Has the career of Milton ‘Meltdown’ Bradley finally reached a dead end?? Has he finally used the last of his Get Out of Jail Fee cards??
Is this the case of someone who simply just keeps getting away with saying Sorry?? Or someone who merely continues to fall off the wrong side of Chutes and Ladders??
Maybe Milton’s Battleship finally got sunk?? Or more likely, this is the tale of someone without a clue who couldn’t add two plus two, much less Connect 4.
In what may at last be the final straw to his career, Bradley was arrested in Los Angeles yesterday, initial reports are that it involved a felony violation of California Penal Code Section 422, the charge is said to have involved making a threat towards a woman – and Milton has been released on $50,000 bail.
Let me guess – it’s somebody else’s fault.
The World v. Milton Bradley.
If it’s not something a writer or a broadcaster says then it’s the umpires or the humanoid fans. Or that he claims to be misunderstood. Or that it’s a racial issue, as he proclaimed to be the ‘Kayne West of Baseball’ last year.
Not that his behavior couldn’t be any more predictable.
How many welcomes has Bradley worn out now??
Let us count. Expos. Indians. Dodgers (best remembered for hurling a whole bag of baseballs on the field). Athletics. Padres (best remembered for taking on Phillies fans and possibly costing the team a playoff spot by blowing out his ACL trying to get to an ump). Rangers. Cubs (he supposedly still owes some rent on the North Side). And now finally the Mariners, who only took on the final two years of his 3 year/$30 million contract by getting rid of the equally bad investment of pitcher Carlos Silva.
And many even thought that was a bad trade by Seattle – Silva may had gotten lit up every fifth day but at least never had the charm to ruin an entire clubhouse like Bradley has done at most of his stops.
And let’s name the stops where the media has supposedly done him in. Montreal, where baseball was a .3 on the Richter scale to hockey’s 9.5. Cleveland, the Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Seattle.
I’ll give you LA and Chicago as major media markets. But what would writers in Boston, Philadelphia, or New York had said had he ever been in those markets. I would say most, if not all the beat writers during Bradley’s career, tried to give him a fair shake.
Then there was the hilarious episode a few years back when Bradley attempted to get into the Kansas City Royals broadcast booth because (with way too much time on his hands as a DH) he overheard some commentary that he should perhaps take a clue from teammate Josh Hamilton and turn over a new leaf.
What are broadcasters supposed to say??
Virtually everyone at the very least mentions that he has always had potential but has been held back by anger management problems. Others do get a little more smart-alec describing him. If Milton really wants a piece of play-by-play announcers who even have the mildest of criticisms they could conceivably be rounded around the block – Charlie Steiner, Dave O’Brien, Howie Rose, Ted Leitner, and Jim Powell in Atlanta (Who always makes Milton his pet topic on-air during 11-2 routs), Milt can line all of them up in the dunk tank if that succeeds in getting some frustration out of him. I’m guessing even the likes of Pat Hughes and Vin Scully were even hard pressed to keep things positive on MB after a while.
And it wasn’t exactly like Bradley has been lighting it up on the field, a .205 average with the Mariners last year – at least his act was moderately tolerable as he was hitting around .300 in 2007-2008 when he wasn’t on the shelf.
Most people are for second or even third chances – but 20th chances not as much. Everyone from Lou Piniella to Ken Macha to Bud Black to Don Wakamatsu has given him chances. There is almost no doubt that the Mariners will cut bait and dump Bradley. The Mariners lost 101 games with him last year, they can lose just as easily without him. The only question is whether the team might be able to get off the hook of his $12 million salary for this year for cause. That is always tough considering the strength of the players union. As a former GM speaking anonymously said Tuesday night that there would have to be ‘specific language’ in the contract. As in: quit being an A-Hole???
So as the decent types such as Gil Meche walk away from a $12 million salary because the player personally felt that he was simply not pulling his expected weight, Milton Bradley will likely be paid the same amount to simply stay far away from Safeco Field.
And maybe now the runaway train-wreck that is Milton Bradley has finally mercifully reached it’s end game. And yes, MLB umpires everywhere are probably having a party.
