The Other Side of the Milton Bradley Story
More than enough has been said about Milton Bradley’s latest comments. So much so that I didn’t even want to write about it. I’ve mostly stayed away from commenting on his personality, as well as whether or not he is a “cancer”. I never wanted him on the Cubs because I think he is a DH, injury prone, coming off a contract year and there were other left-handed hitters I wanted, like Adam Dunn.
But I think it’s important to see the other side of the argument, especially when people are piling on Bradley. I found it over at And Counting, a pretty fantastic Cubs blog. Here’s what he had to say about the issue:
“The drop from first place on July 31 to second place (a full 9 games behind the Cardinals) here on August 27 sickens me as much as it does anyone. But the specific symptom irritating me now is that the Cub fans are (aside from Aaron Miles) focusing their slide-induced angst on one player more than any other. Here are his stats in that span of time:
G: 18 / HR: 3 / RBI: 9 / BA: .303 / OBP: .410 / SLG: .500 / OPS: .910
That’s who’s getting booed. The guy with the .910 OPS is the one getting skewered, roasted, shredded, and slathered in barbecue sauce by Cub fans while August gobbles up the Chicago Cubs. If you’re okay with that, it’s probably because you know that player is Milton Bradley. You don’t care what his stats are, you hate him, and you hate him even more for calling you out on it.”
It’s a really good post, filled with some humor about how to resolve the Bradley issue.
But then yesterday Bradley went 0-5 and followed that up by demeaning a few of his teammates in a postgame interview. He said that if you want politically correct comments, reporters can go talk to Geovany Soto, Ryan Theriot and Derrek Lee. Ouch. I also seriously doubt the racism charges, and Bradley has not come out with any specifics in regard to what has been said to him. I’ve been going to Wrigley for over 30 years. I have never, ever heard a racial slur from a fan.
I bet all this would be moot–even if the taunts were true–if Bradley had twice as many homers as he has now and was hitting 60 points higher.
