Dear fans of Milton Bradley's former teams,
It may come as a shock to you, but we up here in Seattle are aware of Milton Bradley's past behaviors. I know Seattle seems isolated from the rest of the country, but we have this interweb thingy that keeps us quite informed whilst we stay indoors from all the rain. Also he played for two of our divisional rivals so we've had some experience seeing him. We understand. Really. He's a malcontent. He's violent, explosive, unstable, unhinged, arrogant, pick your adjectives of choice.
We get it.
We know. We already knew. We knew two years ago too when we wanted to sign him then. It's part of the risk of Milton Bradley and we know that risk exists. If it didn't, Bradley would be one of baseball's stars, and one of its most-hyped given his hitting prowess and a lack of Black role models in baseball of late.
We get it.
It would be one thing if Seattle's postseason hopes hinged on Milton Bradley staying healthy and level-headed. If that were true, we would be a lot more cautious about this. But they do not. Realistically, Bradley pencils in as a 1-2 win improvement at DH over what we currently had. Milton Bradley is not the lynch pin on which our entire season rides. He is merely a possible high-upside addition. A guy who could explode for 4 WAR as he did in 2008. We welcome his arrival based on that potential, the positional flexibility he provides as a fill-in outfielder and his switch-hitting.
We get it.
We're not expecting Bradley to reform himself and become a model clubhouse citizen. We have merely pointed out that Seattle might be such an environment where Bradley might find himself comfortable in. We're pretty low-key up here and we have a good support staff in place in the coaches and even fellow Black teammates. Pointing out that Bradley might not be a total nutcase in Seattle does not mean we expect it to happen. Just as pointing out that he has high upside as a hitter doesn't mean we're going out and buying playoff tickets. Please stop confusing the acknowledgment of a possibility with asserting that it is the most probable outcome.
We get it.
We'd also understand a little more if we were, say, gaining Milton Bradley on a 2Y/$30 million contract. There would be a lot more discussion about his attitude and likely playing time issues if that were the case. Milton Bradley did not arrive here in a vacuum though. Pardon me for the assumption, but you know how much you seem to hate Milton Bradley? We hated Carlos Silva similarly and no matter how jaded you are, you have to admit that Milton Bradley has more upside as a productive player than Carlos Silva. That's all we are caring about right now.
So If you want to feel better about yourself by coming here and trying to enlighten us all about the dangers of Milton Bradley, please keep one thing in mind and go find somewhere else:
We get it.
Hugs and Kisses,
Matthew Carruth