Game Over Milton Bradley

That rush of wind you hear from Chicago's North Side isn't just the Cubs 2009 season taking its last breaths, it's also a collective sigh of relief as Wrigleyville says goodbye to Milton Bradley. Bradley, the volatile Cubs OF, was suspended for the remainder of the season by GM Jim Hendry over the weekend. Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Chicago Sun-Times must have read my Brett Favre piece, because he has a nice expose chronicling Milton Bradley in his own words as a Cub, which I encourage everyone to read. So, while we can't do that here at RSS, we can revisit how we got to this point where Bradley has been told to go away, and hopefully, to never return to the Cubs.

Anyone and everyone, besides Jim Hendry and to some extent Lou Pinella, knew this marriage would never last. During the past offseason, Sweet Lou and Jim decided to forsake team chemistry for a left-handed bat. This led to the Cubs first mistake, trading Mark DeRosa to the Indians. Not only did they trade a productive, versatile player, but they gave up a man who was integral to the team's chemistry. Of all the Cubs, DeRosa was the one who could handle the bright lights of Chicago, who could be counted on to answer the media's tough questions.

With DeRosa gone, the Cubs then went searching on the free agent market. Due to their ownership situation being in limbo, the Cubs claimed they couldn't make a legitimate run at former Pinella favorite Raul Ibanez (.277, 31 HRs, 87 RBI with the Phillies). The Cubs also took a pass on other proven left-handed outfielders like Adam Dunn (.278, 37 HRs, 101 RBI with the Nationals) to set their sights on Milton Bradley. Bradley's past anger-management problems and other bizarre behaviors that caused him to be on 6 teams in 9 seasons were overlooked by the Cubs. Hendry was enthralled with Bradley's numbers in Texas in 2008, mostly his .446 on-base percentage and .326 average. Rather than go on a typical Y1 rant about MoneyBall, let me just say that if there was ever an example for baseball being a game that is more than just numbers, it is Milton Bradley.

Ever since Bradley signed his 3 year, $30 million contract, the Cubs 2009 season has been a freefall. Except for one brief glimpse of hope after the All-Star Break, the Cubs have been the biggest disappointment in baseball this season with Bradley a microcosm of their failures. Currently, the "World Series favorites" are 10 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals. On the field, Bradley has been a disaster from the left-side of the plate, where he was to be the Cubs missing piece hitting only .234 with a paltry 31 RBIs, contributing to his grand total of 40 RBIs. His lack of production at the plate has only been compounded by lazy outfielding and baserunning, taking himself out of games at random, and oh yeah, forgetting how many outs there were! But that's just on the field...off the field has been even worse!

In all my years of being a sports fan, I've never experienced a player as neurotic and paranoid as Bradley. Every time Bradley had another rough day in the field, he would let loose on the media. Some days the umpires were out to get him. Other days his teammates weren't being his friends. There was his manager, calling him a worthless piece of excrement. Then, the fans were being racist. Let's not pretend that being a black outfielder is easy for any Cub, but that can't serve as Bradley's excuse for his pathetic season. Some of the most popular Cubs of all time were black: Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Sammy Sosa (when we weren't worried about steroids). But the final straw that broke the camel's back was Bradley calling out the fans and organization for being a bunch of losers.

And with that, the Milton Bradley era is over. If the Cubs are lucky, maybe someone will give them a bucket of balls to take Bradley off their hands, of course, at a very steep price. Let this be a lesson for GMs who want to use a wrecking ball to repaint the bedroom. However, amidst all of the second guessing and regret, finally, for one day in this miserable season fans, teammates, and media can unite in joyful song. For the first time this season, it seems as if the sun is finally starting to shine on Wrigley Field. The birds are chirping, the beer tastes a little colder in the bleachers, and the hope for next season is already starting to build, even if only because Milton Bradley won't be there. So, we, the lovable losers, wait for the renewal of the next spring to come and wash our sins away, for that next best chance at reaching the unreachable star. Such is the life in Wrigleyville, a population of one less today.