The Doucebag of the Week is either: The Detroit Tigers or Steve Stone. See the Chicago Tribune article Chicago Cubs do their best to kill Milton Bradley trade rumor More ->
From the category archives:
Milton Bradley
If only MLB would take pity on the plight of all miserable Cubs fans and allow our beloved team to play the Nationals for the remainder of this season's schedule. The Nationals took pity on Alfonso Soriano and served up a fastball (when was the last time a pitcher was dumb enough to throw him anything that was straight, hard, and over the plate?!?!) that Fonzie cranked over the right field wall for his first homer in a month and half. Zambrano throws over 40 pitches in the first inning of his Friday outing and still manages to win the game AND drive in two runs. Fielding errors, baserunning mistakes, leaving men on base in scoring position -- it's a dream team for Milton Bradley!
Add left fielder to the positions that Sean Marshall has played. In an unusually crafty move, Piniella removed Soriano from left (always a great idea) to put Marshall (who had just pitched to a batter) so that he could pitch to the next left-handed hitter. Although it didn't work out quite as planned as LaRussa countered by subbing a righty for the lefty who was supposed to bat. Anyway, it was fun and cool and then Reed Johnson made an awesome catch to make everyone forget about the whole thing. Too bad the Cubs lost, but Wells pitched another good game other than (of course) allowing two home runs to Ryan Ludwick.
We can dream can't we? It's come to the point where I would trade Alfonso Soriano, Milton Bradley, and Aaron Heilman for a player to be named later. It's clear the Cubs (surprisingly) have some talent in the farm system and are ready for a shot at the big leagues. I know that Lou is waiting for Soriano to break out of his slump (as Lou says, "he's broken out of slumps .. uh ... in the past and performed .. uh .. great."), but this slump seems different as NL pitchers have finally figured out that Alfonso can only hit the fast ball for power AND watching him "play" left field induces serious nausea in this miserable Cubs fan.
The day after the Cubs signed Aaron Heilman (1/31/09) I posted the following three videos with the heading "A Peak Into the Future - Welcome to Wrigley Aaron Heilman." My prediction has come to fruition as Heilman truly let the first game with the Cardinals get away with tons of walks and a horrible wild pitch. Can we package him with Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano to get an injured Mark DeRosa or Jake Peavey? Pretty please?!?!
Aaron Heilman Getting Booed
Aaron Heilman Booed Off The Mound at Shea
Heilman's Last Pitch of 2008
Well now Randy Wells knows that he better damn well pitch a no-hitter in order to get a major league win. For someone who claims that he doesn't have "Ace stuff," he is sure surprising me. All night long he got ahead in the count and consistently threw strikes. Great performance Randy! Now as for Marmol & Gregg ...
Rothchild & Piniella continue to be (unfortunately) correct with their pre-season diagnosis of Carlos Marmol's pitching mentality. Five hit batters? I've lost count as to how many times he has walked the first batter he has seen with four straight pitches. And Kevin "still can't find the strike zone" Gregg -- what the hell? He was up 1 ball and 2 strikes to Jeff Franceour and then decides to throw one right down the middle. It's June already! Please start pitching like you are a professional!
Milton Bradley again attempts to repair his tarnished image with Waddle & Silvy. Before you listen to this interview, watch this YouTube clip to see Bradley get hurt yelling at an umpire and (earlier in the same game!) injuring his own teammate. Is Milton Bradley intensely passionate about baseball or just plain crazy? You decide ...
Milton Bradley - Passionate Baseball Player or Just Plain Crazy?
Waddle & Silvy do their very best to put Bradley in a positive light, they try to warn him about the pressure cooker that is Wrigley, but, well ...
Bradley also tells why Frank Thomas has been a huge influence and his expectations for his relationships with Piniella and Zambrano. Again, this signing doesn't feel good ...
LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD - 2009-01-09 - Milton Bradley.mp3
After searching various blogs I've learned that apparently there are some Milton Bradley fans out there. I'm quickly trying to become one of them, but my heart tells me that this is going to end up badly. I would love to be surprised, but I think the above photo is a glimpse of the near future. Dan & Terry do their best to see if they can get Bradley to say that he is going to be a model player and teammate for the next few years, but no luck there ... Ugh, short interviews are never good ...
LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD - 2009-01-08 - Milton Bradley.mp3