Bradley brings exact attitude Cubs need
Often-angry outfielder would be perfect with Piniella — for one season
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Free agent outfielder Milton Bradley is shopping for his seventh team of this decade. When a player moves around that often, it means one of two things.
Either nobody wants him, or everybody wants him.
As always, Bradley is different. He falls into both categories.
Teams grow weary of Bradley after one year of the constant headaches that he causes. That explains why Texas cut the ties with Bradley after a season in which he hit .321 with an American League-best .999 OPS and keyed an offense that led the majors by scoring 5.56 runs per game.
Teams want Bradley for the edge he brings to a lineup. That explains why the Cubs are pursuing Bradley to play right field and are growing increasingly impatient as they await his decision.
Bradley is a switch hitter, but the Cubs envision him as the lefthanded bat they need for the middle of their lineup.
"We need to break up our righthanded hitting," manager Lou Piniella said.
Bradley would bring more than a bat to the Cubs. He is the often-angry young man they need. A Bradley-Piniella pairing seemingly would produce fireworks as the two strong-willed men butt heads.
The truth is Bradley and Piniella are made for each other, for at least one season. They are similar in many ways. The foremost common trait is they believe the game should be played with a controlled fury.
"Milton wants to win as much as any player I've ever been around," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Sometimes, that's misunderstood, and that's unfortunate. Milton gets a bad rap, and it's not because he doesn't care. It's because he cares too much."
Piniella needs an infusion of that on his team.
After losing the second game of the NLDS to the Dodgers, onlookers said Piniella challenged the heart of his players in Spanish. Piniella denied that, but in a wide-ranging discussion at the winter meetings, he talked about his club as if it needs a long time on a therapist's couch.
"We had a lot of success during the year," Piniella said. "It just so happened that the postseason didn't go well.
"The biggest explanation, as far as I was concerned, (was) everybody jumped on our bandwagon. (The World Series) is supposed to happen on the 100th year. When things are supposed to happen and it doesn't ..."
Piniella did not continue. He also mentioned that after being swept in the Division Series in each of the last two seasons, "I think I'm going to go to a sports psychologist and see what goodies he's got in his bag."
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After the inevitable falling out of favor in Oakland, Bradley was dealt to San Diego during the 2007 season. Late that September, Bradley suffered a bizarre knee injury while trying to reach umpire Mike Winters. General manager Kevin Towers admitted the Padres were not the same team for the final week (without Bradley in the lineup). The Padres lost their final three games, including a play-in game against Colorado, and missed the postseason.
With Bradley this season, Texas finished second in the A.L. West -- its best finish since 1999.
Bradley wasn't solely responsible for those teams' accomplishments, big and small. But he does add a presence to the lineup. Texas hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo said Bradley's consistently good at-bats rubbed off on the rest of the club this past season. The Rangers learned from his example.
Those at-bats would help the Cubs, too. Bradley's attitude would be even more valuable, if for only one memorable season.
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