Seattle writers take on Milton

Makes some good points.

about 2 years ago Doggie Stalker 29 comments 0 recs |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

They say they "get it".

But until they experience it for themselves, they really don’t.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Dec 21, 2009 3:58 PM CST reply actions

True.

by TheHawkRules on Dec 21, 2009 4:01 PM CST up reply actions

Milton Bradley was badmouthed by a lot of fans here before he signed (including on this site), and when he struggled, it only got worse. None of the fans of his previous teams share the intense dislike of him that so many Cubs fans have.

And as bad as many fans treated him from the beginning, it was nothing compared to the reception that the local media gave him (see: http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=15144).

Based on his track record, it’s virtually 100% certain that Milton Bradley will have some problems with someone in Seattle. But to presume that it will be as unpleasant in Seattle as it was here, where he had the most problems, is to ignore the fact that he has had much smoother experiences in other cities.

by Holtzmaniac on Dec 21, 2009 4:31 PM CST up reply actions

Dunno Bro...

“None of the fans of his previous teams share the intense dislike of him that so many Cubs fans have.”

Dunno about that. The only reason Cubs fans are going on about him is because we were the most recent team he hurt. After a season or so… he’ll be old news… just like he is on the other teams he messed up on.

Because of his behavior, he deserved to have had ???? thrown at him after his signing. You don’t behave the way he has, and not have people ? who you are. Especially when you are in the limelight and are a professional athelete.

I believe MB will prolly have a better time in Seatle… he’s gone off the team, so I wish him nothing but karma.

by TheHawkRules on Dec 21, 2009 4:42 PM CST up reply actions

The best predictor of the future

is past behavior.
MB is on what is now his 8th MLB team to start his 11th MLB season. Maybe the fans of other teams didn’t dislike him, but certainly the teams themselves saw him as enough of a detriment to let him go.

No matter how high MBs OBP has been, no team has ever wanted to keep him around. That’s a fact that shouldn’t be ignored.
I still feel like the Cubs won this trade because, no matter how bad Silva is, at least MB won’t be around. He’s Seattle’s problem now and that makes the holidays a lot brighter to me.

The chip on his shoulder would just about fill the Grand Canyon. He’s admitted to quitting on the Rangers in 2008. He thinks he can demand respect without earning or doing anything to foster the respect.

by ScottT on Dec 21, 2009 4:46 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Oh, it's very true

How anyone can ignore the fact he’s now on his 8th team in 10 years is mind boggling. Especially when the one common denominator at every stop is Bradley. The worse statement to make is that none of the fans on previous teams share the dislike Cub fans do. I guess the the fans in L.A. that were on the receiving end of things he threw at them loved it.

"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008

by BeerCub on Dec 21, 2009 7:40 PM CST up reply actions

Nobody is ignoring anything

The point I made, which you did not refute, is that some fans and most media were on him from the beginning here in a way that hadn’t happened before and that, by the time he was done here, his relationship with fans was worse than in any of his previous stops.

To say he threw anything “at” Dodgers fans is inaccurate. A fan threw the bottle at him. He picked it up, went up to the wall and threw the bottle on the ground. Should he have done that? Of course not? Did he throw it at a fan? No.

More importantly, where did I say Dodgers fans loved him? I know that it makes it easier if you make straw man arguments, but my point was that it was worse here. Do you have evidence to the contrary? Can you point to a Dodgers beat writer who admitted on television that he didn’t like Milton Bradley and that it affected the way he wrote about him like Paul Sullivan did here? Can you find a Dodgers blog close to as popular as this one where people express the same level of vitriol towards Bradley?

by Holtzmaniac on Dec 21, 2009 11:09 PM CST up reply actions

Holy Christ

You said “none of the of his previous teams share the intense dislike of him that so many Cubs fans have.” I then offered up the Dodger fans he threw things at, (and you better know that’s what he did).Where do you get the bit about Dodger fans loving HIM? I said they must have loved IT when he threw the bottle at them. Talk about strawmen.

Living here in L.A. as I do, living within five miles of the high school he attended in Long Beach (Long Beach Poly), knowing some of the same people he went to school with, knowing many of the cops on the Redondo Beach P.D. who responded more than once to his house for domestic disputes, knowing how much didn’t make the papers here, I can tell you with 100% certainty L.A. fans were ready to ride him out on a rail.

As for Dodger writers who had a problem with him, I introduce you to Jason Reid, then of the L.A. Times, whose issues with Bradley are documented in the following article. Fans and the media have been on him ever since he left Montreal, and with good reason.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/31/sports/sp-bradley31

"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008

by BeerCub on Dec 22, 2009 12:42 AM CST up reply actions 2 recs

Thanks for the link.

There’s stuff in there I had not heard before. Rec’d.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Dec 22, 2009 8:53 AM CST up reply actions

I hadn't heard any of that

Which tells me that Hendry signing this jerk was dumber than I thought last week.

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 9:14 AM CST up reply actions

LMAO

Let’s start at the beginning here. I made 3 main claims:

1) None of the fans of his previous teams share the intense dislike of him that so many Cubs fans have.

2) The reception that many fans and especially the local media gave him here was unprecedented in its negativity.

You have not responded with any evidence to the contrary. You first brought up the incident where he threw the bottle on the ground. But that merely is evidence to the fact that he had problems in L.A., something I never denied. This is an issue of how he was received upon arrival by media and fans, and how he is viewed after the fact. You have said nothing to address it.

Your final new point is simply ridiculous and actually had me laughing. You claim that because you a) live near his high school, b) know some people he went to school with and c) know cops who responded to his domestic disputes, it follows that you know with “100% certainty L.A. fans were ready to ride him out on a rail.” Your proximity to his high school is obviously irrelevant. The other two deal with knowing information that is not publicly available so by definition cannot be the basis of most fans’ feelings towards him.

I should point out for those who read this and aren’t familiar with your history of claiming inside information why your argument is so laughable. After the tragic death of Nick Adenart, someone posted here that before they came to conclusions about the case, they wanted to know if the driver of the car Adenhart was in had been drinking. You grew increasingly angry in your responses, repeatedly claiming with certainty that nobody in that car had been drinking. See here (http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2009/4/13/834317/drunk-driver-who-killed-adenhart#14141430), here (http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2009/4/13/834317/drunk-driver-who-killed-adenhart#14144413), and here (http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2009/4/13/834317/drunk-driver-who-killed-adenhart#14154940).

My favorite is the final one where, like here, you quote your inside sources. Of course, tragically, you turned out to be the opposite of right, you were 100% wrong. It doesn’t lessen the tragic nature of the event at all, but the fact is that the driver of the car had been drinking before the accident.

I hadn’t made the connection before that you were the person who wrote the Adenhart posts, but your comments here about being from L.A. and having inside information reminded me.

Because of your demonstrated willingness to make up facts to support an argument, until you offer actual evidence to support your claims, I am done engaging you in a serious discussion.

by Holtzmaniac on Dec 22, 2009 9:46 AM CST up reply actions

Wow, BeerCub must have some heavy influence to be able to go into the LA Times website and make up articles from 4 years ago about domestic abuse

Bradley really needs professional help, and isn’t getting it because he is a highly paid athlete. None of the teams that have swept his behavior under the rug are doing him any favors. The stuff in the sports press (going after a broadcaster during a game, tearing his own ACL fighting to get at an ump) is just the tip of the iceberg.

by ClarkFan on Dec 22, 2009 11:50 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Seriously?

Did you read the whole exchange? The issues are response to signing of Bradley by media and fans and strength of negative feelings towards him. That Bradley has/causes problems is not in dispute.

by Holtzmaniac on Dec 22, 2009 12:26 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah, I did

And even if his claims are puffed up, the stories about regular police visits to Bradley’s home for domestic abuse are real. And based on the track record of pro athletes, the stories in the press are just the tip of the iceberg.

by ClarkFan on Dec 22, 2009 12:30 PM CST up reply actions

I'm convinced you can't read.....

…or can’t understand what people read to you.

"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008

by BeerCub on Dec 22, 2009 12:37 PM CST up reply actions

A lot of Cub fans were on Derrek Lee from the time he arrived, too.

And when he didn’t get off to a good start, he heard it from them. The difference is, Lee handled it with class and didn’t use it as an excuse.

"Enough foreplay- let's get crackin'"- Fred Garvin

by davidalanu on Dec 22, 2009 6:15 AM CST up reply actions

I agree with that 100%

Although Lee didn’t receive the media bashing that Bradley got from the day he signed, there is no question that the best way to handle booing is to play through it and not react to the fans.

by Holtzmaniac on Dec 22, 2009 9:48 AM CST up reply actions

we said we get it also

and we were not correct. I hope Seattle has better luck with him, but i am ready to move on and let it go

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Dec 21, 2009 8:16 PM CST up reply actions

Decent article... BUT...

… we don’t have MB ANYMORE!!!!!!!!! OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by TheHawkRules on Dec 21, 2009 4:02 PM CST reply actions

and we do have this guy

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2010561145_carlos_silva_retrospective_200.html

Numbers may not lie, but they don’t tell the whole truth (and nothing but the truth), either. -- Doug Glanville

by leothelip on Dec 21, 2009 4:29 PM CST reply actions

Nice read.

Hopefully he can rehab/rebuild to the point of being useful… even though he’ll never justify the salary (of course).

by fsuapollo on Dec 21, 2009 7:33 PM CST up reply actions

Sounds to me

like a post made by someone feeling they need to defend MB for some reason. As if they made the decision to trade for him.

They want people to talk about stats and leave batting average at the door.
Over 10 years, MB averaged 94.1 games played a year. With one season where he played in over 130 games and only 4 seasons total where he even managed to play in 100 games.

Seattle is now his 8th team.

But he walks a lot!!!!!!
Well, that’s true. In fact, he has more career walks than RBIs. He’s no threat to steal a base with 17 being his highest season total in a career that’s seen him hit double digits in steals 3 times.

The fans at Lookout Landing aren’t interested in the cautionary tales from fans of other teams. So, let them defend him and be ignorant to the facts. Just don’t be surprised when you read that he sucker punched Griffey Jr after Ken confronts him about faking his injuries and not running hard in the field.

Seattle was making waves until they got MB who will undo all the positives of their trades and signings by his piss-poor attitude and me, myself and I against the world mentality.
Good riddance.

by ScottT on Dec 21, 2009 4:36 PM CST reply actions

After a few cups of coffee

the good folks of Seattle will come to their senses. By mid -season, the concept of ‘addition by subtraction’ might be understandable.

They may have had a bad pitcher, but now they have a psychopath.

And this comes from a fan who welcomed Bradley’s arrival, thinking it was about time the Cubs had a player with some attitude.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Dec 21, 2009 7:45 PM CST reply actions

Many felt the same

Myself included.

Numbers may not lie, but they don’t tell the whole truth (and nothing but the truth), either. -- Doug Glanville

by leothelip on Dec 21, 2009 8:14 PM CST up reply actions

agreed

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Dec 21, 2009 8:18 PM CST up reply actions

The problem was...

… and Jim Hendry made the same mistake, was thinking that Bradley’s “attitude” would help the team on the field. It turned out to do quite the opposite.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Dec 22, 2009 8:53 AM CST up reply actions

so do many others

i remember seeing Hampton on 670thescore compare it to the Bears bringing in Wilber Marshall, saying the team needed to get a little mean at times.

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Dec 22, 2009 9:26 AM CST up reply actions

An incorrect comparison, IMO.

Football teams have different makeups than baseball teams. Marshall, in fact, was a good player who did help the Bears and wasn’t disruptive to their clubhouse.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Dec 22, 2009 9:58 AM CST up reply actions

I will say this about MB....

he will have problems anywhere he goes. That much is obvious. However, if I could think of any team in baseball that MIGHT BE a good fit for him at this point in his career, Seattle might be the one. Again, I re-emphasize the words “might be”. It’s a relatively small media market, a relatively low-key, laid back West Coast fan base whose history with the Mariners dates only back to 1977. That’s not to say they don’t have good fans who want to win, but I don’t think I need to point out how different being a sports fan in Seattle is compared to here in Chicago. In addition, Bradley is now playing alongside his baseball idol in Ken Griffey, Jr. and based on their offseason acquisitions, the Mariners do have a good chance to win in 2010, and winning can sometimes pacify even the most volatile personalities. Sometimes. My point is, again, not to say Bradley will definitely succeed. All I’m saying is that he went to a team and a city in which it’s possible based on his surroundings and circumstances. And you know what? He could win the MVP in Seattle, and I can honestly say I will not care. It would never have happened here.

"Don't complain to me about the stormy weather, boys. Just bring the ship into port." --Steve Stone, September 2004

by ctcoff99 on Dec 22, 2009 1:10 PM CST reply actions