Bradley Suspended for the Rest of the Season

[MWV]

While the suspension of Bradley makes clear the Cubs' desire to move him, I maintain that this has been the case for some time and the Cubs would've wound up eating most of his salary anyway.

The biggest roadblock to moving him is that he is in line to make more than any other team wanted to give him in the first place. Every team in the league knows that MB is a malcontent; that's why (prior to his most recent signing) he's received single-season contracts. Playing below expectations for a season hasn't helped his value.

I don't see that Cubs "showed their hand" in suspending MB; his comments/actions precipitating the suspension made it abundantly clear he was not long for Chicago. The issue of the suspension (in terms of trade return) is close to moot in my opinion. The Cubs were never in line to reap a big return on a Bradley trade.

[GlassCow]

He's just misunderstood ...

 

Getting rid of Derosa to get Milton was one of the most brilliant moves made by any GM in the history of baseball. Period.

[wade]

I think the focus of the discussion should be on Jim Hendry, not Milton Bradley. There was no secret that Bradley was volatile before we signed him. It reminds me of the snake story in Natural Born Killers.

 

Old Indian: Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, "Why have you done this to me?" And the snake answered, "Look, bitch, you knew I was a snake."

 

Great, I had a similar snake story in an article I'm writing and you beat me to the punch!

[abuck1220]

derosa has an OPS+ of 96 this year. bradley is at 100.

 

i mean, i know derosa is nicer to paul sullivan and whiter and what not, but i'm just sayin'.

[inari]

derosa has an OPS+ of 96 this year. bradley is at 100.

 

i mean, i know derosa is nicer to paul sullivan and whiter and what not, but i'm just sayin'.

 

I'm not one of the massive DeRosa fanboys, but I think this is disingenuous. DeRo's been derailed by a wrist injury and that's still better than Bradley relative to their positions. Before his injury, DeRo was having another great year.

[Soul]

also, people really need to stop lamenting the Derosa trade. it's actually turned out well, so far, considering the pitchers received and Derosa's play this year (particularly since joining the Cardinals).

 

Not lamenting it anymore, but I've got to believe he would have played a tad better than he is right now if he was still in his familiar role with the Cubs.

 

Why? He wouldn't have been injured? Why would he have been immune to the "team slumps" the lineup seemed to go through this year? He certainly wasn't last year the few times the lineup went cold.

 

The injury, plus being shuffled between cities. I don't think it's that easy to continually have to re-work yourself into a team during the course of a year.

 

Doesn't mean I think he would have been great, though.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior? Just tell Lou to bench him without suspending him? Something else?

 

DL him.

[Tyrant]

Yes. These games are meaningless and making this big of a deal just causes the Cubs' bargaining position in trading Bradley plummet from minimal to practically non-existent.

 

Bradley didn't have any trade value before the Cubs suspended him. Does it really matter that their return will now be a crappy middle relief prospect instead of a crappy outfield prospect? No one was going to give up anything worthwhile for Bradley after this year. The suspension doesn't change anything.

[SouthSideRyan]

Every team in the league knows that MB is a malcontent; that's why (prior to his most recent signing) he's received single-season contracts.

 

Whereas I thought he kept signing 1 year contracts because he was only a free agent once before this, and that was following a season ended by a knee injury.

[jersey cubs fan]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior?

 

Yes. These games are meaningless and making this big of a deal just causes the Cubs' bargaining position in trading Bradley plummet from minimal to practically non-existent.

 

I don't see how the decision to suspend him changes what they could get him. If the Cubs were deadset on moving him in the offseason, teams were going to know. It's on Jim now to get the best offer, but we knew all along that if he was going to trade Bradley in the offseason he was screwed anyway.

 

The Cubs front office is extremely player friendly. In my opinion, too friendly. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere. You can't let everything go with no chance for repurcussions. The best players on this team are down on Bradley and sick of his act. Give them a break of not having to deal with it. As you said, the games are meaningless at this point, so the logic of having your best players on the field is less important.

[davell]

There is plenty of blame to go around here. A lot falls on Milton, who has made it damn near impossible to keep him around.

 

But, MORE blame goes to Hendry honestly. Not for doing what he did in suspending him either. But for signing him to begin with. Milton sought him out very early this past offseason and Hendry spent all offseason going after him, leaving Abreu, Dunn, and Ibanez alone in the process. All 3 of which have had much better years and all 3 of who have not had any of the issues Milton has had. Hendry should have known he was playing with fire and whatever research he did before making this signing was obviously a complete failure.

 

You take the best and worst cases of each of these guys and you weigh that against each other. Sure, Abreu has gotten alot worse defensively. Sure, Ibanez and Dunn may have struggled massively in RF at Wrigley. But, none of them had the injury history of Milton either. And other than Dunn supposedly not liking to play baseball (Lol) none of those guys had any instances of questionable character. And you could make the argument that all 3 clearly brought better resumes to the table offensively as well, which is what we were looking for as it was. The downside of Bradley dwarfed the other 3 and here we are now......Smack dab in the middle of his worst downside possible. This is Hendry not doing his due diligence on this and that's why we are in this mess in the first place. More money wasted and a big hole to fill in the middle of our lineup. Sorry, but while Jim has done some solid things here, this is something that could and probably should be the final nail in his coffin as Cubs GM.

[jersey cubs fan]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior? Just tell Lou to bench him without suspending him? Something else?

 

DL him.

 

Forcing a guy onto the DL when he doesn't need to go on the DL is the same thing as suspending him. You think other front offices will be fooled by such a move?

[Soul]

But, MORE blame goes to Hendry honestly. Not for doing what he did in suspending him either. But for signing him to begin with.

 

Hendry's taking a hit for his offseason, and will continue to. I don't think there's much question about that.

[abuck1220]

derosa has an OPS+ of 96 this year. bradley is at 100.

 

i mean, i know derosa is nicer to paul sullivan and whiter and what not, but i'm just sayin'.

 

I'm not one of the massive DeRosa fanboys, but I think this is disingenuous. DeRo's been derailed by a wrist injury and that's still better than Bradley relative to their positions. Before his injury, DeRo was having another great year.

 

derosa would have probably been playing rf had the cubs not signed bradley.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior? Just tell Lou to bench him without suspending him? Something else?

 

DL him.

 

Forcing a guy onto the DL when he doesn't need to go on the DL is the same thing as suspending him. You think other front offices will be fooled by such a move?

 

He missed the previous couple games with an injury, that started with Bradley himself taking himself out of the game. He's legitimately hurt, and DLing him serves as a de facto suspension(because he could've played after like a week of rest), while still being an entirely plausible explanation("Milton's hurt, we want to make sure he doesn't aggravate his surgically repaired knees to make sure he's ready for next season, etc."). Plus it opens up the flexibility of his option not yet being guaranteed.

[SouthSideRyan]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior? Just tell Lou to bench him without suspending him? Something else?

 

DL him.

 

Forcing a guy onto the DL when he doesn't need to go on the DL is the same thing as suspending him. You think other front offices will be fooled by such a move?

 

If they got away with DLing him to end the season, the 3rd year could be bought out for 2M.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

I am torn on this because dumping Bradley for nothing seems like a complete waste. However, to me its a major red flag that the players are not even coming close to defending him, and some are basically saying he is a problem. The part that hurts is if Bradley could return to form next year, if he repeats what he did this year it will not be hard to replace the production, but if he goes back to a .900 OPS and Hendry dumps him for nothing it will leave a bad taste.

 

At this point you can argue either point but Bradley will be gone one way or another. As I was one of the bigger Badley fans before and throughout this year, at this point I think the guy is a piece of [expletive] and will care less if he stays or goes. If he was a superstar for more than 1 year of his career I may have more sympathy, but it is obvious Bradley's head may get in the way of him every becoming what he was even in Texas.

 

I think we start talking replacements...

[Transmogrified Tiger]

derosa has an OPS+ of 96 this year. bradley is at 100.

 

i mean, i know derosa is nicer to paul sullivan and whiter and what not, but i'm just sayin'.

 

I'm not one of the massive DeRosa fanboys, but I think this is disingenuous. DeRo's been derailed by a wrist injury and that's still better than Bradley relative to their positions. Before his injury, DeRo was having another great year.

 

He was hitting .261/.334/.443/.777 when he got hurt, with a .250/.330/.440/.770 line over the month prior to his injury.

[jersey cubs fan]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior? Just tell Lou to bench him without suspending him? Something else?

 

DL him.

 

Forcing a guy onto the DL when he doesn't need to go on the DL is the same thing as suspending him. You think other front offices will be fooled by such a move?

 

He missed the previous couple games with an injury, that started with Bradley himself taking himself out of the game. He's legitimately hurt, and DLing him serves as a de facto suspension(because he could've played after like a week of rest), while still being an entirely plausible explanation("Milton's hurt, we want to make sure he doesn't aggravate his surgically repaired knees to make sure he's ready for next season, etc."). Plus it opens up the flexibility of his option not yet being guaranteed.

 

You're still not going to fool other front offices into thinking you are forced to dump him, and a DL stint doesn't get him out of the clubhouse, which the other players clearly preferred.

 

I do not understand how anybody can have a problem with the Cubs suspending Milton.

[Andy]

derosa has an OPS+ of 96 this year. bradley is at 100.

 

i mean, i know derosa is nicer to paul sullivan and whiter and what not, but i'm just sayin'.

 

I'm not one of the massive DeRosa fanboys, but I think this is disingenuous. DeRo's been derailed by a wrist injury and that's still better than Bradley relative to their positions. Before his injury, DeRo was having another great year.

 

derosa would have probably been playing rf had the cubs not signed bradley.

Perhaps for about a month, but after it became clear the Mike Fontenot experiment was a horrible idea, he'd probably have ended up back at 2B. FWIW, we wouldn't have Jeff Baker then in that case.

[davell]

Not that I think Milton could survive in New York and not that I think Omar would want anything to do with him(but he's not exactly a great GM, so who knows?) but a Castillo for Bradley deal where we pay some cash back to the Mets MAY BE about as good as we could hope for unfortunately.

[MWV]

Every team in the league knows that MB is a malcontent; that's why (prior to his most recent signing) he's received single-season contracts.

 

Whereas I thought he kept signing 1 year contracts because he was only a free agent once before this, and that was following a season ended by a knee injury.

 

You're correct (poor memory/research on my part), although I think my point remains unchanged. In recent years, MB has managed to have a pretty short shelf life with teams, whether due to injury, personality, or both. Whether the Cubs chose to suspend him or not seems of little importance at this point. MB's comments indicate that he hates playing in Chicago and is unhappy with the clubhouse/fans/coaching staff/management. The situation has become untenable and the Cubs aren't going to get much in trade.

[hawkeyecub]

So to everyone bashing Hendry for how he handled this, what would you have done? Let him play out the rest of the games despite his behavior?

 

Yes. These games are meaningless and making this big of a deal just causes the Cubs' bargaining position in trading Bradley plummet from minimal to practically non-existent.

 

I don't see how the decision to suspend him changes what they could get him. If the Cubs were deadset on moving him in the offseason, teams were going to know. It's on Jim now to get the best offer, but we knew all along that if he was going to trade Bradley in the offseason he was screwed anyway.

 

The Cubs front office is extremely player friendly. In my opinion, too friendly. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere. You can't let everything go with no chance for repurcussions. The best players on this team are down on Bradley and sick of his act. Give them a break of not having to deal with it. As you said, the games are meaningless at this point, so the logic of having your best players on the field is less important.

 

Agreed, that's pretty much exactly what I said last night.

[Guest]

this is how i deal with cubs related grief

 

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a47/madhops_42/cubsmag2.jpg

That's probably the funniest thing I read on here in years.

[Little Slide Rooter]

This proposal from MLBTR made me throw up in my mouth just a bit

 

Discussion: Milton Bradley For Oliver Perez

By Tim Dierkes [september 21 at 9:48am CST]

There is no indication the Cubs and Mets have discussed swapping disappointing free agent signings Milton Bradley and Oliver Perez. It makes for interesting discussion, however. Joel Sherman of the New York Post even wonders if an expanded deal could include Carlos Zambrano or Luis Castillo.

 

Bradley's power disappeared this year en route to a .257/.378/.397 line in 473 plate appearances. He adapted poorly to Chicago, his season ending with a team-mandated suspension for his negative comments. Would New York be any easier? The switch-hitting Bradley turns 32 in April and has $21MM remaining on his contract.

 

Perez's already-lousy control worsened to a ridiculous 7.9 walks per nine innings in his 14 starts this year. He still piled up strikeouts, but home runs and hits were a problem as well. His 28.3% groundball rate was among the lowest in baseball. Perez arrived at Spring Training from the WBC out of shape, and was booted to the bullpen in May. He dealt with a knee problem thereafter and had season-ending surgery in August. The 28-year-old Scott Boras client has $24MM remaining on his contract.

 

Perez for Bradley - who says no?