The GOOD Bradley
Seems like plenty of folks had no problem with Milton Bradley. No doubt the Bradley/Piniella combo was a disaster waiting to happen but I think he will do well in Seattle and the Cubs handled him badly.
about 2 years ago
Doggie Stalker
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Maybe it's the cynic in me...
But one player is all that writer could find who was willing to give a position quote on Bradley to fit his article?
I know he’s got quotes from a GM or manager or two, but one player?
I have seen a number of quotes from players supportive of Bradley
As far as I can remember they nearly all come from Rangers and Padres players. I don’t think anyone is denying Milton Bradley is a troubled and difficult man, the point is under other managers and on other teams mainly the last two he played for, he did not have any major issues with players or managers. Piniella was the worst possible kind of manager for Bradley and I am not actually blaming Lou, Hendry should have figured that out. Basically I am just tired of the idea that Bradley is psychopath who gets along with no one and destroys every clubhouse he enters and will be a disaster in Seattle.
"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim
by Doggie Stalker on Dec 20, 2009 4:50 PM CST up reply actions
Here's how I feel.
He’s an ex-Cub. I’d rather just move on. He’ll be news in Chicago when the Cubs play the Mariners in June. Otherwise… I’d just as soon talk about our team’s future.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
I agree with this viewpoint.
Nobody denies that his time in Chicago was a cluster****, it’s time to move on for Cubs fans and concentrate on other issues.
Not true
I was also of the belief that the rangers, in general liked him. This evening I was listening to sports central and Jim Memolo, one of the hosts, had talked to Evan Grant (I believe), one of the beat reporters in Dallas. This was in the last few days, following the trade, and Grant let Memolo know that while Bradley was fine the first half of the season, come the second half, Bradley was becoming a problem, had to be covered by his manager, and his act was not very popular amongst Ranger players. Ranger players were ready to be done with him and were thrilled when he left.
I heard the same thing about Bradley's Rangers tenure.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
hey, maybe I can make that into a personalized jersey - "#$%@ ballhawk"
It should fit – same # of characters as “Hollandsworth”. ;-)
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
Hey, it looks like there's a letter to Cub fans on Lookout Landing....home page
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 20, 2009 10:11 PM CST up reply actions
I read it.
They may say they “get it”. But they won’t really get it until they see him every day.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Key portion of the article.
Piniella believes that the presence of Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle will be beneficial to Bradley, who has cited Griffey as one of his baseball idols.
“I think having a guy like Junior on the team will help,” he said. “He’ll keep Milton loose. I think that Junior would take on a challenge such as this.”
Replace “Junior” with “Derrek Lee” and you probably could have said the same thing last year. I’m really skeptical, too.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
I'm sure the Trib ran a similar article spewing his "good side" last January....
If Milton is comfortable and feels he has support from above, and he’s accepted in the clubhouse, he’ll do what he does well, which is play.
And there was every indication that he had both from the Cubs last year until Milton himself started the “woe is me” routine. Good God, let’s move on….
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
by carmen_fanzone on Dec 20, 2009 7:17 PM CST up reply actions
If you had said that last year you it would not have made sense
Ken Griffey Jr. is a Hall of Fame player who has spent 20 years getting nothing but raves from teammates about how he keeps clubhouses loose.
Derrek Lee is a good player with one great season who is, by all accounts, a fairly introverted guy.
Just last season, the effect of Griffey on a disgruntled player was shown in the dramatic change in the way Ichiro got along with his teammates.
Derrek Lee has, to my knowledge, never been credited with having that kind of impact on an unhappy player.
Griffey will play, at times, in the same outfield as Milton Bradley. Derrek Lee plays first base.
Griffey draws in and is happy to talk to reporters, thereby deflecting attention from teammates who might not want to talk. Derrek Lee does nothing of the sort.
Is Milton Bradley going to turn it around next year? Who knows. But the presence of Griffey in the dugout and the clubhouse could, based on a host of factors entirely inapplicable to Derrek Lee, make a real difference.
The organization handled him fine.
He couldn’t handle the media, fans, or any of the pressure that comes with the Cubs. When he started to crumble, Lou wasn’t the type of guy to repeatedly coddle him back to sanity.
He has had success, and some situations that worked out fairly well for him. However, I would bet that if left in any of those situations for a longer period of time his issues would have bubbled through.
It is extremely evident Milton has some psychological issues and insecurities that effect his relationships with others. The only two ways he will perform for any sustained amount of time without these issues coming up again is with: an extremely vocal and patient support system to constantly reassure him, or with professional therapy to figure out his issues.
As an organization what could the Cubs do? Ask their players to be really, really, really nice to Milton?
I wish him well, but I hope we kick their a$$ in June.
…if I didn’t read almost the same stuff when he first signed with us I would be more hopeful for the guy. If Seattle doesn’t blame Chicago/Cubs, they would have to say it’s MB’s fault and then it would never work …..and I hope it does for Bradley’s sake.
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
I think that's a pretty fair article, and as pro-Bradley as anything you'll read
But still, as you break it down, for Bradley to succeed,
he needs to be healthy (no small task for him)
he needs to be accepted in the clubhouse (although it was often written that he wasn’t receptive to his cub teammates
he needs to have a small market
he needs little media interation
he needs a manager with the right personality
he needs to be kept in the loop on what his bosses are thinking
he needs to feel “support from above”
he needs to have success so he doesn’t get down on himself
That’s a lot of conditions and a lot of organizational energy to expend on one player. And let’s keep in mind that this is a player with a career slash line of .277/.371/.450.
"Enough foreplay- let's get crackin'"- Fred Garvin
Excellent points
I guess we should of never traded Milton. Same noise, always misunderstood Milton Bradley
I don't understand the snark
davidlanu listed a host of factors that the Mariners offer that the Cubs didn’t (small market, limited media) and things that Bradley needs to do better (get along with teammates, play better) and you mock him as saying Bradley was misunderstood.
I don't think you understood davidalanu's post
It was all about snark. The point being, Bradley is a very “needy” player. 24 other don’t need that kind of kid gloves, baby sitting, hand holding, special treatment, etc.
"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008
What?
He started his post by saying it’s as pro-Bradley an article as there is, but even given that, there are still a whole lot of issues with Bradley.
Perhaps you have a different understanding of what snark means, but in my mind, in means there’s a smart-ass component, usually expressed in the form of sarcasm. davidalanu had none of that – it was pretty matter of fact.
More to the point, it was definitely no making the point (which Grockcubs called “noise”) that Bradley is misunderstood.
We'll let davidalanu tell us if he wants......
…. but if you read all those things he listed as “matter of fact”, then more power to you.
"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008
Simply saying that even an article that tries to show Bradley
in a good light gives a laundry list of situations that must all come together for Bradley to be a productive player.
"Enough foreplay- let's get crackin'"- Fred Garvin
Thanks for clearing that up
One of the downsides of posting online – people are going to read what they want into what you write even when, as was the case here, what you wrote was crystal clear.
Fan Friendly, Kind to strangers, a misunderstood soul
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
While I'm no MB fan
I suspect all of us have moments that would make us look pretty stupid if there were cameras there.
Just ask Juan Marichal.
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Dec 20, 2009 11:00 PM CST up reply actions
Ok, I gave a bad example (but look at the time stamp)
The point is, one moment in time doesn’t define a person.
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Dec 21, 2009 8:44 AM CST up reply actions
Yeah, but I don't think the picture sums him up accurately
He’s myopic, selfish and immature, but I don’t think he’s violent.
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Dec 21, 2009 8:58 AM CST up reply actions
Sooo much you needed to say it twice :P
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
Not to go all TMZ on this subject or anything
but there have been the on-field explosions where there was the threat of violence (his manager actually injuring him because he was concerned about what he’d do to the umpire) and accusations of off-field violence (his pregnant wife telling police that he choked her.
Now, I realize that Bradley didn’t actually assault the umpire (who truly seemed to instigate the situation), and there were no charges filed in the domestic dispute, but the idea of Bradley being violent doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination.
"Enough foreplay- let's get crackin'"- Fred Garvin
That's a good point.
Bud Black didn’t mean to hurt Bradley. But had he not done so, Bradley might have gotten into a physical fight with Mike Winters, with disastrous results for all concerned.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
c'mon Al, you're better than this...
You can’t really believe this – unless you’re willing to accept the “might have” argument in all future discussions. And boy won’t that be fun in all the game recap threads…
I thought you were done with Bradley. He’s an ex-Cub now, remember?
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
I'd not heard anything about the domestic issues before commenting
Yesterday’s linked article was the first time I had.
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Dec 22, 2009 9:05 AM CST up reply actions
Every team he has ever been with....
even the teams he has played well for, have either traded him or chose not to re-sign him. Now for a guy who has been in the Majors for three years, that can be deemed a fluke. When a guy has been in the league as long as Milton has, and for a guy with his natural ability, to have never been re-signed by eight different teams, that is no coincidence. I don’t know why I had the blinders on when we signed this guy, but for some reason, I did. I’m moving on, and I’m going to try not to post any more comments about Bradley. But I have no sympathy for him and he will go down as one of the worst free agent signings not only in Cubs history, but in Chicago sports history.
"Don't complain to me about the stormy weather, boys. Just bring the ship into port." --Steve Stone, September 2004
blinders
I had them, too. I think we all wanted a lefty bat to play right, figured Abreu was too expensive and that Dunn and Ibanez couldn’t pull off the defense. As for MB’s personality …
His two stops before Chicago were relatively calm. The argument with the umpire in 2007 was flukey, and dismissed as justified because of what the ump said. And outside of the incident with the Royals’ broadcaster, he was well behaved in Texas.
I think many of us hoped that MB had matured enough to play in Chicago. Clearly, he hadn’t.
We really have to let go
I know we were engaged in a highly dysfunctional relationship here, but once it’s over it’s over. Time to move on.
you can’t get much by that #$%@ ballhawk -- LT
woo hoo! I finally made it into somebody's signature!!!
and I didn’t even have to offer to sleep with a BLou to do it!!! ;-)
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
But the question is...
would you have slept with BLou to get into a signature?
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
And the answer is...
…no.
However, in my premarital days, if I had come across a “BabyLou” such as this…
…maybe.
[Warning: An image search for “babylou” is definitely NSFW. And an image search on “blou” is just plain NS. I repeat – just plain NS. You’ve been warned…]
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
who would have thought Blou would bring up so much pornography?
Seeing as to how and all that, doncha know? Karma.
you can’t get much by that #$%@ ballhawk -- LT
I guess you don't remember
I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Dec 22, 2009 9:06 AM CST up reply actions
NOBODY had bettter use that post as a SIG.
Doggie will find them and EAT THEM.
"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim
by Doggie Stalker on Dec 21, 2009 11:44 AM CST up reply actions
....dear Seattle,
the cake is a lie. :)
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
FTW!
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
by carmen_fanzone on Dec 21, 2009 4:26 PM CST up reply actions
are you asking what that means?...
…if you are, I got that from someone here who said its from a video game. “The cake is a lie” is a warning to the player that the “reward” at the end, does not exist.
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 21, 2009 6:10 PM CST up reply actions
Um, that was me that explained it in an earlier thread...lol
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
by carmen_fanzone on Dec 21, 2009 7:56 PM CST up reply actions
LOL....that's what I thought only after I posted your reply.....
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 21, 2009 8:28 PM CST up reply actions
(p.s....I love that quote)
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 21, 2009 8:31 PM CST up reply actions
Haha. You used it perfectly.....
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
by carmen_fanzone on Dec 22, 2009 3:00 AM CST up reply actions
wait....what does FTW stand for????
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 21, 2009 7:05 PM CST up reply actions
for the win
aka awesome
Eric Hanna and FAN of the BULLS, the two greatest BCBers in the history of mankind
by jesus christos on Dec 21, 2009 7:08 PM CST up reply actions
oh,....never knew that one...thanks
A woman's guess is more accurate than a man's certainty.--Rudyard Kipling
by cooliogirl47 on Dec 21, 2009 8:30 PM CST up reply actions
If he thrives over there, good for him.
He didn’t here nor was he going to. I’m happy he’s gone.
He’s not on our team. I don’t care what happens to him anymore.
"Fasten those seatbelts"-Pat Hughes
There is no good Bradley
only varying degress of bad Bradley.
He’s gone. He’s dead to me.
There is no such thing as an ugly female breast
Say it ain't so Joe?
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
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