Bradley Suspended for the Rest of the Season

[illiniguy]

forgive me for not accepting the popular groupthink that milton Bradley could have helped us win this year and next year. by that logic Aaron miles and joey gathright and neal cotts could have helped us win this year too.

 

there is more to being a professional athlete these days than just helping your team win like community relations. he got pissy (dunno if that word is kosher here, if not i'll change it) when he overheard a couple of waiters badmouthing him.

 

so let's say that jim does bring milton back next year. how is he going to react when he slumps next year like most players will and the fans get on his case and start booing him again? past history suggests a repeat of this year's behavior. are y'all suggesting that the players, who pretty clearly stated they were tired of his act through 140 games, are going to put up with his act next year knowing what they know this year?

 

hendry is right when he says when he starts making decisions based on fans desires he's not doing his job. but when it is so glaringly obvious that a blind man could see a player needs to be moved, a gm is doing a disservice to his team not to move him.[/quote]

Yeah Jim doesn't get that part though. See Neifi Perez, Jose Macias, and Aaron Miles. If they suck and are quiet he let's them stick around. It's the guys with talent he likes to run out of town. See Sammy Sosa and now Milton Bradley.

[Backtobanks]

 

Well at least you are right about one thing... winning could have helped ease the situation. For one, I'm sure if the Cubs were headed to the playoffs, Bradley wouldn't have said "no wonder they haven't won in 100 years" Unfortunately the Cubs weren't winning. Other than that, you have to be kidding. A baseball franchise wants to alienate its fanbase? and they can because they are already built in? :rotfl: There is not an owner/GM in his right mind that thinks it is good business to have players making fun of or alienating the fans.

 

1. Bradley talks crap about the Cubs fans and organizations... how much money do you think we lose?

 

2. Bradley helps take the Cubs to the playoffs next season.... how much money do you think we gain?

 

I'll give you a hint. One of these numbers is MUCH larger than the other.

 

The problem with your argument is that #1 will certainly happen while #2 possibly could happen. If Bradley returns, under-produces, and continues to be the jerk he was this year, the Cubs won't make the playoffs.

[17 Seconds]

This is absurd.

 

The fact that Bradley was suspended is Hendry handling the situation badly. That's all the proof that's needed. At best, Hendry doesn't screw up further by trading Milton, but even at that, he's turned the fans even further against a volatile player. At worst, he completely tanked Bradley's value and feels forced to ship him out of town for nothing to save face with the fanbase.

 

There is absolutely no valid case for this suspension from business or baseball perspectives... and Hendry's job is managing those two interests. He screwed up badly. The fact that a handful of players on a non-playoff team are going to be happier for the final three weeks of the season does nothing to alleviate that.

 

The fans already booed him every step he took. The status quo was unacceptable. They couldn't just have Milton repeatedly insulting the organization and the fans, refusing to play and fighting with personel.

 

Why couldn't they? You're basically saying that personal feelings and what the fans think are valid reasons for making a decision. When you're making big decisions based on fans and feelings, you're failing at your job.

 

Can somebody find that quote from Hendry years ago about this very situation? It was something like "the day I let the fans dictate what decision I make is the day I am no longer doing my job."

 

Well, that's exactly what he's doing.

 

This season was already lost. Bradley can do or say whatever he wants the rest of the season, it's hurting NOTHING. You know what DOES hurt? Suspending a guy and diminishing what little value he had left.

 

From a business perspective, there was absolutely no advantage of suspending him. NONE. He did it for personal feelings and to please the fans. That's really awful.

 

This isn't about Hendry and his feelings. This is about Bradley acting like an idiot for the entire year. Hendry and Lou pushed for and believed in this guy, and he crapped all over the whole organization. The Cubs gave him 30 million dollars and a 3 year deal. That's how much they respected the guy, and it wasn't reciprocated. If you are going to under perform that's fine. No one can predict how ones going to do year after year, but at least have the class to respect the team and the org. That's not a hard thing to do, and Bradley didn't do it.

 

You can't have a player diss the fans, players, and org and not discipline him.

 

In other words, it's about feelings.

[17 Seconds]

with the exception of hits, runs, base on balls, and on base percentages, according to yahoo sports as of today before the game, mike fontenot is the same player as milton bradley statistically with 30 less at bats.

 

so awesome

[loukycub]

forgive me for not accepting the popular groupthink that milton Bradley could have helped us win this year and next year. by that logic Aaron miles and joey gathright and neal cotts could have helped us win this year too.

 

Something tells me you don't understand the logic if you are trying to extend it to those guys.

 

actually i understand it perfectly. the logic is good. the argument is poor. i don't think you understand how vacuous the argument is. it doesn't make sense to say that player x was brought in to help win this year. by that definition EVERY player who is brought in by teams are brought in to help win this year. the argument should be to help make us better. and by that definition, he's failed.

 

he's played enough games to have a fairly good sample size to look at. with the exception of hits, runs, base on balls, and on base percentages, according to yahoo sports as of today before the game, mike fontenot is the same player as milton bradley statistically with 30 less at bats. their slugging pecentages differ by 7 hundreths of a point. bradley has 3 more home runs. fontenot hits better from the left side than bradley. we are paying $10 for slightly better than mike fontenot numbers this year. and yahoo doesn't list other stats like average with runners on or in scoring position where we know what that number is for bradley. i see people on this message board talk about possibly shipping off fontenot in trade opportunities. when talking strictly what he has done on the field, by this logic talks about trading bradley are equally as valid. i have pretty much stated as much in this thread. i don't want bradley around because he doesn't help any to the offense.

 

these numbers don't lie. and with no one really hitting other than lee and ramirez this year bradley adds as much to the offense as mike fontenot. getting on base means nothing if no one brings you in.

 

You know, normally I'd just launch headlong into this and point out exactly what's wrong with the way you tried to evaluate Bradley. But just this once, before I go to the trouble let me ask you this.

 

Do you want to learn how to properly evaluate a player statistically? We wouldn't even have to apply it to Bradley... we could just teach you some of the basics. Because you are obviously very confused.

 

oh sure. but see i don't think that would accomplish much. you can make stats say anything you want. you could make those same stats say that milton bradley is a much needed piece to make the team go while i could make those same stats say that milton is very easily replaceable with a much cheaper option.

 

by the way i am being serious when i said yes. i'm not a stat-head. the only stat i find reasonably reliable and one i trust implicitly is the win-loss stat for the team. i go mainly by what i see and that hasn't been much for bradley.

[davell]

For what it's worth, Bruce said in his blog that Hendry made the right decision in sending Bradley home.

[inari]

forgive me for not accepting the popular groupthink that milton Bradley could have helped us win this year and next year. by that logic Aaron miles and joey gathright and neal cotts could have helped us win this year too.

 

Something tells me you don't understand the logic if you are trying to extend it to those guys.

 

actually i understand it perfectly. the logic is good. the argument is poor. i don't think you understand how vacuous the argument is. it doesn't make sense to say that player x was brought in to help win this year. by that definition EVERY player who is brought in by teams are brought in to help win this year. the argument should be to help make us better. and by that definition, he's failed.

 

he's played enough games to have a fairly good sample size to look at. with the exception of hits, runs, base on balls, and on base percentages, according to yahoo sports as of today before the game, mike fontenot is the same player as milton bradley statistically with 30 less at bats. their slugging pecentages differ by 7 hundreths of a point. bradley has 3 more home runs. fontenot hits better from the left side than bradley. we are paying $10 for slightly better than mike fontenot numbers this year. and yahoo doesn't list other stats like average with runners on or in scoring position where we know what that number is for bradley. i see people on this message board talk about possibly shipping off fontenot in trade opportunities. when talking strictly what he has done on the field, by this logic talks about trading bradley are equally as valid. i have pretty much stated as much in this thread. i don't want bradley around because he doesn't help any to the offense.

 

these numbers don't lie. and with no one really hitting other than lee and ramirez this year bradley adds as much to the offense as mike fontenot. getting on base means nothing if no one brings you in.

 

You know, normally I'd just launch headlong into this and point out exactly what's wrong with the way you tried to evaluate Bradley. But just this once, before I go to the trouble let me ask you this.

 

Do you want to learn how to properly evaluate a player statistically? We wouldn't even have to apply it to Bradley... we could just teach you some of the basics. Because you are obviously very confused.

 

oh sure. but see i don't think that would accomplish much. you can make stats say anything you want. you could make those same stats say that milton bradley is a much needed piece to make the team go while i could make those same stats say that milton is very easily replaceable with a much cheaper option.

 

by the way i am being serious when i said yes. i'm not a stat-head. the only stat i find reasonably reliable and one i trust implicitly is the win-loss stat for the team. i go mainly by what i see and that hasn't been much for bradley.

 

Surely you can at least see why "Bradley is pretty much Mike Fontenot if you leave out everything" got a great deal of criticism.

[Guest]

With the exception of looks, talent, money, and a heaping helping of crazy sauce, I'm essentially the same person as Tom Cruise.

 

So you admit you pull the same quality of women. 8-)

Tip of the cap to you, sir.

 

Eh...I figured that went with the looks difference.

Not to mention the talent and the money

[Soonernation]

 

Bradley could walk through Wrigley after every home game and personally flip off each and every single fan and I couldn't care less, just so long as he doesn't hurt himself walking up and down those stairs. He's paid for his production on the field.

 

 

If you owned the team you'd have a different view. It's bad business to have anyone insulting your product. You have to have some kind of rules in place or your organization goes really bad in a hurry. The fact remains that Bradley was a bad business decision in every since of the word this year.

 

It's absurd that you think insulting fans and the organization is acceptable behavior.

 

 

I agree; if any of us trashed the company we worked for in the paper would we even have a job? I'm thinking i would be fired on the spot

[Backtobanks]

 

Bradley could walk through Wrigley after every home game and personally flip off each and every single fan and I couldn't care less, just so long as he doesn't hurt himself walking up and down those stairs. He's paid for his production on the field.

 

 

If you owned the team you'd have a different view. It's bad business to have anyone insulting your product. You have to have some kind of rules in place or your organization goes really bad in a hurry. The fact remains that Bradley was a bad business decision in every since of the word this year.

 

It's absurd that you think insulting fans and the organization is acceptable behavior.

 

 

I agree; if any of us trashed the company we worked for in the paper would we even have a job? I'm thinking i would be fired on the spot

 

But in this bizarro world, you would have to be paid and people would get on the internet to defend you and criticize your boss because he won't talk to you for two weeks.

[Grit amp Heart]

I'm pretty sure in the world of sports, winning means dollars. If you're a bunch of jackasses doing it, nobody will care. If you're losing but you're a great group of guys in the community, people will care but won't show up.

[Soonernation]

This is absurd.

 

The fact that Bradley was suspended is Hendry handling the situation badly. That's all the proof that's needed. At best, Hendry doesn't screw up further by trading Milton, but even at that, he's turned the fans even further against a volatile player. At worst, he completely tanked Bradley's value and feels forced to ship him out of town for nothing to save face with the fanbase.

 

There is absolutely no valid case for this suspension from business or baseball perspectives... and Hendry's job is managing those two interests. He screwed up badly. The fact that a handful of players on a non-playoff team are going to be happier for the final three weeks of the season does nothing to alleviate that.

 

The fans already booed him every step he took. The status quo was unacceptable. They couldn't just have Milton repeatedly insulting the organization and the fans, refusing to play and fighting with personel.

 

Why couldn't they? You're basically saying that personal feelings and what the fans think are valid reasons for making a decision. When you're making big decisions based on fans and feelings, you're failing at your job.

 

Can somebody find that quote from Hendry years ago about this very situation? It was something like "the day I let the fans dictate what decision I make is the day I am no longer doing my job."

 

Well, that's exactly what he's doing.

 

This season was already lost. Bradley can do or say whatever he wants the rest of the season, it's hurting NOTHING. You know what DOES hurt? Suspending a guy and diminishing what little value he had left.

 

From a business perspective, there was absolutely no advantage of suspending him. NONE. He did it for personal feelings and to please the fans. That's really awful.

 

This isn't about Hendry and his feelings. This is about Bradley acting like an idiot for the entire year. Hendry and Lou pushed for and believed in this guy, and he crapped all over the whole organization. The Cubs gave him 30 million dollars and a 3 year deal. That's how much they respected the guy, and it wasn't reciprocated. If you are going to under perform that's fine. No one can predict how ones going to do year after year, but at least have the class to respect the team and the org. That's not a hard thing to do, and Bradley didn't do it.

 

You can't have a player diss the fans, players, and org and not discipline him.

 

Oh you cant? So then why hasnt Z ever been suspended? Hes punched a player on his own team, hes got into a verbal arguement on the mound with his manager, and hes made quotes this year about wanting traded because hes tired of this....Double standards gotta love them

 

Double standards exist on every sports team,and if you think otherwise you are in denial; hell Jimmy Johnson admitted that he had certain players with more leeway when he coached the Cowboys but he's one of the few coaches with enough cajones to admit it.

[17 Seconds]

 

Double standards exist on every sports team,and if you think otherwise you are in denial; hell Jimmy Johnson admitted that he had certain players with more leeway when he coached the Cowboys but he's one of the few coaches with enough cajones to admit it.

 

So because other people do it, it's okay?

[Guest]

 

Double standards exist on every sports team,and if you think otherwise you are in denial; hell Jimmy Johnson admitted that he had certain players with more leeway when he coached the Cowboys but he's one of the few coaches with enough cajones to admit it.

 

So because other people do it, it's okay?

Just about anyone that claims that there isn't favoritism in any organization is lying to you.

[17 Seconds]

 

Double standards exist on every sports team,and if you think otherwise you are in denial; hell Jimmy Johnson admitted that he had certain players with more leeway when he coached the Cowboys but he's one of the few coaches with enough cajones to admit it.

 

So because other people do it, it's okay?

Just about anyone that claims that there isn't favoritism in any organization is lying to you.

 

I know.

[TruffleShuffle]

now the cubs are playing well after they suspended him... can't wait for someone like paul sullivan to draw the connection.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

now the cubs are playing well after they suspended him... can't wait for someone like paul sullivan to draw the connection.

 

Wittenmeyer's twitter was updating the "without Bradley" record almost daily in the first few days after the suspension.

[TruffleShuffle]

now the cubs are playing well after they suspended him... can't wait for someone like paul sullivan to draw the connection.

 

Wittenmeyer's twitter was updating the "without Bradley" record almost daily in the first few days after the suspension.

 

haha they're so predictable in their douchbaggery.

[Tyrant]

Has this been posted yet?

 

Don't expect the Texas Rangers to bring back Milton Bradley, says Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Wilson has this to say: "Opinions cooled some in March, when he told Gil LeBreton that he could have played at times last year but opted to sit out to make his stats look better for potential suitors... Bradley pushed himself way down the wish list with those comments, and probably pushed himself off it completely." The Cubs are expected to seek a trade for the disgruntled outfielder this offseason.Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

[A-Cal]

Has this been posted yet?

 

Don't expect the Texas Rangers to bring back Milton Bradley, says Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Wilson has this to say: "Opinions cooled some in March, when he told Gil LeBreton that he could have played at times last year but opted to sit out to make his stats look better for potential suitors... Bradley pushed himself way down the wish list with those comments, and probably pushed himself off it completely." The Cubs are expected to seek a trade for the disgruntled outfielder this offseason.Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

just an all around team player

 

Go Bradley Go

[illiniguy]

Has this been posted yet?

 

Don't expect the Texas Rangers to bring back Milton Bradley, says Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Wilson has this to say: "Opinions cooled some in March, when he told Gil LeBreton that he could have played at times last year but opted to sit out to make his stats look better for potential suitors... Bradley pushed himself way down the wish list with those comments, and probably pushed himself off it completely." The Cubs are expected to seek a trade for the disgruntled outfielder this offseason.Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

just an all around team player

 

Go Bradley Go

He killed the Rangers with his .999 OPS.

[A-Cal]

right, i don't know how that makes any sort of point connecting him to being a solid team player though

[Tyrant]

Has this been posted yet?

 

Don't expect the Texas Rangers to bring back Milton Bradley, says Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Wilson has this to say: "Opinions cooled some in March, when he told Gil LeBreton that he could have played at times last year but opted to sit out to make his stats look better for potential suitors... Bradley pushed himself way down the wish list with those comments, and probably pushed himself off it completely." The Cubs are expected to seek a trade for the disgruntled outfielder this offseason.Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

just an all around team player

 

Go Bradley Go

He killed the Rangers with his .999 OPS.

 

That's not the point.

[illiniguy]

Has this been posted yet?

 

Don't expect the Texas Rangers to bring back Milton Bradley, says Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Wilson has this to say: "Opinions cooled some in March, when he told Gil LeBreton that he could have played at times last year but opted to sit out to make his stats look better for potential suitors... Bradley pushed himself way down the wish list with those comments, and probably pushed himself off it completely." The Cubs are expected to seek a trade for the disgruntled outfielder this offseason.Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

just an all around team player

 

Go Bradley Go

He killed the Rangers with his .999 OPS.

 

That's not the point.

It is though, I mean by him setting out against guys he wouldn't have success in couldn't that help the team? Especially if his replacement could have had success against the guys he was missing? I mean it works like a platoon. Odds ar eif Milton was not playing against a guy it was becasue he knew he wouldn't be able to suceed against him. I mean sure it isn't exactly what you want your player to do, but hell it's like he was saying he should be platooned.

[Tyrant]

Apparently Milton Bradley can do no wrong. I hope he murders someone so I can hear the rationalization of it at NSBB.

 

"I'd murder someone, too, if stupid Jim Hendry suspended me for no reason! This should be the last straw in Hendry's tenure as GM. His terrible decisions finally cost someone their life."

 

"Milton Bradley got life in prison for murdering a family of four? How is that any worse than anything Big Z has done as a Cub? Why is there a double standard?"

 

"Did you ever think that slowly choking the life out of another human might be a stress reliever for Milton? He's been through a lot lately and I don't blame him for trying to release some of his frustration."