Milton's 8th Team

 I'm glad. I'm glad for the Chicago Cubs, glad for us fans, but mostly, glad for Milton Bradley. He's getting a new beginning.  Now, how often do we here that when there's a subject involving him moving to another team? A lot, I'll tell ya. But he's going to Seattle, one of the best cities in America. They have a great fan base, a great organization, some great players, but most importantly, those great players are leaders.

   There is no question that the Mariners have some great leaders. Their manager, Don Wakamatsu, has really changed the mood of that Seattle Mariners clubhouse, leading a team that lost more than a hundred games in '08 to a team that finished '09 with 85 wins. That's more than the Cubs. There was some clubhouse problem in Seattle but when he came, that seemed to go away. He bought new fundamentals and his team is one good hitter away from being potential contenders in the AL West. They've got one of the game's  best leader in Ken Griffey Jr., who I think will really help Milton in striving to be a better guy, and Jr.'s presence alone will have more impact to players around him that the twenty four guys that Milton was surrounded with last year. Milton looked up to him as a row model Ichiro's presence will also help Milton's transition to the clubhouse. To me, I could see these two guys being fast friends and really, Ichiro has enough patience to really calm a guy down. He'll get fired up if his team is struggling, but that's a good thing to have. They also signed Chone Figgens, who I heard i a great clubhouse guy. Don't forget,(who would?) they also got Cliff Lee from the Phillies and they have maybe the best 1-2 punch in Lee and Felix Hernandez. Two leaders that might also help Bradley.

  I really think that was the difference between the '08 Cubs and the '09 Cubs. The '09 Cubs had no clubhouse leaders in '09. Losing Mark DeRosa and Kerry Wood didn't help(nor did getting Bradley). Ryan Dempster was having some personal issues, Aramis Ramirez was banged up, Soriano was awful and hurt, and Z was, well, being his immature self. The two biggest leaders of this team last year were Ted Lilly and Derrek Lee. Lee is a quiet guy, while Lilly has the mentality of a bulldog. Then, there was Ryan Theriot, who when interviewed this morning in a radio show, and he sounded glad. He was just as surprised, though, as everybody that Bradley was going to Seattle. He shared a locker with Milton and described the situation as very tense, like it was a bomb ready to explode in any second. Like I said, he sounded glad of getting rid of him. He said that he tried his best to get along with that guy but it just didn't work out. Dempster had some kind words, though. He said that he is a good guy, and if he stayed with the team, he would go out and prove to everyone that he is a great player and just had a poor year last year. Whatever the situation was, though, he certainly didn't help team chemistry, or the team. I think Chicago is not a place where Bradley would ever fit in, because he has proved to everyone that he can't handle the pressure that the big city has to offer. But Seattle is not like that, and he'll definitely see the difference between a city like Chicago and a city like Seattle.

  Maybe the thing that I'm most disappointed with Bradley is the fact that he thinks that us Cubs fans are racists. That really makes me think that he really does think that it's him against the world. I think that Bradley has been in a state of confusion for a long time, I really don't know his much about his personal life but from what I see, he seems like he has brushed with a few racists a few times in his life. But I'll never understand him. He really sucked here in Chicago and he didn't really like it when fans started booing him every time he came up to bat. What do you think Milton? You really that fans will start cheering for you when you start going 0 for 10, or start striking out, or not driving in runs in key situations? Derrek Lee is an African American too, and he was undoubtedly,  the best player on the Cubs last year. In fact, in his last at bat of the season, when he flew out, us fans started giving him a standing ovation, as if they were saying thank you for such a wonderful season that you had and gave us fans something to cheer about. Where were you when that happened? Oh yeah, at home, where you were ever since you got suspended for saying that Chicago is a bad environment to play in. I always rooted for that guy, rooted for him to do well, but the only time I remember where he had a clutch hit was when he got a game tying hit against Brad Lidge at Wrigley, where they would eventually lose in extra innings. That was it.

  Maybe Bradley might be the bat that gives Seattle just what they need. Maybe he's not. As a fan, I hope that he fails. But since I'm human, I wish him and his family good luck. I wish that Seattle is the right place for him and that in his mind, the fans treat him better than we treated him. As for Carlos Silva, I hope that he starts in the bullpen. I think Tom Gorzelanny, Jeff Samardzija, and Sean Marshall are all better than him and those tree should be the only ones to be given the chance to compete for the 5th man on the rotation. Silva's number never looked that good to begin with and I'm not that comfortable with a guy that just pitched 8 games last year. The season doesn't start until April, and maybe Hendry pulls off a couple of trade that gives the Cubs their 5th man.

  Well, lets just enjoy the holidays and not think about baseball too much unless something big happens, like Bradley going to Seattle. Happy holidays, and have a happy New Year. And one more thing, GO CUBS GO!