Thanks to Adam for posting the article accompanying the Tweet heard 'round LOHO on the Milton Bradley saga:
YIKES.
Yeah. I guess we can't keep him.
SI's Jon Heyman:
"The Cubs are trying hard to dump the perennially malcontented Milton Bradley here at the GM meetings, as it isn't just manager Lou Piniella who didn't connect with him in his season here. Apparently, several key members of the team -- including Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano -- barely speak to Bradley.
"I don't think they dislike him. But Milton's a unique guy who doesn't fit in, like the oddball kid in class,'' one Cubs-connected person said.
"He doesn't try to fit in. The other guys tried to take him in, but he's one of those kids that simply doesn't want to be part of anything,'' one Cubs person said.
The Chicago Tribune reported that a Bradley blowup with now-deposed hitting coach Von Joshua preceded his two-week, end-of-the-year suspension, a fitting end to a dreadful year. So if anyone on the Cubs is suggesting that they might keep him, they're kidding themselves.
"They're going to get rid of him,'' one NL exec said. "No way he can go back."
It's hard to dimiss this, as it completley echoes what Milton's high school coach said about the way he acted with his team even way back then.
Sorry Milty. If it comes down to you, Crazy Z and a guy who loves cock fights, you're going to lose going away every time. At this point, maybe we can stop accusing the Cubs of trying to appease the fans and start accusing them of trying to appease two of our most valuable players. I'm fully behind this.
I think it's an awesome negotiation strategy that someone in the Cubs organization is talking about this to the media. GAH.
33 Comments
ccd said:
yeah, it's time for him to go. i had been hopeful maybe they could work something out. but it's now dramatically apparent they are gonna trade him and they should be happy to get a water cooler and a couple of helmets in return. he's a talented ballplayer, but between his antics and the cubs awful management of this his value is nill.
gravedigger said:
I don't understand. He doesn't interact with the other players, so eh has to go? Who cares?
gravedigger said:
Here's what they say int his article:
Other players "barely speak to Bradley."
"I don't think they dislike him."
"Lou Piniella ... didn't connect with him"
It doesn't say they hated him or fought with him (Joshua did, but he's gone). They just don't talk to him.
So?
millertime said:
I also do not understand the seriousness of this story. First off, I thought people already considered Bradley a "must trade". SI just seems to be late to the story. I also thought it was known that players didn't really talk to Bradley that much. Remember the whole "Bradley hates his teammates because he won't have heart to heart conversations with Derrek Lee" story, as well as Ryan Dempsters confession of pure hatred for the man? I thought we already knew that his teammates hated him.
Also, as much of a "distraction" as Bradley is, it sure didn't stop Zambrano, Lee, Lilly, and others from having good years. And I doubt that Bradley's mood problems affected Soriano's knees, Ramirez's shoulder, or Soto's sophomore slump.
Umbra said:
I'm also at a loss as to the logic.
Premise 1: Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano do not talk to Milton Bradley.
Premise 2: Players on the Cubs that do talk to each other play better.
Conclusion: To play better, the Cubs need to get rid of Milton Bradley?
Premise 1 is unsupported, perhaps trivially true.
Premise 2 is just not true. Do not make me list the many many championship teams full of people who hated each other's guts, or the many amicable teams with losing records.
Why does this matter?
Doc Blume said:
It matters because I don't like him.
Umbra said:
You don't like anything good.
Doc Blume said:
That's not entirely true.
And it depends on what your definition of "Good" is.
AndCounting said:
My best guess is that the deciding factor is Milton's own admission that he needs a positive, encouraging environment in which to thrive. If he doesn't feel comfortable enough to so much as talk to his teammates on this team or interact in any positive way with this particular set of fans, I don't know that Chicago will ever meet his criteria for a positive environment.
That said, I'd be very interested to hear if the circumstances on his other teams were any different, or if this is just par for the course with Milton.
cubbiejulie said:
His high school coach said the same thing. Completely isolated himself.
Doc Blume said:
His pre-school teacher said that too.
And she said that he called her a racist.
gravedigger said:
Great. He isolates himself. Doesn't talk to others. Doesn't go to their birthday parties or their charity bowling events.
But when he goes to the plate he's one of the better players int he game. He has a net positive impact on his team's win/loss record.
But because he's a loner, let's chase the bastard out of here.
Doc Blume said:
Unfortunately, along with the lonerishness, he tends to bottle things up and then explode, or get very pissy about things, which tends to effect the people around him.
I don't like talking too much about myself emotionally, but I actually suffer from some of what Milton suffers from...I have this tendency to be a loner...and at the same time, I have quite the fiery temper and am often time very pissy. This is something that I have had to work very hard at to allow my career move forward, as my attitude at my job was affecting my co-workers. When I got grumpy, my software team would almost cease to work because I had draw all this attention on myself by my actions, and the result was I people would focus on trying to figure out what the hell was wrong. I tend to make my work place very unpleasant and after an "episode" many people would then go home early.
I have had a big wake-up call. Basically it was a last chance by my boss to fix my attidude. It wasn't all the time that this happened...only occasionally, and like Bradley, my boss felt very positive about the skill set I bring to the company, and have been an effective software developer for them for a long time. I have worked at identifying my triggers and also at socializing with my co-workers so the better understand me. This has led to some improvements in my career and is now opening up some really neat opportunties. I still have to watch myself and it will be always be a fight.
So to anyone that thinks that Milton's behavior shouldn't affect the rest of the team, you are wrong. Period.
melissa said:
Doc, Your story actually illustrates that maybe your boss is better at his job than Jim Hendry is at his. Your attitude was evidently a problem and your boss worked with you to change it to everyone's benefit. Hendry didn't approach his job in the same manner. Hendry knew going into the situation that Milton had issues and he did virtually nothing to see that those issues didn't get out of hand. Unfortunately Hendry handled the situation in such a manner that he painted himself an the organization into a corner. Why would anyone give Hendry anything of value when they know he has no option but to dump him? Hendry can eat the whole salary or eat part of it and take on a worse deal. Hendry has screwed himself and the organization.
AndCounting said:
If, for Milton, isolation is a constant, I don't mind him being a Cub--it would just show that, for him at least, the loneliness wasn't a factor in his production. If it was worth with the Cubs than it was with, say, the Rangers, than I'd consider it a stronger reason for a swift trade.
Personally, I think it was worse last year because he was struggling at the plate, not vice versa.
Edelweiss said:
What happened to the team had very little to do with Milton Bradley, but it did affect how he bonded with the others. I know someone in the Cubs organization, so I can't be too specific, so as not to blow that person's cover. One of the players had something very terrible happen to him early in the season but he didn't tell Lou, who didn't find out until August. That player,as well as several of his teammates had poor years, as a result. The reason was that because of their cultural beliefs, they considered the affected player a good luck charm, due to his unique physical characteristics. Some of them hit poorly, and one of them suffered an injury. Bradley, with his bad attitude, found it even harder to make friends, as they had their own problems to deal with. He did try to comfort the affected player,who speaks well of him. The problem seems to be solved, and most of the bad years should turn around in 2010.
Umbra said:
Players on the Chicago Cubs play well because they believe that one player is a good luck charm, due to his physical characteristics. Then, when something terrible happened to the good luck charm, the other players did not play well because their belief in the lucky power of his physical characteristics was shaken?
What you're saying is, Reed Johnson has a mole on his right shoulder shaped like a lucky rabbits foot. This foot was disfigured in a freak gasoline fight accident, so Aramis Ramirez could no longer rub his bat on Reed Johnson's Lucky Rabbits Foot Mole.
Milton Bradley, because of his bad attitude, is not very good friends with the people who rub their bats on Reed Johnson's shoulder for good luck.
gravedigger said:
Also, CNs pages are getting way too busy. There are things moving everywhere, big fotns, a hundred different font colors, a million thumbnail images of things I have no desire to look at, and no clear focus on the main content. CN, can we please simplify instead of dumping more content onto each page?
Umbra said:
Agreed! My 56K Modem just exploded.
Doc Blume said:
My problem is that in the comment boxes, I can't use my arrow keys anymore because the arrow key instead page through the "Recommended for You" box.
It makes me sad.
gravedigger said:
My point is it looks sloppy. In the effort to provide information on EVERYTHING, I have no idea where to direct my eyes.
Doc Blume said:
The AL Gold Gloves were announced...if anyone cares...and no Cubs won one. :p
The list
Doc Blume said:
Hey, wait a minute...
Julie...aren't you supposed to be in Costa Rica or something?
How am I going to take over the world if you are still here?
cubbiejulie said:
I'm going, I'm going. . . .
Dmband said:
Grave-
I hear what you're saying but come on...you were here at the end of the year...it was a train wreck...the guy's got to go..you cant call out the fans, organization, other players and isolate yourself from the team and stay.
YOU JUST CANT.
Now, he will, most certainly hit .300, 25hrs, and 100 RBIS next year...no doubt about it.
gravedigger said:
Tell him to stop and get some help.
Dmband said:
Oh, and I also forgot to mention he got into a fight with Lou Pinella and the hitting coach.
Doc Blume said:
and he kicked a puppy.
secdelahc said:
And he clubbed a baby seal once.
Dmband said:
He's also not a fan of children (ages 1-7)...or cute old grandma's...
secdelahc said:
I'm a little bit excited for school tomorrow. I have to do a presentation on market positioning, and I chose... the Cubs. It should be interesting, to say the least, to see how my classmates react to this. It's by far the easiest brand chosen so far. But I'm going to talk about something I know, so that should make it awesome!
millertime said:
They executed the DC sniper in Virginia.
gravedigger said:
Good.
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