Parker Brothers Unavailable, Cubs Sign Milton Bradley

Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:13 pm

Our wonderful radio listening audience heard Bruce Levine of ESPN1000 reporting that the Milton Bradley signing is about to become official. Three years and $30M sounds like the damage, which seems a bit expensive with the Rays about to sign Pat Burrell for two years and $16M total. I'll chime in later with a thorough analysis, but adding the AL OPS leader, even if a bit of a fluke, is never going to hurt your team. That is unless Bradley kills a racist Bleacher Bum, then things might go bad.

UPDATE: The deal is pending a physical and it appears that 3/30 isn't completely accurate. Wittenmyer says there will be wording in the contract to protect the Cubs on back end of the deal if Bradley misses significant playing time on the front end. Wittenmyer also says that the Marquis deal should be completed today with $875K going the Rockies way.
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Comments

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:34 pm

3/30 isn't that bad compared to Burrell. Only $2M more a year for a guy who will actually play defense. And it is a utter steal compared to what a similar player would have gone for in previous years. I like it.

Submitted by Jace on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:35 pm

If the RF fans offended Jacques Jones, just wait till we see MB out there... What is the over/under on the number of games to his first meltdown? I'm mostly joking... I like this pickup. I just hope the Cubs have a couple of tranquilizer dart guns handy...

Submitted by Summer of Zimmer on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:55 pm

This is an awful risk. Players who are chronically injured, rarely reverse course and suddenly stay healthy after they turn 30. I like Bradley when he's healthy, but he's only on the field half the time. That makes it, in essence, a pay rate of $20 million per year.

Submitted by Jackstraw on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:11 pm

"That is unless Bradley kills a racist Bleacher Bum, then things might go bad." I don't see a downside here. If Bradley is playing well, he will never be found guilty by a group Wrigleyville-area jurors. If he is playing poorly, he gets found guilty, and the Cubs get out of the contract, as long as they've added a no-killing clause. What truly frightens me (but also excites me a little in the can't-watch-a-car-crash way) is a potential fight between Zambrano and Bradley. Nobody in their right mind would step between them, and at the end there'd be nothing left but two little blobs of Crazy.

Submitted by Cubs Win on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:12 pm

I believe the cubs intend go with the following lineup: Sori, Fontenot/Miles, Aramis, Bradley, Lee, soto, Fukudome, Theriot........In a perfect world, Fuku rebounds and can latch onto the #2 hole but I doubt they will count on that going into the year. They are definately more "left handed" but I'd argue not as deep (lineup wise) and the bullpen was severely weakened by replacing Wood w/ Gregg......damn budgets! Do we really have enough money left to pay Peavy this year or is that a pipe dream at this point?

Submitted by John Beasley on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:22 pm

HOUSTON (AP) — Outfielder Reggie Abercrombie and reliever Clay Hensley were among five players who agreed Monday to minor league contracts with the Houston Astros. Outfielder John Gall, and infielders Mark Saccomanno and Jason Smith also agreed to deals.

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:57 pm

i've never been a bradley fan for the NL...and 3 years...yow. that said i have a hard time not liking this deal. given this same situation and same production as bradley stands now...a year or 2 ago this would have been a 3/40m contract. and yeah...burrell isn't a fielder and is a hired bat at this point, but 8m bucks for a still productive young-ish 30+ HR/.360+ob% guy? wow. j.giambi will be lucky to see 4-5m after this signing.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:24 pm

Crunch. Please explain to me how 3/$30 million is a bargain for a player coming off a career season, who has never been able to stay healthy consistently,and may only play 60-100 games a season without the DH to fall back on? I will of course, admit I was wrong when Mr. "A.L. OPS Leader" hits 25 HR and has 80+ RBI in each of the next 3 seasons, playing at least 120 games a season. Doing that of course, would be a first. It's laughable, of course, that it would be considered a good investment if Bradley some how plays 120 games a season each of the next 3 years. That's missing a quarter of each season.

Submitted by Cubs Win on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:35 pm

I can live with the signing as we are a big market team but I like it A LOT more with the safety net of having DeRosa available to sub in RF (along w/ Fukudome) for Milton's DL stints. Question - How is one year of Kevin Gregg worth Ceda (#2 or 3 prospect) yet DeRosa, your most versatile, great salaried, team MVP only worth 3 "fringe" propects rated 20-40 in the Indians system. Hendry went 0-2 on these deals. Ceda could have netted more (or we could have paid for a FA for a similar amount and kept the prospect). I can only pray that these prospects get flipped for Peavy or else I am not seeing it. DeRo shoul have at least gotten a top 10 prospect in return.

Submitted by The E-Man on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:38 pm

Unfortunately for JH, this year was one of those FA years when there was not the greatest of FA crops for LH hitting OF'ers. OF the ones available - again - there was only a red car, army green, and silver in this years' model - and of those - The Ibanez was "off the board" early. In the "Soriano Year", J.D. Drew was available and the Red Sox grabbed him - TCR had mulled over Hendry going after him. LAst year, as we all know, Hendry plunked down SERIOUS cash and years to go after a pretty hot commodity in Fuku - his pick looked good until the 2nd half. Now, JH is rolling the dice again - 3 yrs on a guy who can't stay with any team long. There must be a reason for it, right? He's going to play more than 125 games in right? With the fucked April and May here? You're kidding me, right Jim? All I can say about this is: 1. Bruce got it right - pegging this signing from before the Winter Meetings, and 2. I hope somehow, Dome shows us that last year was really an aberration. I am thinking this could turn out like Jacque Jones redux. Man, I hope not - but...

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:40 pm

Ok..so you're expecting Bradley to magically become someone he's never been? If he plays at that level for a full season, great. He's just never been able to do it in his 7 year career over a 162 game season....or even 140 games. Yeah, he played 141 games in 2004 with the Dodgers, .267/.362/.424 19 HR 67 RBI isn't worth $10 million a year. He had a great season last year. He led the AL in OPS...missed 35 games, and DH'ed 97 of the 126 he played in, and still couldn't stay healthy. Heck, Bobby Abreu for 2 years, $10 million I'd have understood, and Bradley for 1 year, $8 million maybe.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:44 pm

Um...so he's a bargain at $10 mill if he plays half his games? I call bullshit on that. Sorry, but that is outrageous for a guy to play half the time. Teixeira has put the numbers up consistently The least amount of games played in a season he's had is 132, which would be just shy of a career best for Bradley, and he's been at 140-150 every other season. They are nowhere near comparable.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:54 pm

That a player who can only manage to play part time is worth that kind of money. Was Brady Anderson a 50HR a year guy? Nope. He did do it once though. Bradley's career obp is really good at .370, but again....I'lltake a player at .280/.350/.480 who plays 140 games a season than a guy who can only manage..who know what??? Because he can't stay healthy??? Will he play 80 games? Maybe. 90?? Maybe...100...maybe...120...ehhh...not as likely. He could turn out to be a great sign, one that I will be eating a ton of crow for being wrong about. But geez..look at his career numbers, and tell me what you see that says..oh yeah..$10 mill a year for 3 years is reasonable. Not just last season, but his career.

Submitted by Cubs Win on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:54 pm

I think the Cubs would be happy to get 110 games started out of Bradley and another 20-30 as a double switch / pinch hitter late in games. If he can produce like last year, he'll be worth it..........if not, he won't.

Submitted by Jose on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:04 pm

Would have rather had Abreu. We will regret this in the end. Although the killing of a racists fan could make this worth while. What makes us think that the RF boo birds will not come out and boo MB. Hell they boo’ed Sosa and he was the best RF medicine could buy/make. It will be just a matter of time before he explodes. I give him 50 games before he either beats the shit out of a fan or a teammate.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:45 pm

Ok..please compare: Drew: 109 games 79 Runs, 103 Hits, 23 doubles, 4 triples, 19 HR, 64 RBI, .280/.408/.519 Bradley:126 G, 78 Runs, 133 hits, 32 doubles, 1 triple, 22 HR, 77 RBI, .321/.436/.563 Ok. Bradley was better Not by much. HEre's the thing....This was a down year for Drew, but a career year for Bradley. Drew: .284/.392/.502 9 of 11 seasons with 100 games or more Bradley:.280/.370/.457 3 seasons of 9 with 100 games or more. I wasn't just comparing HR and RBI's. Drew has been a better player. Bradley had a great season.

Submitted by carmenfanzone on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:58 pm

My vote on the lineup: Fukodome Fontentot Soriano Ramirez Bradley Lee Soto Theriot Pitcher I think the Cubs will do everything possible to turn Fukodome around-and that turn around will involve using him more like an Ichiro and not expecting power. Bill James' book prjoects fuk with a .274, .363, .439=.802 Miles switch hitting and ability to play short or second will make him more attractive off the bench than in the starting lineup... I know we're supposed to sign Bako but I wonder aloud if Jake Fox will be given every opp to make the team as the backup catcher? Please chime in Az Phil... DeRosa was on XM today-man what a classy guy...

Submitted by MikeC on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:02 pm

Not to excited about paying 10 million per year for a guy who has a longer injury report than Nick Johnson. And thats kinda of hard to accomplish. Who is going to pay Nick Johnson 10 million a year? But we are going to pay Bradley that kind of money to try and stay on the field. The only word that comes to mind is....SUCKERS. Which is what the Cubs are now for signing this human train wreck. That being said i like how the lineup could potentially play out. Soriano or Theriot is likely to hit leadoff, but i would like to see something a little different provided Fukudome is not in total disaster mode. Use him as your leadoff hitter followed by Bradley, Lee, Ramirez, and Soriano. Those 5 in a row will F'n wear down opposing pitchers. Then you got Soto, Font/Miles and Theriot.

Submitted by John Beasley on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:42 pm

If Wittemeyer is right, I like-slash-love the deal. I'm assuming it's something like at least 250 games played in the first two years of the deal to trigger a player option or automatic vest. Knowing Hendry, the third year is the big-money year anyways. Guess we'll see.

Submitted by Tarzan Joe on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:16 pm

Any FA signing is a gamble. Many Cub fans were aghast when the Cubs gave DeRosa his deal. Others were dumbstruck by the 4/40 lavished upon Lilly. While even more thought the years and dollars for DLee sounded about right. I think the only one we all agreed was batshit crazy was the Soriano deal. But, alas, how does one argue with market forces. Getting Bradley for 3/30 (or whatever the final tally is) has nothing to do with Hendry being off his nut or getting fleeced. He's simply trying to find the best fit for his club at the going rate. If he's lucky, Bradley stays on the field and produces. If he's unlucky, Bradley will spend more time doing the "towel drill for hitters" than playing actual games. Either way it's not a crippling, set-the-franchise-back-five-years, Ben Wallace-type signing. It's simply a gamble that didn't pay off. Shrug. Happens all the time. On paper, I too would have preferred Abreu. But I'm guessing one of three things happened: 1) He wanted too many years & money, 2) He wanted to stay in the AL, and 3) He didn't want to play for the Cubs. Hendry knew that Bradley had targeted the Cubs and wanted to play here. Aside from the injury history and the howling at the moon episodes, he seems like a good fit. Done deal. And to ensure he's able to save his knees for a chunk of that contract, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see him playing it out at first base when/if DLee is sent packing after the '09 season. I'm basing this speculation soley on my gray matter and nothing more.

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Submitted by George Altman on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:12 pm

I also agree with Joe, here, and as I've said in earlier posts have no insurmountable heartburn over any of the deals made so far. The only head-scratcher for me is why does Pinella/Hendry want Vizcaino? It's not like they won't have 3-4 guys in camp making the MLB minimum who could probably duplicate Vizcaino's likely 2009 numbers. If the Dodgers or someone else is really interested in Marquis, and $875,000 has to go back to the Rockies, why couldn't they just take a minor league prospect in return and send less whatever Vizcaino costs plus the $875,000? Then JH has another $3.5M in payroll flexibility. For what it's worth, Boers/Bernstein on WSCR today said they thought it very unlikely that Pinella did not have SIGNIFICANT input to Bradley, Miles, Gathright becoming Cubs. They also thought Miles was a pretty good sign the luster was coming off Theriot's shine as well. Boers did ask a really good question that I would love to know the answer - who else offered Bradley a 3-year contract (assuming it was guaranteed all 3 years)? Or was this another case of Hendry negotiating against himself. With Soriano's leg issues, Fukudome's fear of inside fastballs, Bradley's track record, and Johnson being a '4th' OF, I'd be looking for a 5th OF prepared to get 300-350 AB's.

Submitted by jacos on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:05 pm

MLB network showing epic moments from MLB history. Pretty cool. Kirk Gibson's hr off of Eck they had Joe Buck's call on it, and before he said " I don't believe what I just saw " he reported "The Tigers win 5-4". Oops. Never heard that before.

Submitted by Cubster on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 01:43 pm

This is from the Tribune website. You'd think someone over there might know about this...I mean, how could the Sun-Times scoop them on this topic? http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue-cubs-bidsjan06,0,7824205… Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Cubs, is CLOSE to selecting a winning bid for the team from three finalists, according to people familiar with the sales talks. ----------- Three prospective buyers made offers for the franchise at the end of November: Chicago real-estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, founders of online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Marc Utay, a New York private-equity investor who grew up in Chicago.

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 01:48 am

Lol...luster coming off Thriot, so go get Theriot2....only Miles can't walk much, and will not steal bases at all. Yes, I know Theriot sucked last year 22 steals 13 caught stealing. Abreu at 3/$30 mill is overpaid? Perhaps. But he has a track record of playing 150 games a season, getting on base, hitting for power and average, and stealing some bases. He's lost a step in RF, but still had 10 assists last season. Milton Bradley is nowhere near the player Abreu is. This whole thing comes down to will Bradley be on the field enough to make a difference? His track record says no. Ok...Bradley and Nick Johnson are an unfair comparison. That makes sense, as Johnson is a 1B, Bradley is an OF. I guess it's hard to find a comparison to a guy who averages just under 100 games a season in 7 seasons, and is as likely to play 90 games as 120.

Submitted by Seamhead on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 01:24 am

The most interesting quote to emerge from all of the Bradley blather this morning is this nugget from Dave Van Dyke in the Trib: "But pitching remains a key spot where the Cubs can still improve. And sources say they are actively seeking more live arms, whether it be Peavy or another starter to replace the innings of Marquis." Since the Cubs can't afford to sign a FA at this point (pending new ownership), Hendry must be looking to use his inventory of Pie, Cedeno and others to get a 5th starter to replace Marquis. Supposedly, Lou wants to keep Marshall in the role of lefty reliever/swingman for now. Does Garrett Oloso qualify as a "live arm"? I am hoping that Hendry can do better than this for Pie et al.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 01:17 am

Submitted by carmenfanzone on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 6:58pm.

I know we're supposed to sign Bako but I wonder aloud if Jake Fox will be given every opp to make the team as the backup catcher? Please chime in Az Phil...

==========================

CARMEN F: Jake Fox has apparently settled in at 1B, and that's probably where he will play from now on. He also could be a DH if he were to be traded to an A. L. team.

While he played some LF-RF at AA Tennessee and AAA Iowa in 2008, he was mainly used at 1B, and he was not used as a catcher at all in 2008 at Tennessee or Iowa, although he did catch two games in the DWL about a month ago when his team ran out of healthy catchers. But otherwise he played 1B-DH (no OF) in the DWL, and he had a really fine season at bat down there, too, BTW. Fox has more pure power than any player in the Cubs minor league system, but he is also a dead "first-ball/fastball" hitter who strikes out too much and doesn't walk a lot .

Not only did Fox fail to master the art of catching, he also has been unable to master the finer points of playing corner OF, too. Fox has one minor league option left, and if he doesn't get traded sometime before the end of Spring Training, he will probably play 1B at Iowa in 2009 (unless Micah Hoffpauir gets sent out again). But Fox has no future with the Cubs, mainly because he projects as a platoon 1B-DH-RHPH, and the Cubs just don't have a roster slot that fits that profile.

He also doesn't fit with Piniella's desire to get more "athletic." That doesn't mean Jake Fox wont play in the big leagues, though, because I think he will. It just won't be with the Cubs.

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