MAY 16th: The Mariners released Bradley, tweets Ryan Divish of The News Tribune. He's now a free agent, to no one's surprise.
MAY 9th: The Mariners designated left fielder Milton Bradley for assignment and recalled outfielder Carlos Peguero, reports MLB.com's Greg Johns. In the likely event the Ms eventually release Bradley, they'll have to eat over $9MM in salary. Johns tweets GM Jack Zduriencik's explanation: "We felt Milton was not part of our future and not part of our present. Therefore, the move was made."
The Mariners shook up the roster a bit today, designating veterans Bradley and Ryan Langerhans to make room for youngsters Peguero and Mike Wilson. Bradley, 33, hit .209/.298/.351 in 393 plate appearances for the Mariners since he was acquired from the Cubs for Carlos Silva and $9MM in December of '09. Essentially the Mariners took on Bradley for two years and $5MM in that bad contract swap.
Bradley's time with Seattle was tumultuous, with a benching, multiple ejections, time on the restricted list for counseling, arthroscopic knee surgery, and an arrest for making a criminal threat.
Thank God! I’m sick of his crap.
And the award for the most long awaited roster move goes to the 2011 Seattle Mariners.
What about the Angels DFA’ing Mathis? I’m still waiting desperately for that.
The Mets didn’t win it when they released Perez? I guess they can’t win anything.
Ha ha it’s about 3 years too late. Let me guess he is going to say the mariners ate racist. Cant wait to see who he blames this on. He can’t hit so the pitchers and umpires must be against him and probably racist. He can’t field so the balls and grass must hate him and all be against him. Can’t wait to see him clear waivers and not get picked up by anyone.
You know Kenny Williams is going to pick him up.
No way Kenny has a habit of picking up former stars past thier prime ie griffey, Omar, andru jones. Bradley has had one good year in his entire career.
Bradley averaged 3.3 WAR from 2003-2008 despite only averaging 100 games per season over that same stretch. The guy is a Grade-A jackass, but he was also a pretty damn good player for awhile (when healthy).
i said kenny gets STARS past their primes..not “pretty good players” past their primes
You also said “Bradley has had one good year in his entire career.” Which is false, and the commenter who replied to your statement proved it (with objective facts).
As a matter if fact looking at his numbers he has has two good years. 03 and 08 everything else has been average.
Baseball-Reference has 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 as 4.1, 3.6, 2.4, 5.1 WAR respectively. Those were his 4 best years. He had 2 other years with a WAR of greater than 1, and 17.9 total WAR for his career. If you want to interpret that as average, then most players in the league are below-average.
If they were racist, they prob wouldn’t have ichiro
Aren’t they owned by Nintendo? Or at least Japanese private ownership?
i read Nintendo in America
You know I was joking right? It was a reference to his comments that cubs fans are racist even though they loved lee and aram
So you were joking about “If they were racist, they prob wouldn’t have ichiro”?
But you’re serious about (if) “cubs fans are racist even though they loved lee and aram”?
Chicago is a VERY segregated city, with a startling percentage of non-whites living in White Sox territory, and vice-versa on the North Side. It would be hard for a black man to go there and NOT notice that. I’m not saying I agree with Milton’s conclusions, but it is noticeably different than a lot of other big-city metro demographics.
What? All I said was that he is probably going to say the m’s are racist. But I was kidding and the cubs comment was in reference to him saying cubs fans are racist when in fact they really are not because they idolize players who are not white. Granted there are racists everywhere. Milton decided to call them racist as opposed to realizing he sucked
Sorry about that, I totally replied to you in error. It wasn’t you that made the comment about Ichiro at all.
That said: to imply that because Chicago has some players who are non-white and are loved by most fans therefore means that no racist fans exist isn’t an air-tight argument, by the rules of logic. I know you don’t really think that, because, as you said, “there are racists everywhere” (including the Ump who was suspended for using a racial slur against him in SD). Given that history, I don’t find it unfathomable that Milton may have indeed heard a race-based comment from one or two amongst the throngs at Wrigley and reacted strongly. But I don’t think that qualifies as an over-reaction. Why should he have to put up with that crap for 1 second? It seems he also took exception to the Chicago media. All I can say about that is all media outlets select articles that they think will sell copies/ads, not necessarily those that are the most fair and balanced. That’s why I don’t form my opinion based on anything but quoted material (which they have a legal obligation to be accurate with) from the player (or politician, actor, etc) or quoted material from another credible source with more knowledge of the details than I have.
“Let me guess he is going to say the mariners ate racist.”
I don’t know about you guys, but…I have absolutely no problem whatsoever if the Mariners eat racists. I actually prefer a tangy barbecue sauce and some roasted cauliflower when I prepare my racist…
It was supposed to be are racist. Auto correct on my phone decided to change it. My bad.
@ Paul’s Lovechild. Thank you, thank you, for making the coffee come out my nose this morning. I needed a heartfelt guffaw in the middle of all this. (and a special thanks to you, JWSOX. Your typo made this all possible)
any time
I’m glad you got a kick out of the post…I just couldn’t let it go, bro
absolutely. I would have jumped all over it. One of those you just can’t pass up. Fortunately, jwsox is laughing too.
I wrote a post a while ago that never got published. Maybe it was the “jokingly” reference to you as a ” b@st@rd child” (see paul o’neils’s lovechild). Nothing meant by it.
Very funny post though. Are father beans and a nice chianti also on the menu?
I’m glad you liked it, my bro-in-arms…been a Yankees fan myself since ’81 (was 5 at the time). I don’t know about father beans…is that some kind of dish made out of racist dads?! But I always like me some fava beans and a nice chianti.
You can eat a racist??
dahmer probably did at least once
They go great with ketchup.
Funny that you mention Umps. The 2007 “controversy” that’s been stuck to Milton as “just another example of…” was started by an Ump using a racial slur against him, Milton went into a rage, had to be subdued by his coach, tore his ACL. SOON AFTER, MLB reviewed the tape, found the Ump DID INDEED use a racial slur, and suspended him. It’s all on record.
That’s an eye popping headline. $9 million?
Padres should sign him to a minor league deal. I don’t think anyone puts them on their major league club.
He was actually pretty good with the padres. Maybe it’d work again.
Thank you God , your far too kind.
*you’re*
The Chicago Cubs are now on the clock.
This doesn’t even make sense. You can’t put more effort into your jabs than that?
Sorry – how ’bout:
Your move, Cubs.
he may as well retire because nobody will take a chance on him. even desperate teams wont go near this guy. We’ll see ya Bradley…
He needs to join the Angels to complete the AL West round robin!
if anyone can calm this guy down it’s Scioscia. Wouldnt mind taking a fly and letting him play LF while Wells is on the DL.. if it doesn work out, just release him, no harm no foul
It was time. Putting up with his mental issues just failed to be worthwhile if the dude doesn’t play D or hit worth a damn. Look for Peguero and Wilson to platoon LF for the foreseeable future. Gotta think that Saunders goes to Tacoma when Guti comes back as well. Saunders is a great glove guy but is lost at the plate right now.
you could say that again!
It was time. Putting up with his mental issues just failed to be worthwhile if the dude doesn’t play D or hit worth a damn. Look for Peguero and Wilson to platoon LF for the foreseeable future. Gotta think that Saunders goes to Tacoma when Guti comes back as well. Saunders is a great glove buy lost at the plate right now.
I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers.
This is an unfortunate (and sad), but expected turn of events. I was rooting for Milton to turn things around both on and off the field, but he just hasn’t played well enough to warrant a roster spot. If another team doesn’t pick him up on a minor league deal, I hope that his millions of dollars can afford him the opportunity to find a new passion in life. I wish Milton the best of luck, along with inner peace and happiness.
How is it unfortunate and sad? He can’t hit or play defense the two things you have to do as a baseball player. And that’s not counting the fact that he is a bad person. He is crazy and thinks everyone else is to Blame for HIS, key words his, short comings. He has never once been called a good team mate and refuses to get help. He does not even deserve a minor league roster spot.
“Hey, man. Can you give him a chance?” “If you knew him, you’d fall in love with him. He’s got a heart of gold. Please give my teammate a shot.” “I love the guy, if the world could open up Milton’s chest and look inside his heart, they would embrace him like we have embraced him. A lot of people see a picture of who they think he is.” “When you open up to someone and they open up to you, you get to see who they truly are. And I see a beautiful person.”
All quotes from teammate Mike Sweeney, widely regarded as one of the nicest human beings in the game.
One person out of how many team mates?
You said “he has never once been called a good team mate”, you clearly didn’t do any research in advance of criticizing him, so it would appear you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Find me an actual quote from a teammate condemning him. I’m not trying to belabor the point, sorry, but if you look for the quoted material only, I think you’ll also encounter some of Milton’s own words, which, IMO, make him out to be a cerebral, emotional, thin-skinned person, scarred from a tough up-bringing (something he has in common with a lot of black players) and he’s talked mostly about wanting so bad to prove himself, repair the chip on his shoulder, and just be happy. I hate seeing a man like this singled out and hated on when there are other MLB players whose quoted words belie much lesser character.
I would think that 50 million in earnings would have toughened up that thin skin a bit
Why, ’cause money buys happiness? If anything most people coming into money start to care LESS about what their fans think of them, I actually LIKE that Milton wasn’t affected that way.
I’m sorry but money does buy happiness. Having money makes life easier thus happier.
Hes a dirtbag and a non-stop troublemaker. Why wish him luck?
This comment displays empathy, compassion, AND an objective criticism of his on-the-field play, relating to the actual baseball news. You sir, are a gentleman.
…So, does he wind up on the next team Eric Wedge manages?
I’m sure there’s a flood of calls from interested GM’s.
I heard at least 2 GMs from the Can-Am league want to know if he’ll sell hot dogs.
I’m wondering who will be wearing the duck costume for the mascot of the Long Island Ducks.
Well, yeah, he can. But when people don’t tip, he smashes his hot dog carrier over their heads and then hides under the bleachers, seething about being misunderstood.
“Would you like a hot dog?”
“No thank you.”
“RACIST!”
Remember when he was an all-star?
how bout an out field of Bradley, Milledge and Dukes?
Not bad, but Nyjer Morgan deserves consideration as a fourth outfielder.
The bad thing about this it is that the Nationals had Milledge, Dukes and Morgan.
Oh yeah, racism is clearly not an issue in America anymore. Just ask “your” president.
– Luke Scott
Milledge doesn’t belong on that list. He never beat anyone. He played hard. Most of all his issues were really silly like being a spoiled young athlete who didn’t “respect his elders” and for being in a rap video.
Even Morgan I think has been mischaractherized.
Duke on the other hand beats women. MB’s crap is well documented.
Would you include Brett Myers as the starting pitcher?
Your right – Milledge is just an attitude problem – he wants to be bad. Morgan pretty much the same – but has acted out more so Lastings. None of these guys are good clubhouse guys.
@Lunchbox45
Ask yourself, if only 7-8% of all MLB players are black, and every single one of your examples of “bad clubhouse guys” are black – what is your selection criteria? Or do you truly think every other player in MLB is of better character?
EDIT: With apologies to ironnat, it was Lunchbox45 that originally selected these men as examples.
Regardless of who selected these guys – what are your criteria? If 7-8% of MLB players are black do you ignore all other bad actors that are black after you have reached the 7-8% thresh hold? Is it a necessity to then find players to fill white or Hispanic quotas to assuage white guilt? Should Asian bad actors be included even if it is hard to find one? If you are black are you permitted to exceed the percentage of blacks in the league? Very, very complex issue. The fact is, however, that Bradley and Dukes are in a class by themselves – the other two are amateur cancers.
PC Moment: Rugs are oriental….ppl from the Orient region are Asian.
What are you talking about????????????? LOL
Did you edit your post because I would’ve sworn you refered to Asians as “Orientals”.
Now you have to edit yours or people will wonder what you are talking about!!!!
I think you’ve shown your true colors enough for anyone to see on this thread. You’re just a hater, and not a very clever one I might add.
You missed my point entirely. I’m saying if 100% of your “bad guys” are from a pool of “7-8%” total, what’s up with that? Do NO non-black players come to mind when you think of “clubhouse cancers”? Luke Scott, John Rocker, whoever. Not to mention Dukes is the only one of your “bad guys” that really did anything bad, the rest are just guilty of being black, or so it seems from your earlier words.
I don’t even understand the rest of this broken English, broken logic tirade. You should crack a book, son.
You still must be talking to the wrong guy. John Rocker has been out of baseball for some time – Ty Cobb comes to mind – and conveniently for your point he was also a racist. In your mind Milton Bradley is probably a fine upstanding citizen – maybe it’s we are coming from different perspectives and his violent outburst and assaulting his wife is just a black thing that I just don’t understand. Two quick points – 1) most blacks, as most whites would, would agree that this is not normative or acceptable behavior and 2) the constant cry of racism is so 20th century – you need to get into an America that has elected a black president.
The domestic violence case was dismissed. Innocent until proven guilty, I think that is an American value. Racism is our cultural heritage, if you read ANYTHING you’d see Obama’s presidency has drawn it out “in spades”.
I wouldn’t even classify Milledge of being a bad charachter. There is very little hard evidence that he is. The vets on his team thought he walked around like his poop didn’t stink. Some White, Latino and Asian athletes are guilty of being the same,especially those at his age fresh out of HS or College where they were coddled by parents, teachers and coaches? So what he was in a music video with obscnene lyrics. Was it a bad choice? Sure? Does it make him as bad as the rappers or the rappers image portrayed in their music? Of course not. But what wedo not understand we usually try to destroy.
“But what wedo not understand we usually try to destroy.” Very funny line – just more PC tripe.
Yeah…no examples of ppl with counter cultures being at odds with each other because they simply don’t understand each others norms and cultures. Easier to try and destroy or convert than it is to understand, relate or tolerate.
See that is where you are wrong – the vast, vast majority of people even if they don’t agree on anything, live in peace with each other. There are those that are perpetually angry, that believe that our cultural heritage is intrinsically evil and racist who try to stir up class or racial antagonism. I believe that is becoming increasingly less prevalent. That there is less people, as generations pass on, that feel the antagonisms and racial divides that were prevalent in past years is without a doubt. There are less and less that will be judging others through the prism of past hatreds. It is amazing how there are some that can judge another through several posts on a baseball rumor site. They of course know nothing of one’s character yet can prejudge someone. That sounds to me like prejudice. After all that is what prejudging is.
Or you’re just sheltered, possibly willfully ignorant. Also, it’s not pre-judgement if you hit the “REPLY” button to address someone’s comments. If you didn’t mean what you said literally, why say it? What’s your motivation? Anyone calling you on something you said regarding something they (and many others) take seriously is motivated by a sense of social injustice – is that so bad?
Social justice – are you serious? I marched in the sixties for social justice – for equality in job hiring, housing, educational opportunities etc. Defending Dukes and Bradley has nothing to do with social justice. It is the age old cry of racism to defend the indefensible. This is the kind of thing that has diluted the charge of racism to a joke. Racism is defending John Rocker because he is white and Dukes and Bradley because they are black.
A black male is more than 3 times more likely to see time in prison than his white counterpart, 1 in 4 black males were, are, or will be in prison. Racism is much more subtle these days, and the institutionalized racism that leads to economic disparity, poorer quality education, and poorer legal representation hasn’t gone anywhere. The facts about the disproportionate number of black men in jail are not disputed, so you can identify the CAUSE as being either an expected byproduct of systematic discrimination, or inherent weakness of character in those black men. If you deny the first is true, what is YOUR explanation?
Or to keep in it baseball terms – 10-11% of the population is black. What percentage of team owners in baseball or any sport are black? 0% Why do YOU think that’s so?
If it’s all just alarmist nonsense to you, surely you have an alternate explanation.
My comment above has 2 paragraphs. I’d like to title them:
1. The Land of the Free
2. The Land of Opportunity
See what I did there? See why some people are so angry and DO see it as social injustice?
There is also a disproportionate amount of violence in the black community and a disproportionate amount of good law abiding black families that are effected by that violence. Your defense of these two men is unconscionable. Racism is maybe more subtle, however, that does not excuse the defense in any way of violent behavior. Blacks are disproportionately effected by black violence – much more black on black violence then white on black violence. Racism is the issue – their behavior is indefensible, yet you defend them because they are black – that is racism.
This thread is in direct response to your saying racism is a thing of the past, the only way your list of “bad guys” comes into play is that I see it as representational of the kind of media-friendly racism where one can safely criticize someone for looking like a “thug” – codeword for black, urban, youth. The fact that you don’t see a connection between institutionalized racism and violent behavior is akin to criticizing the rioters in LA in 1992 but not mentioning the Rodney King beatings. I defend Milton’s RIGHT to call racism if he sees it, not him or Duke’s actions off the field. I stand up for Milton because all I see here are a bunch of cowards picking on a man they wouldn’t have the courage to insult in person, joking about “thugs” in the outfield in an unchallenged atmosphere, just the kind of subtle racism that pervades the media. I defend black people NOT because I am black (I’m not), but because, again, they have less people sticking up for them than whites who have said or done just as much or more to deserve criticism. What are you getting out of this? If you really marched in the 60’s, it went “we shall overcome”, right. So now it’s “we overcame, now quit your bitching”? Now that there’s a black president, game over? We win? Please.
There is nothing wrong with defending black people – very noble cause. It is defending those that bring disrepute to a community simply because they are black that is racism. Once again, those defending John Rocker could only be doing it because he was white. The was no excuse for what he said. Those people were racist. Defending these men simply because they are black is racism. Pure and simple.
What did Milton Bradley do?
What did Nyjer Morgan do?
What did Lastings Milledge do?
See – this is where you try to change the subject. My original post mentioned that the Nationals had three of the four guys that the previous poster had mentioned. Lasting Milledge was nothing more than one of many immature young men that was thrown into the spotlight – they come in all colors. As to what the good citizen Bradley did – no one needs a recap. The man has anger problems and violent tendencies, which would be inexcusable in most people but in your eyes they are perfectly normal – because he is black. Sounds like racism to me – violence is violence – no excuses.
You haven’t answered a single one of my questions as I try to get at where you’re coming from, instead just calling “racist, racist, racist”. Sounds like willful ignorance to me. I never said I’m defending Dukes AT ALL, never said I was defending Milton BECAUSE he was black. You can go back and read for yourself – I haven’t edited my comments to cover myself. You think I’m a racist because I’m calling you out.
You dismissed an earlier commenter as “the PC Police”, edited your own comment calling Asian people “Oriental”, and laughed it off, and took part in a “good’olboy” exchange about 3 other black men on a thread that was non on the subject of “angry black men”. AND you claim at the same time to have marched in the 60’s for social justice. Doesn’t jive.
Wow, the width of these is getting tiny.
thats what she said
I’m not defending Dukes at all, I’m calling you and the others out for randomly adding Dukes, Morgan, and Milledge into a conversation about Milton Bradley. If it’s because you were thinking this was an article about black men in baseball, it wasn’t. It was a subtly racist association to even mention them.
You never responded to me regarding Rocker – were people who defended what Rocker said because he was a white guy racist. If they were racists why aren’t you a racist for defending Dukes and Bradley over indefensible behavior simply because they are black?
Like I said already, I never, not once, said anything in defense of Dukes. Bradley has not actually done anything, he’s just an “angry black man”. Same mistake you guys made with Milledge and Morgan. Bradley’s domestic abuse case was dismissed, his fight with in SD was confirmed by MLB to have been initiated by a racial slur used by the UMP in the game, and that ump was suspended, Milton was not. IT IS ACCUSING SOMEONE FALSELY OF VIOLENCE JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK THAT IS RACISM. Defending them against that accusation is social justice.
Yes Bradley is a good upstanding citizen – no violence just morally justified anger. I never once accused him of being violent because he is black – he is violent and angry regardless of his race. You are the one that keeps going back to his race and defending him. How many chances did this man get – did all these teams dump him because he was black? He’s a bad actor period. If you feel that he is so because he is black that is racism. If you excuse him because he is black that is racist. Maybe you should just try judging him by the content of his character. How does he come out on that score?
I don’t speak for Area510 and I wasn’t defending Bradley or Duke. However, if you can’t accept the not so subtle way that ppl lump Morgan and Milledge into the examples of “bad guys” then I’m not sure what to say to you. No one mentions Myers, no one mentions Buchholz? Who even mentions Bobby Cox and his domestic violence charges? He wasn’t even suspended by MLB!
Not everything is racist. But what is, let’s not hide from it. Calling someoen “thuggish” because they have corn-rows….is racist.
Morgan being called a thug after getting into a baseball brawl after being hit once and then thrown at the next at bat and doing what hundreds of others have done has a tinge of racism./
When did I call Morgan and Milledge bad guys, when did I mention cornrows and equate it with the word thug – when did I use the word thug? When did I call Morgan a thug? Why is this being addressed to me? When all is said and done it is easier to try and destroy or convert than it is to understand, relate or tolerate.
Why do ppl speek in absolutes as if everyone in the world thinks in sync? I never said that EVERYONE is against each other. What I did say is that there are plenty of examples where ppl are against each other and violate one anothers right to live as they wish simply because they don’t understand, relate or tolerate each others differences. The most glaring has to do with Middle Easterners and their relations with Jews and most of the Western world and it’s not a one sided dispute.
“Yeah…no examples of ppl with counter cultures being at odds with each
other because they simply don’t understand each others norms and
cultures. Easier to try and destroy or convert than it is to understand,
relate or tolerate.”
So why was this addressed to me?
Actually this all started (6 hours ago) with a mistake I made – I wrote:
“@Lunchbox45
Ask yourself, if only 7-8% of all MLB players are black,
and every single one of your examples of “bad clubhouse guys” are black –
what is your selection criteria? Or do you truly think every other
player in MLB is of better character?
EDIT: With apologies to ironnat, it was Lunchbox45 that originally selected these men as examples.
”
I immediately realized I replied to you in error, who had only replied in turn to the originator of the mini-thread about “How about an outfield of Bradley, Milledge and Dukes”…I clearly changed the “addressee” and added an EDIT including an apology to you before you replied to me. When you did reply to me it began, “Regardless of who made the selection…” and you joined the conversation of your own free will. I was accusing Lunchbox (on behalf of Milton Bradley) of a making a racist association with those other players because they have nothing else in common with Milton Bradley except being black and having a bad public image. And you launched into a tirade about how racism is “so 20th century”…and on…and on…and on. TRUCE.
I want to apologize for losing my cool, mostly because it’s so counterproductive. I was trying (at first) to have a more exploratory Q&A with you, but we both quickly devolved into name calling and making reactionary assumptions. I truly am sorry. Got mad, only human.
These are very emotional topics that easily can have much read into them. That is unfortunately the state of race relations today. I accept your apology and offer mine as well.
And Bobby cox as the manager?
Managed by Jose Offerman?
Pitching coach John Rocker
Hitting coach and History teacher Carl Everett.
So now a team can have both troublemakers…Bradley and Silva for league minimum.
After his effort yesterday Im not surprised. His throw to the plate yesterday was 25′ left of the plate and the sight of him “jumping” in the area of a fly ball at the wall only to miss it by 15′ was priceless.
They can write the article right now about how MB files bankruptcy and has to sell his home and cars to pay his back taxes
He’s still gonna make board games, right? RIGHT?!?! I NEED TO OCCUPY MY WEEKEND!
Upcoming headline: “Milton Bradley, former ML All-Star & 1st team head case, signs with the Newark Bears of the IL”
oh my both Bradley and Langerhans are thank god at least the callups cant do any worse
I like the move by the M’s. It’s tough to move out someone who’s getting that much money, but hopefully these new players will get good experience and help the team.
I remember watching a game when he was with Texas and our Royals announcer was contrasting his situation with Josh Hamilton’s situation. Milton heard it in the clubhouse and went up the booth trying to fight our announcer. Just no class.
On the flipside, I got to see that Peguero kid in AA last year. He can really rake. Although he does K alot.
@darkstorm97
Wouldn’t YOU be pissed off being compared to a crackhead/alcoholic who bailed on the team that drafted him to go self-destruct? Milton was in the middle of an all-star year (that should have earned him MVP). Sticking up for himself against a racist slur in San Diego (confirmed by MLB via umpire’s suspension) got him tagged as “classless” too, but the reigning MVP (Hamilton) blames his own 3B coach for an injury on a head-first slide and is still gets more love than Milton ever did.
I’m glad someone else besides me feels that Hamilton is overrated. Granted, I wouldn’t have gone to the lengths you just did. A little bit vindictive for my taste, but yeah. Hamilton, good, not great.
Before anyone asks, I have no justification for why I feel Hamilton is overrated, I just don’t care for him.
Well, in fairness, I don’t think Hamilton is over-rated as a PLAYER, just as a TEAMMATE. My anger is derived from irresponsible and lazy journalists who prefer to make sales peddling a “Cinderella Story” like Hamilton’s.
He wasn’t comparing. I said he was contrasting. He was saying Bradley has been given every chance and screws up at every stop. Whereas Hamilton screwed up a good thing, bottomed out and worked hard to get back to the game… at a high level.
That’s just semantics, and it doesn’t change my point. It was a comparison of their situations and an implication of a difference in character.
Well there’s one name to remove from consideration for this year’s Roberto Clemente award…
Random GM: “Can he still rake”?
Bradley’s agent: “As opposed to what you have seen this year so far, definitely!”
Random GM: “Well good then. Our SS A affiliate is down a groundscrew member; he needs to be in Ogden by the 30th..”
Too be honst, and I know notmany agree with me, but I feel bad for the guy. YES I understand he is getting paid millions, but does that mean anything when you are living each and everyday questioning your life. (Many will say yes. I say no.)
He wanted to live up to the huge contract. I could see it in him. His frustations were merely due to letting everyone down. To being labeled a failure I suppose. A failure to living up to millions of dollars….which is easy to fail at. Either way Milton, settle down, and enjoy life. Be glad you don’ have cubs fans or ESPN jumping on your life like a cat pounces a mouse.
Hey, I would gladly take Milton as a Spring Training instructor. Sure he wouldn’t be able to teach players how to properly hit a ball, or track a fly, but he could certainly fire some people up.
Good luck Milton. For me, as a Seattle fan, thanks for trying.
the only thing milton would be good for in terms of instruction is how to not make it in the MLB…take one look at him and know you cant argue every single pitcher(the strike 3 he got called against him the other day vs the white so when he got tossed) yes the ball was slightly out of the zone but it was in an area the ump was calling all game..
as for his mental issues, he has millions of dollars psychiatrists only cost a few hundred an hour. and most professional teams have them on staff and the players dont have to pay anything to talk to them. He has had chance after chance to get his head on right and he may be able to for a week or two but then old milton comes out.
Milton Bradley has put up 17.6 career WAR for all teams combined. Value for 1 WAR (win above replacement player) is between 4.5 mil – 5 mil. He has been (objectively) worth between 79.2 mil – 88 mil, while being paid just under 49 mil in his career.
Neither YOU nor I know him personally, but you called him a bad person in an earlier comment, for which I replied with direct quotes from Mike Sweeney, a well-loved person who does know him personally. I just don’t see where all the hate and disrespect comes from. He’s proven himself an asset, just because he rubs some people the wrong way doesn’t make that untrue, nor does it merit summary judgement.
First off, you dont know if I do or do not know him personally..that being said…I dont haha. So me calling him a bad person was uncalled for and I apologize for that, I used the wrong word.
Mike Sweeney may like him, and Sweeney may be one of the best people in baseball. But it does not change the fact that Bradley has a huge history of throwing hissey fits, starting fights, calling people out for HIS mistakes, blaming others, calling people racist, and not being able to take criticism. Which is as i stated all his problems are in HIS head. I mean come on he may or may not have beaten his ex wife/girl friend or what ever that incident was that suddenly went away this past winter. He broke a federal law by sending threatening messages over the internet(yep its a federal offense). And nothing was done about that. he tried to fight freaking Lou Pinella 2 years ago when Lou pulled him from a game. He called cubs fans racist. I know cubs fans they are dunk and usually stupid but not racist, considering how much they love soriano, Aram, castro, soto, Derek Lee(they seem to forget he was on the marlins team that won the world series) Byrd, Koske, Zambrano, erine banks the list goes on, yet they hated Bradley because he’s black. So yes calling him a bad person was wrong, and I want to say this I dont hate bradley, Its just upsetting to see someone who is given millions of dollars to play a freaking sport have this kind of attitude and not do anything about it. Hamilton was given millions and got addicted but over came that. He over came a chemical addiction that usually leads to most peoples deaths an got out of it. Yet Milton can sit down with some one for an hour a day and talk and get his issues fixed? Thats whats upsetting, blaming everyone else for your problems is upsetting. Its not one else fault that he cant run, hit for average, hit for power, get on base, or field other than his own and judging by his past he will never ever own up to it. Thats where the disrespect comes from.
he has never done anything to earn anyones respect, and even if he has he will have it then throw it away a few weeks later because of a hissey fit.
As for your WAR post he has put up 21 career WAR over the course of 4200+ at bats, where as Hamilton has put up 16 WAR in 1900 Career at bats. Thats the only reason I brought up WAR is because people were calling Hamilton over rated.
And as for proving him self an asset? you cant be serious. He has had a really good year in 08 with the rangers and a really good year in 03 with the indians. Besides that he has either been average or bad.
Point taken regarding him rubbing you the wrong way – you’ve as much right to an opinion as the next guy (me, in this case). You are omitting the confirmed fact that he got into the fight that led to his injured knee BECAUSE of racial slurs USED BY AN UMP during a game. Is he reactionary? YES. Is he volatile? YES. No argument, but how is that so very different from pro-athletes in all sports.
My real question to you is WHY is it so important to disparage him? Christian values (if you read the red-letter version of the Bible) espouse compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Go back and read all the comments on this page, which do yours represent? Love or hate? If you wonder why is it so important for me to defend him, I’ll tell you. In case by some small chance Milton himself is reading this, looking at it as very likely the last thread about him as a player and a man, I want him to know there were some of us that ignored the editorial, sensationalist nonsense OUTSIDE the quotes, got to like his words, and loved watching him play the game. If it made him happier for ONE MINUTE, it would be worth my time.
FWIW, you seem to misunderstand the concept of WAR and its relationship to value. By saying he has 21 WAR (I got 17.6 from baseball-reference), multiplying that by annual value, you see that he has been worth somewhere between 75-90 mil to his teams, the owners, the fans, his teammates – and earning under 50 mil for his career makes him an asset in sum total. He earned his money. He gave back more value to the team owners in win-based revenue than they paid him.
Christian values as per the buble also say not to eat lobster or shrimp and to treat women as if they were lower class citizens.
The bible also says the Earth is 5000 years old, I don’t believe that nonsense either. I’m agnostic/non-religious/with a lean toward atheist, if you really want to know. I shouldn’t have called them “Christian” values, as they are the values of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc. as well. I say “Christian” only because I live in a Christian land, and people are more familiar with them. I specified the “red-letter” bible quotes because they are believed to be the actual words of Jesus, and they summarize those more charitable values. In THEORY, all religious philosophies are actually pretty cool, I think, I just wish the practitioners (especially Christian-Americans) would act more like they really believed in it. I choose to espouse those qualities because it just seems like the right way to live.
Right there with you on the religious front and ideals so props there my fellow agnostic. As for his WAR 17 ish war give or take a few depending on where you look. Over 10 years is pretty average if anything slightly above average. Think it’s only slightly over 1 war a season average. I’ll admit he had a few very good years followed by some pretty bad ones.
Now sign Parker Brothers…
This time, he is really done…until some injury riddled team wants to roll the dice again. Although I can not see it happening, I couldn’t see the last two scenario’s for Bradley coming either. That Andre Eithier deal with the A’s is looking pretty good after all these years, eh?
As an A’s fan, I can say the 2006 playoff run would not have been possible without Milton, its the only time in the Billy Beane era we made it past the 1st round, and I’ll never forget all those moments. Swisher and Milton’s crazy high-fives, The Big Hurt, Marco…Scutaro being chanted in Oakland as we swept the twins. You gotta trade good prospects to get good players, and you can only judge a trade as a decision that was made at that time, which, yeah, turned out pretty good.
As we M’s fans cry in our beers here about “another season….”, did anybody notice the article JUST ABOVE this one? The head wag has tabbed the Mariners as “odds on favorite” (by far?) in the “Chase for Fielder”!
Please don’t think for a second that just because we have a African-American president that we are free and clear of racism. Obviously, there are more non-racists than racists but there are still too many out there to say it doesn’t exist. There are tons of them that are obvious and even more that do a better job of hiding it.
That being said, Milton Bradley is Milton Bradley’s biggest enemy, not the white man or the media. He simply does too many dumb things. As for Milledge and Morgan there’s an underlying scent of racism involved in some of their issues. Not saying they don’t bare some responsibilities but clearly, if it were Lenny Dykstra involved in that Marlins incident then itwould have been perceived differently instead of using words like “thug”.
@area510, I agree with your posts. You sir are now in my top 5 favorite posters on here.
Thanks for the kind words. Like I said above, the only reason I made such an effort today was because I felt like Milton didn’t deserve to see pages and pages full of hate-filled comments, if by some remote chance he decided to read this article. Thanks to you and 1 or 2 others, at least he’d know some of us were capable of empathy and could wish him well even if we didn’t want him (back) on our teams. All in all, I think it’s more a symptom of the blog-o-sphere more than anything. As such, you’ll rarely see me commenting in the future, as it always devolves into an ego-driven need to be “right”. I was guilty of that myself today with one poster in particular for which I apologized. I’m sure many of the arguments that get nasty online would never get that way if we all talked more face-to-face. Still, I’m glad I wasn’t out there alone today. Live big, love big, Milton!
If you notice I never said that I didnt wish him well. I never wises harm to him or I’ll will I was simply poking fun at him( I fully feel every one can be made fun of because if we can’t make fun if everyone, all in good fun and not bad taste, then no one can be) I was simply saying e has made his mistakes and never bothered to fix them. I dont wish him any I’ll will I just simply hope we dont see him in baseball anymore.
Finally! This is a great move and I’m not even a Mariner’s fan.
Yea he does nothing but get his team in trouble I’m a Cubs fan and im happy to see him out of baseball