oh hell yeah, that'll put the Cubs over the top.

 

Bradley would be an awful move.