Kuzul

With the trade deadline less then a month away, the San Diego Padres are looking at all of their options and weighing which ones will help the team keep a hold of the NL West division.

There are a few players the Padres have been rumored to be after and a few scenarios that might make sense.

However, knowing the team has the second lowest payroll in all of baseball, you’d think that new owner Jeff Moorad would give general manager Jed Hoyer some room to maneuver and make a deal here and there.

While Moorad has said the Padres may spend money to bring in what they need, they also need to be cognizant of other teams looking to scavenge from the depth of San Diego’s talented pitching staff.

Among those names is closer Heath Bell. Don’t be surprised if he’s the center of a deal come the trade deadline.

Here are some of the other possible scenarios as the month of July winds down.

Begin Slideshow

Every Baseball fan knows Milton Bradley for one thing and unfortunately it’s not for his playing ability.

With his newest club Seattle, Bradley is batting .222 with 2 home runs and 12 RBI.

He is also getting paid $11 million.

Bradley has been with eight different teams throughout his ten years in the majors, and it just seems like he can’t find a good fit.

Are these teams paying Bradley for his bat or for pure entertainment?

You decide!

Begin Slideshow

There were many baseball fans, myself included, who thought that the Mariner’s were the real day. Who wouldn’t? They showed vast improvements in 2009 and they made a bunch of moves to get even better. The fact that the Angels looked pretty weak only help the Mariners’ chances. Oh were we wrong.

This team can’t hit, can’t score, and can’t hit home runs. It doesn’t even matter that they can’t hit home runs because there’s no one on the stadium to catch them. What exactly went wrong?

Begin Slideshow

A lot of hot air has been expelled recently with regards to MLB players’ behavior. 

Hanley Ramirez was benched for an impressive combination of clumsiness and laziness in fielding a hit. 

Milton Bradley, in addition to his very successful board game franchise, continues to have very public, shall we say, issues. 

Ken Griffey, Jr. allegedly fell asleep in the clubhouse. 

Lastings Milledge was tagged out while jogging on his home run trot. For a double.

If these sorts of lapses were just one-offs, they would exist as YouTube clips and nothing more. Sadly, they are both frequent and nothing new.

In addition to the many (founded) gripes about the length of games and abuse of performance enhancing drugs, one more thing has been on the decline in professional baseball: fundamentals.

The decline of basic baseball skills (and the accompanying focus and competitive spirit that accompany them) in baseball has been an ongoing process. Watching baseball growing up, I noticed a number of things the pros did differently than what I was coached to do.

Batters were moving the bat while waiting for a pitch to be delivered. They were letting go of the bat with one hand on their follow-through. After making contact, batters were watching the ball instead of running out their hit.

Defense was not nearly as bad, but still unimpressive at times.

I saw players making underhand basket catches instead of positioning themselves under the ball for the catch. They jogged after fly balls that dropped before they could catch them, rather than running them down to avoid giving up bases and runs.

This grew noticeably worse during the steroids era. I’d see gigantic sluggers like Mo Vaughn and Cecil Fielder and be confused as to what constituted an athlete. It was unfathomable to me that any team would want a batter who was subtracting at least one base per hit just because he couldn’t be bothered to eat healthy and work out anywhere outside of the weight room. The same batter was inevitably a defensive liability due to his lack of mobility.

Baseball in the 1990s and 2000s was more like watching a home run derby than actually baseball.

And I guess now we know why.

Unfortunately, the side effect of this style of play is the quality of play (and players) we see now.

The pitching, defense and situational hitting we are seeing currently is a phenomenon born of a reduction in power hitting and seeing this style of play succeed on the world stage, as well as in smaller markets within the MLB (think Tampa Bay). 

But even with this push for fundamentally sound baseball and scrappy run-scoring, we still see remnants of baseball’s old guard. 

True athletes are still quite rare. 

I find this to be one of the strangest things about baseball. In any other sport, a combination of speed, agility and strength are basically required in top athletes. In baseball, this is only the case in the aforementioned small markets. 

Baseball players have no apparent focus on anything other than weight training in most cases. As a result, you have players like Johnny Damon who are considered fielding liabilities. You also see more injuries due to pulled muscles, which is not coincidental.

So instead of high-quality baseball that includes strategy and electric play, what we see in most games is basically a series of stall tactics and examples of what we want our kids to avoid doing in Little League. 

Imagine a team of 8-year-old boys that played like the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry plays out.  At 15 minutes per at bat, the entire outfield would be snoozing.  Not to mention, watching a bunch of children make a ritual out of stepping into the batter’s box or throwing a single pitch would be a tad on the creepy side.

Unfortunately, if this were the case in Little League, it would be the product of what kids are seeing in their MLB role models. 

Personally, I haven’t seen a baseball player as a hero since noticing that none of them played with the fundamentals in mind. Individual achievements have impressed me, and continue to. 

There are definitely a few good apples out there who are rarely injured and don’t make bone-headed mistakes due to mental lapses.

But in terms of overall play, the league is more like Hanley Ramirez than Ichiro Suzuki.

Until players (and coaching staffs) make it a focus to ensure that their players are athletically finely-tuned machines and play fundamentally sound baseball to avoid costing their teams runs and outs, the quality of the game will continue to suffer. 

Silly, preventable injuries will persist in altering our fantasy rosters. We will continue to see the lack of focus that results from a corresponding lack of routine. 

This is not likely to change until a greater focus is made from Little League and up to require these things of baseball players. 

In professional baseball, as fans, we should expect and require the highest level of play night-in and night-out.  And in a culture of individuals that assumed it was better to juice than to work hard for success, regardless of health risks, I suppose it makes sense that we don’t. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

THE MEAT OF THE ORDER

Every week there are three things I deem to be really important. It’s kind of like the “meat” of my lineup. This week, there is only two because my DH is on the disabled list.

1. Zach Duke isn’t plunking anyone.

This whole “unwritten rule” thing has gone far enough. We are talking about these things way too much for them to be “unwritten” at this point. So let’s start calling them “The unwritten but often spoken of” rules of baseball.

Zach Duke didn’t hit any Dodgers with his fastball after Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and “sort of” showboated around second. Rookie Carlos Monasterios replied by hitting both Lastings Milledge and Ronny Cedeno. Or did he? Truth is we don’t know.

Then Ramon Ortiz tried to cut McCutchen’s hair off a few times, much to McCutchen’s displeasure.

Duke didn’t do anything about it, even when he faced Ortiz. Jack Taschner did though and he threw behind Andre Ethier. That’s just stupid in its own right, but let’s continue.

First off, Zach Duke is your best pitcher and has probably been your only pitcher this season, why do you want him chancing a suspension because a few people on the Dodgers got offended by McCutchen?

This is one of those “unwritten but often spoken of” rules that I disagree with because if a pitcher doesn’t want to hit a batter, he shouldn’t be expected to. This isn’t high school; we don’t get angry at someone and retaliate in a petty way like that.

Maybe that’s because I never played the game before, so I might not understand the significance, but I view it all as silly.

This all being said, Jason Turbow has a book coming out called The Baseball Codes . I think you already know what it’s about.

2. Milton Bradley

This Milton Bradley story has gone from explosively hilarious to positively sad. Trying to peg when and why Bradley would blow up almost became like a game.

But now with Bradley asking for help, something long overdue, and it has now become sad more than anything.

The latest issue was downright hilarious. Never in the history of the world has someone been upset about hitting clean up. Okay he was probably upset at failing in the clean spot, but because it is Milton, we have to stretch things out a little here.

Either way it caused him to get benched and he promptly left the stadium. Fantastic Milton, fantastic!

However Bradley is now out of commission for who knows how long. He’s asked the Mariners for “help” in dealing with what manager Don Wakamatsu called “emotional stress.”

Is this a personal problem or is this a baseball problem? With Bradley, we’ll probably never know. What we can all agree on though is that Bradley has needed help for a long time now and the Mariners efforts are long overdue. We all know though that Milton can’t get help unless he wants to be helped, and just the fact that he asked for it may be the turning point for him that people have been counting on for awhile now.

3. Get off my lawn…err…MOUND!

Before the story with Milton Bradley got bigger, I had planned on making him my rant this week. When that story got more involved I moved Dallas Braden into that spot.

But after his perfect game, I’m pretty much rant-less. Braden was talking again, about the whole “Get off my mound” fiasco with Alex Rodriguez.

Now, none of that matters because he literally yelled “GET OFF MY MOUND!” when he pitched a perfect game against the MLB’s best team on Sunday.

We’ve already talked plenty about unwritten rules earlier in The Cluster, but did you see Evan Longoria drop down a bunt well into the game? It came at a point where you could legitimately say it was kind of rubbish on Longoria’s part.

But then again it was only the fifth and they were down four, so Longo straddled that unwritten rule line.

Anyway congratulations to Dallas Braden, who’s mother passed away when he was in high school. His grandmother was in attendance and I’m sure Braden got very emotional over doing this feat on Mother’s Day.

On the lighter side, his grandmother provided probably one of the best quotes of the year by saying , “Stick it, A-Rod!”

Oh how I hope that is true.

How about the Rays though? Two perfect games in such a short span, adding in Mark Buerhle’s perfect game against them last year. They are also the team with the highest winning percentage to ever fall victim to a perfect game.

THAT’S JUST WEIRD MAN

Baseball never has a shortage of weird and wacky statistics or situations. These are those situations. Cue the Law and Order chime.

Are you ready for a baseball game in 3-D? Of course the New York Yankees and the YES network are at the forefront of such a thing.

July 10th will be your chance to see the Mariners and Yankees if you have a 3-D television set. At least Yankee Stadium’s scoreboard won’t show the game and hand out glasses like the Cowboys did last year.

Teams in the minor leagues are usually busting out wacky promotions in order to drive fans to the ballparks, but this one by the Round Rock Express in Texas takes the cake. It was really a promotion, but to someone in the crowd it might have looked like Round Rock was actually bringing in a reliever by the name of Rojo Johnson.

It was actually Will Ferrell with a mustache . Props to Round Rock for the commitment to authenticity with the press release .

Perhaps Rojo Johnson should be relegated back to the softball league he came from. He’d still be no match for Eric Byrnes, who was released by Seattle this past week. Instead of seeking out another major league job, which he could definitely obtain, Byrnes is opting to play softball.

He’s going to go down as a softball legend if he plays long enough.

Has anyone ever seen someone get fined for dropping a pop up? That’s what happened to Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. Manager Trey Hillman says it is mainly because Betancourt doesn’t use proper technique in catching fly balls and instead of making him learn the right way, he’ll just fine him every time he drops a ball like that.

At least that is what was implied .

Finally, I have nothing on this Phillie fan that got tased. I really don’t, so we’ll just leave it at that. It was weird, man.

YOUR LUKE HOCHEVAR UPDATE

Every week we look at Luke Hochevar because a first round pick needs pressure, even if he plays for Royals.

Last Week’s Line: 2 GS, 8.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), 8 BB, 4 K

Well our guy did a great job in the Royals 7-2 win over Chicago, going six and picking up his third win of the season.

But then on Sunday against Texas, Luke Hochevar ran into some problems in the third inning. It was a bit of a disaster. Hochevar got through the first two innings of the Royals loss to Texas, but he was all sorts of wild in the third.

An infield single and two walks would be followed by a fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly. That sort of minimized the damage, until Hochever hit Ian Kinsler, who then stole second after Josh Hamilton stole third and then gave up a double to David Murphy.

That WHIP is climbing Luke, time to reel it in buddy.

I’M A STAT MAN

I’m not really a big statistics guy, but I guess it’s better than being a scat man, because I don’t know what that is.

Joe Mauer is getting back into the lineup, but not even he got off to the start Wilson Ramos, his replacement, has gotten off to. Ramos had two consecutive three-hit games, the first catcher to do so. No catcher has gone three straight games since Victor Martinez in 2005 and according to Baseball Reference, Carlton Fisk is the only catcher to go four games.

More kudos to Baseball Reference for finding out something I wondered myself. Andre Ethier has been the most clutch hitter since 2008. After his walk-off shot this past week he’s now got 11 game ending hits since 2008, and the next most is Kurt Suzuki with five.

Joe Torre said he can’t recall managing someone as heroic as Ethier has been.

Friday was a special day in the game as we saw both the old and the young make history.

Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher to record a complete game shutout. Back in 1990 he was with Texas in his fifth major league season, which was the same year Starlin Castro was born.

Castro became the first 1990’s born player to make his MLB debut and that makes even a child of the late 1980’s feel old. Not only did he just make his debut, he made his debut special. He became the third player to homer this year in his first at-bat and he also set a MLB record for the most RBI in a debut with six.

Speaking of shutouts, sort of, Fan Graphs has developed a few new statistics called “shutdowns” and “meltdowns.” I’m far from understanding what either does because it involves another statistic I’ve never heard of called WPA.

Don’t even try to explain to me what any of them do. I will not listen to you.

When is the last time a Cy Young award winner started the follow season 0-5? I can’t find an instance going back to 1990, but Greinke is on the verge of doing it as he now stands at 0-4. The last pitcher to start 0-4 was Bartolo Colon in 2006 in what was an injury riddled season.

I’m sure Elias will dig something up if he does indeed go 0-5 this week.

I don’t know if Elias found this one out but Alfredo Aceves is the fifth Mexican-born pitcher to record a save on Cinco de Mayo.

The Twins had a home game rained out for the first time in 30 years on Friday. The Twins probably thought it never rained in Minnesota.

THE UTILITY PLAYER

For all the stuff that defies categorization, this is the utility player of the weekly feature. We play everywhere and anywhere here!

I actually have some analysis for you this week in regards to the utility player, so buckle up.

Jake Peavy has turned the calendar over to May in a big way, and he’s now 2-2 after a 0-2 month that saw him get pounded for 25 runs. So far in two May starts he’s gone at least seven innings and struck out eight in both games. This is the reason I picked the White Sox in the AL Central.

In large part, Peavy’s latest success is due to revamped mechanics, or at least a return to old mechanics, you know the mechanics that he won a Cy Young with. Peavy had changed the way he pitched during his stint in Chicago last year and actually stuck with it early this season, but now he’s back to the ways of old.

Mike Lowell isn’t the exact reason I picked the Red Sox, but his presence and that deep Red Sox bench is a big reason I picked them. It’s time to start playing Mike Lowell more for David Ortiz. You can’t sit Youkilis and Adrian Beltre, so the next logical guy is Big Papi. Lowell has hit right-handers real well this season, while left-handed Ortiz has scuffled to a .175 average in 57 at-bats against righties.

On the subject of third baseman, Alex Gordon may not be one anymore as the Royals have not only demoted him to Triple-A, but have moved him to first base and outfield duties. Oh how the mighty, highly-touted prospects have fallen.

Speaking of getting moved, C.J. Wilson has really taken to this rotation role the Rangers have thrust upon him. Last year it was Scott Feldman getting moved, now Wilson has done is admirably.

You know Adam Rosales was never a top prospect and he has to make up for that with all-out effort and hustle, which is why I love him . His favorite website should be a site called Wezen-Ball .

Wezen-Ball tracks how fast players run around the base after hitting a home run. Rosales has the quickest trots around the bases that were not inside-the-park home runs this season and two are even faster than an Aubrey Huff inside-the-park home run.

Henry Blanco and Rod Barajas didn’t have to run all that fast but I’m sure they wanted to after sending the Giants away with two-straight walk-off home runs this past weekend. When’s the last time two catchers did that?

Buck Showalter called out scorekeepers and their inconsistencies in deciding what an error is and what isn’t. I must echo his thoughts as I saw Matt LaPorta make a horrible play on a ball Fausto Carmona gave up last week. LaPorta got a glove on it and it was far from a routine play, but the ball bounced in and out of his glove after he spun around like a whirling-dervish.

Finally I must say how I proud I am of my fake brother Jody Gerut as he hit for the cycle this past weekend. The cycle is pretty meaningless in the scope of things, the four hits and runs you knock in mean a lot more, but Jody Gerut did it, so that’s all that matters.

“HE’S GARBAGE, STILL GARBAGE, GOING TO DIE AS GARBAGE”

The above is Ozzie Guillen’s feelings towards columnist Jay Mariotti. It is the representation for The Cluster’s section on weekly rants.

Both of the rants, as I noted, that I pinpointed have been moved to top stories, so I’m sort of rantless this week.

But I do have to wonder.

Where are all the manager tirades? It’s May and we haven’t had any spectacular f-bomb laced tirades from Ozzie Guillen. Lou Piniella has popped off, but nothing like the old Sweet Lou. Heck usually some lesser candidate for a managerial tirade has always stepped up and provided us with entertainment.

The best “rant” has come from a commentator on SportsTimeOhio, the Indians television network. For me, I see it on a daily basis because this is nothing new from Bruce Drennan, but his imitation of Russell Branyan is spot on.

AWAY FROM THE DIAMOND

Everything from Rasmus girl to the latest commercials, this is your weekly update about things that really have nothing to do with baseball on the field.

Bobby Cox was honored at the US Capitol last week and presented with congressional statements of honor by Georgia’s senators. How many managers hang around that long to be honored in that sort of way by non-baseball people? You got to love Bobby Cox.

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated has a feature on Carlos Peña and they quote Carl Crawford with the following statement: “This core group is going to still be together, me and Carlos are the only two guys that are going to be leaving.”

Crawford is upset at the author of the article however, Ben Reiter. He said Reiter didn’t quote him right and he “combined” the words of his question with the response given by Crawford.

I’d be irritated as well if that isn’t what I said, even if Reiter believes he was “giving away more than he should.”

We have a winner in the MLB 2k10 “Pitch a Perfect Game” contest. Who is the pitcher that was used? Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami, who is winless in real life. The rules specified all sorts of different regulations, but Wade McGilberry won the million with a Brave despite being a White Sox fan.

I threw a one-hitter the other day with Adam Wainwright. He’s my go-to guy. I have the Wii though so I was ineligible from the start.

A new feature added to The Cluster this week. I call it, “The Tweet of the Week.”

Some major league tweeters are entertaining and weird, like CJ Wilson. Some update as if most of the people following them don’t follow baseball (I KNOW your pitching Thursday Ryan Rowland-Smith, you’re on my fantasy team! (not really)!), and some are straight up, uh…brief ?

This week’s tweet of the week goes to growing favorite of The Cluster, Matt Antonelli, who made it last week thanks to his nerf basketball video.

“Today was my first time watching the television show “Kendra” and I am extremely frightened now”

I felt the same way Matt, double time for “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Finally the baseball world lost two well known names this past week. Everyone has been talking about the passing of Ernie Harwell, but pitcher Robin Roberts also passed this past week.

What’s not nice, but great in a different instance, is how we are celebrating the life of Harwell because we all knew this was coming sooner rather than later. Harwell was battling cancer and had really lived a full-life. While it is sad for all the Tiger fans that grew up on Harwell (and there are plenty of them) there is also some joy in hearing their memories of him.

It’s better to celebrate a life than mourn one and that’s what has been going on with Harwell this past week.

GOOD DEED OF THE WEEK

Because we aren’t all fun and games, I highlight one good deed that I’ve come across in the world of baseball. If you know of one, please send it my way.

Usually we highlight charity and good organizations in this space of The Cluster every week, but this week it is a little different.

The finding and returning of a championship ring is certainly a good deed. It is real refreshing to see there are young people in my generation with decency like this out there. It makes me feel a lot better that someone can lose something like this and get it returned.

Not only that but the effort the girl went through, that’s just awesome.

AND THIS WEEK IN THE CENTRAL

Every week we take a look at the latest happening in one of the game’s Central divisions. Why? Because it provides us with the most entertainment, that’s why!

There is a story in ESPN the Magazine this week about Kyle Farnsworth and how he’s the “Baddest Big Leaguer,” and the last guy a major league wants to see in a benches clearing brawl.

The horrifying part of this is the picture of Farnsworth with his shirt off. Was that really necessary in proving he’s the “Baddest Big Leaguer?”

FOR THE LOVE OF GLOVE

Each week I pick my top three defensive plays, because Ozzie Smith didn’t make the Hall of Fame for swinging the stick.

This week simply boiled down to the flashy play. There was no shortage of them this week.

3. Not only is this play by Dioner Navarro not easy to make, it is ten times harder when David Price is HURDLING OVER YOU!

2. Jerry Hairston wins for the most creative out recorded this week, that’s for sure.

1. Welcome back Ian Kinsler, showing exactly why the Rangers missed you . Elvis Andrus had a play of his own that was top three worthy, but he’ll have to settle for the assist. 

–

Nino Colla writes “The Baseball Cluster” every week, or so he hopes. If you’ve got something that you think fits one of the sections, send him a private message. All absurdities are welcome.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Milton Bradley…thanks for finally telling us what we’ve known for 11 years…that you’ve got mad issues!

In this portion of his bizarre Game of Life, Bradley went 0 for 2 (two strikeouts) Tuesday night during a home game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. After the second punch-out, Bradley supposedly stormed into the clubhouse and left Safeco Field.

The second strikeout was after a called third strike. Bradley wanted to argue with the home plate umpire Kerwin Danley. M’s manager Don Wakamatsu urged Bradley to calm down. Bradley was convinced that if Wakamatsu didn’t do anything about the incident, that he would.

After that, the details are murky. Some reports said that Bradley told the manager that he “packing up his stuff and leaving.” Others simply said that he’s done and disappointed about his low performance on the team. Bradley did leave the ballpark and didn’t return.

Later on, Bradley texted MLB Network’s Peter Gammons that any reports that insisted that he was either leaving the Mariners, or Major League Baseball for that matter, were misconstrued.

The Mariners followed that up by giving their troubled (more like troublesome) outfielder an indefinite leave of absence. The reason he and the team gave was that he is going through emotional and personal trauma right now and it’s affecting his performance at the plate.

I would’ve figured Bradley was just joining the club. After all, the team is batting .225 and slugging .314, next to last in both the AL and MLB. Only the Chicago White Sox are ranked lower at .223. And their SLG is over 80 points higher than Seattle’s.

In a year where many (myself included) expected the M’s to make a run at the AL West division championship this year, they’re off to a slow start. Only 3 of their regular hitters have batting averages over .220…that’s right…. .220! Ichiro is at .308, Franklin Gutierrez .321 and Jack Wilson is at .253. The rest…

Jose Lopez-.214
Chone Figgins-.198 (offseason acquisition from Anaheim)
Ken Griffey, Jr-.216
Casey Kotchman-.202
Reed Johnson-.133
Adam Moore-.163
Eric Byrnes-.094

By Mariners standards, hitting-wise, .214 is like hitting .300 for this year’s Detroit Tigers, who are No. 1 in MLB in hitting. Considering that they finished 85-77 last year after going an abominable 61-101 in 2008, this is not too good so far. The cloud over this team is about as much as the clouds that seemingly are stationary over the city of Seattle on a normal basis.

The details of Milton Bradley’s personal issues may be a mystery, but one thing isn’t…Milton Bradley himself.

Ever since arriving into Major League Baseball, he has been a ticking time bomb ready to explode in your face without warning. Despite his potential as a consistent All-Star  (as he was in 2008), he has played for eihgt teams in the span of 11 MLB seasons—the Expos, Indians, Dodgers, A’s, Padres, Rangers, Cubs, and now the Mariners.

Just in recent years, he has been just that—a ticking time bomb. Ironically, he literally exploded in the face of a 1st base umpire without warning in 2007. While playing with the San Diego Padres in the latter portion of the ’07 season, he vehemently argued with Mike Winters.

Home plate ump Brian Runge said that Bradley threw his bat in Winters’s direction. Bud Black who was the Friars’ skipper at the time tried to restrain Bradley, but he argued with the ump so imposingly that he tore his ACL in the process. He would eventually miss the Padres one-game playoff vs. the Colorado Rockies…

which Colorado won because of a controversial call involving Matt Holliday at home plate.

Then came 2008 in Texas. It looked like (at least on the field) that Milton Bradley had finally found his place where he belongs. He hit .321 with the Rangers and was selected as the starting DH for the American League at the 2008 All Star Game at the old Yankee Stadium, replacing the Red Sox’ David Ortiz. Texas finished 79-83 but second in their division behind the Angels.

Even his best year, arguably, of his career didn’t come without controversy. During his banner ‘08 season, Bradley wanted to confront Royals TV broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre about comparing Bradley to Josh Hamilton. Bradley said he didn’t want to hurt the TV announcer but was clearly hurt by what Lefebvre said. It showed that the guy does not know how to take criticism and is very sensitive when it comes to media pressure.

In 2009, he went to the wrong city if he wanted to evade “press-ure”—Chicago. The 2009 Cubs were favorites to reach the World Series that year after posting the best record in the NL at 97-64 in 2008. Their season ended with a thud with a three-game sweep in the NL Division Series by the LA Dodgers.

The relationship between Bradley and the Cubbies’ no-nonsense manager Lou Piniella was rocky from the start. The ’09 Cubs were clearly nothing like the ’08 version and he was suspended close to the end of the year.

Whether it was forgetting how many outs there were, saying that Cub fans were racist, or saying that the fans’ negativity was the reason why the team hasn’t won in over 100 years, Bradley’s stay on the North Side was over before it could ever get started. A .257, 10 HR, 42 RBI season won’t make Cub fans sing his praises any more either.

Chicago traded Bradley to Seattle for Carlos Silva. Once again, Bradley arrives on a team that’s expected to contend. Perhaps this is a place where he could get away from the media jungle that is Chicago and find his niche in a small market town like Seattle.

As it turned out…new market…Same Milton Bradley.

He didn’t wait until a month in the season was completed until he started going crazy. During a game in the fourth inning earlier this April at his former stomping grounds in Texas, he gave the fans a middle finger . It was caught by the TV cameras and is now all over the Internet. Now, we have this latest episode.

I’ll admit that I expected the Mariners to be contenders this year, given that this man finally grows up and realizes that baseball doesn’t revolve around him. After the Mariners added Cliff Lee to team with “King” Felix Hernandez to anchor the M’s pitching staff, it seemed like too much for the rest of the AL to ignore. Despite Lee’s early issues with suspensions and beanballs, he’s done his job…the Mariners offense hasn’t.

The pile of crow on my plate is only growing.

Milton Bradley is his own worst enemy. This nitwit needs to realize that he’s the problem…not TV announcers or Chicago fans, or umpires, or the media.

The racial overtones that come from this guy’s fat yap sometimes are no surprise. He accused umpires at one time of increasing the strike zone only when he’s at the plate . Bradley believes that black ballplayers get a bad rap from the media without even mentioning Jimmy Rollins’s name.

Milton needs to go into the nearest place he can find a mirror. He needs to gaze into that mirror for a long time…or at least long enough to realize that the person he sees in said mirror is the real reason for his on (and off) field issues.

He says that he needs help and asked the team for it, but he also said that he arrived in Chicago as a “changed man.” If there were ever a museum dedicated to those who made their legacies on what they did as opposed to what they said, Bradley’s past has shown that he’s Exhibit A.

So I ask, is Dave Niehaus to blame for that .214 average of yours?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Well my friends, another series has come and gone for the Seattle Mariners, and the result remains the same. Swept. This time by the Tampa Bay Rays. The final game of the series, an 8-0 shellacking, saw them once again fail to push any runs across the plate.

Not even the return of Cliff Lee has been able to inspire the M’s, who appear to be nothing more than a shell of the fun loving team we saw in 2009.

What has happened? What’s gone wrong? Well for starters, as much credit as we gave general manager Jack Zduriencik for turning the Mariners around last year, and deservedly so, he must also take some of the blame for failing to go out and fix what has ailed the Mariners for years: offense.

Nobody can argue that pitching and defense are important, especially in a park like Safeco. However, Zduriencik ignored the fact that the lineup features not one consistent run producer. Did he expect Casey Kotchman and Milton Bradley to fix this? Kothcman has failed conclusively  everywhere he has played, and Seattle is shaping up to be no different.

Speaking of Bradley, he’s been a head-scratcher of an acquisition since day one. High risk, high reward, that was what this was all about. Well, the risk won out. After hitting just .214 with two home runs, Bradley’s anger finally boiled over after being lifted from a game by manager Don Wakamatsu following a pair of strikeouts.

Bradley is now seeking help for his personal issues, and for that I salute him. I truly hope this helps him get his mind right.

That, however, does not negate the fact that in early may this trade can already be labeled a disaster.

I’m not saying this is all Zduriencik’s fault, but a lot of this does fall on his shoulders.

He had options out there to improve the offense. He chose to ignore them. Now he must fix the mess that has been created before it’s too late.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A Fit Full of Tasers : MLB Enjoying A Week of Hearty Storylines

It usually happens like this. Everything is going great, there’s no drama, no over-excited story that garners far more national attention than it deserves, and all of a sudden the stories hit like a thunderstorm in a Michigan summer.

Of course, we’re talking about the 2010 major league baseball season here.

A number of stories have begun to compound upon one another over the last week. From Milton Bradley’s emotional collapse to a 17-year-old Tasered in the middle of the Citizen Bank outfield grass, there is no shortage of storylines in major league baseball right now.

Umpires May Want to Taser Milton Bradley, but Listen, He Really Does Have Feelings

When it comes to Milton Bradley, the criticism seems to be easily justified.

Here we have a talented athlete, seemingly wasting away his career, a style of living most can only dream of, and a life that could be so much better if he just learned to control his emotions, something an average teen-ager should be able to do.

I think it’s rightly justified that we fume when those who are given the opportunity to flourish, flat out fail.

It seems that Bradley falls into this category.

But I beg a counter argument here, that, while surprising to myself that I actually feel this way, makes sense when you really think about it.

His history is shaky; he has flipped off countless fans, managers, players, and umpires in his 10 years and eight stops in the major leagues.

His longest tenure for one club was from 2001-2003 with the Cleveland Indians. He is a clubhouse cancer, an infectious disease.

He has never, ever, admitted that anything he ever did was, in fact, wrong.

Until Tuesday night.

Sometime after he struck out looking with the bases loaded but with several innings still left to play, an upset Milton Bradley left Safeco Field and went home.

Sometime after that, he decided that he needed help.

On Wednesday morning he called manager Don Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik and asked if he could speak with them in person.

When he did so, he told them he is dealing with personal problems and asked the club for its help.

Pause.

He asked management for help.

After his meeting, he went to a Seattle elementary school as part of the Mariners annual education day and spoke emotionally about his mother’s financial struggles while raising him. He then went to Safeco Field and spoke to his teammates and asked them for their support at a team meeting.

Pause.

He asked his teammates for support.

Then, he willingly sat out the first of an unspecified number of games while the struggling Mariners give him time to get himself together.

See, here’s the thing, folks.

You can say all you want about how athletes make too much money to be allowed to screw up.

Go ahead, I’ve said it in the past, and while I don’t really believe it, it’s a stereotype and admit that I’ve copped out to please my audience.

But, the beauty of us, as human beings is that we all screw up.

We all have our faults and it doesn’t matter if we are presidents, athletes, judges, plumbers, pastors, or zookeepers.

We all screw up.

When those who have found incredible success do it, those who are honest with themselves can find a sense of understanding, a sense of likeness with that and a realization that these guys aren’t that much different than you and I are.

And guess what, Milton Bradley asked for help.

Let’s see you or I put aside our pride and admit that we are wrong every once in a while, forget about admitting we have major character issues.

MLB Players Apparently Want to Pack Tasers Themselves, the Way They Talk

So, this story got so big that I don’t even need to introduce it with an explanation.  

On Monday of this week (the day before Bradley’s situation), Steve Consalvi and his youthful idea made national headlines that night and prompted major league baseball and local police from each city to investigate the appropriate way to deal with fans on the field.

While some believe that the use of a Taser Gun is a little extreme, what do you honestly expect in the society we live in today?

I’ve been to dozens upon dozens of games.

The rush of running onto the field does not outweigh a misdemeanor charge.

From a player’s perspective, when a strange fan is darting toward you, like an animal charging you at a zoo, what do you think his natural reaction will be?

I don’t want anyone ever to run at me acting like a total moron, and neither do you.

Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth was prepared to strike the fan with his glove as he approached him, but once the fan realized Werth considered him hostile, he said, “No! I love you!” and ran in a different direction.

“You’re just kind of programmed to know that if somebody comes on the field, they’re fair game, because you just don’t know what they’re going to do,” Werth said. “History could repeat itself.”

The recent history?

Two fans ran onto the field and pummeled former Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa in Chicago in 2002. A folded up pocket knife fell out of one of the fan’s pockets.

Nelson Figueroa perhaps sums it up best:

“We don’t know if this guy has a weapon on him. We don’t know if this guy is on drugs or alcohol. We didn’t even know how old he was. You don’t know what his mind-set is. This guy is obviously not happy.

“You never know. I’ve played all around the world. The Dominican, Mexico, China. You’ve got fans who get very animated at games, and at times, they throw bottles and rocks and they want to come down on the field and fight the players. “In the best interest of the player you try to have security there and whatever means necessary to keep us safe. Hopefully, it was an example and set a precedent where people realize they’re not playing.

“He was corralled. He was surrounded. It might not have been the best, most fit, youngest force we had out there to take him down. But he realized he was wrong and he knew when he started circling, the gentlemen were winded and they went to the next level. Once he tried to make a run for it and got Tasered in the back, he stopped.”

Chuckle slightly to yourself.

Think about it.

And finally, think about Honoring the Greats

Ernie Harwell (1918-2010)

Robin Roberts (1926-2010)

Joshua David Worn  is an editor, journalist, and sportswriter who spends way too much of his time studying major league baseball box scores. He has been published or linked on The San Francisco Chronicle, CBS Sports, and the Bleacher Report, among others. He publishes The Most Interesting Column in Sports  on his personal website. Contact him at thebaseballglutton@comcast.net .

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Anyone who knows anything about Milton Bradley’s career wasn’t surprised to hear about him in the news again for something other than his performance on the baseball field. 

Throughout his career, Bradley has rubbed more than a few people the wrong way and he has bounced around to eight different teams during his 11 years in the major leagues.

He’s always been a serviceable player; a career batting average of .276, with decent power, and a solid throwing arm. 

He even made the All-Star team in 2008 when he had his best season with the Texas Rangers.  But the reason Bradley continues to be a topic of conversation is because of the way he conducts himself.

Bradley has had minor altercations with the law, one of which even resulted in him spending three days in jail for speeding away from a police officer while at a traffic stop. 

But Bradley is vilified and reviled by some because of his behavior on the field.  While the list of incidents that involve Bradley behaving badly is longer than anyone wants to read, here is the abridged version of his past indiscretions;

-In 2004, Bradley was traded from the Indians to the Dodgers and had made it a few months without a blow up.  

But on June 3, he would be ejected from a game for arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire.  After calmly placing his batting gloves and helmet in the batter’s box, Bradley completely lost his mind and proceeded to get a bag of balls from the Dodgers dugout and throw it onto the field. 

He then threw one of the balls into the outfield and would have to be restrained by Dodgers manager Jim Tracy.

-In September 2004 while the Dodgers were visiting the Padres, a fan threw a plastic bottle in Bradley’s direction while he was playing right field.  Instead of just shrugging off the action as a fan behaving badly, Bradley picked up the bottle, left his position in the outfield and while yelling at the stands threw the bottle back into the crowd. 

After being ejected from the game, Bradley ripped off his shirt and cap while proceeding towards the Dodgers dugout, and urged the fans to continue to boo him.

-Also while playing with the Dodgers; Bradley had a very public spat with second baseman and team captain, Jeff Kent.  During which Bradley accused Kent of being a bad teammate “The problem is, he doesn’t know how to deal with African-American people,” Bradley would say of Kent. 

– In 2007, after Bradley had essentially forced a trade from the Oakland A’s by refusing to appear in the minor leagues (as a part of his rehab from an injury), he found himself on the San Diego Padres. 

During a September game, in what was one of the most bizarre sports injuries ever, Bradley began arguing with first base umpire Mike Winters.  At which point, while being restrained by manager Bud Black, he fell to the ground and began clutching his knee. 

It was later revealed that Bradley tore his ACL during the argument and to make the incident even more bizarre, it came to light that Mike Winters had actually started the entire confrontation by provoking Bradley with a string of obscenities.

– While enjoying the best season of his career with the Texas Rangers in 2008 (which would see Bradley bat .321 with 22 home runs and 77 RBI), Bradley took exception to comments that were made by Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre during a game in Kansas City. 

Bradley had heard the comments in the Rangers clubhouse, which compared him to Josh Hamilton, who had struggled with alcohol and drug addictions for the last four seasons. 

Bradley was upset with the comments and left the Rangers clubhouse during the game looking to confront Lefebvre.  Before he could find the announcer, Bradley was re-routed back to the clubhouse by Rangers GM Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington. 

After returning to the clubhouse, Bradley would not only begin screaming at teammates in the dugout, he also broke down in tears.  

-Coming off his aforementioned career season in 2008 with the Texas Rangers, Bradley signed a 3 year, $30 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.

Bradley’s time in Chicago would be mired in controversy, and he would only play there for a single season.  Not only was Bradley unproductive on the field (.257 batting average and only 12 home runs) he also clashed with Cubs manager Lou Piniella as well as the team’s GM Jim Hendry off the field. 

He was traded to the Seattle Mariners after the 2009 season, at which point Bradley sounded off as to why he didn’t play well in Chicago.  He blamed his poor play on the fans, and also accused them of being racist saying he didn’t feel safe in Chicago, citing the amount of hate mail he received while playing for the Cubs.       

There’s no doubt that people pick on Bradley because of his reputation and the way he reacts to certain situations.  At the same time, Bradley should realize that especially because he’s a professional athlete, people are going to try and provoke him to see how he will react.

Because of this, in pretty much every stop along the way Bradley has fought with everyone; fans, coaches, umpires, broadcasters, and even teammates.  But the biggest thing that Bradley has been fighting against is himself. 

Many of the incidents that have made Bradley an infamous figure in the court of public opinion involve him losing his temper and reacting in ways that few other players ever do.

In almost all of these instances, if he would exercise some self-control and take a deep breath he could have avoided another one of the patented blow-ups that Bradley detractors continue to point to as examples of why he doesn’t belong in Major League Baseball. 

Up until yesterday, it would seem that he hasn’t been able to admit to himself that he’s the one who has the problem. 

It’s no secret that Bradley had a few rocky stays with the various teams he has played for, which always seemed to end the same way.  The team gets fed up with Bradley’s antics and ships him off to another team willing to take a chance on him. 

On his way out the door, Bradley would point the finger at anyone he could to explain why it didn’t work out, but he would never say anything about his own involvement in the situation. 

But finally, on Wednesday, he stopped blaming others for his problems and took responsibility for the situation.  

Bradley reached out to the Seattle Mariners organization and admitted that he needs help dealing with the psychological and emotional issues that he has been living with throughout his life.

These issues have not been identified and they probably never will be, but if you look at Milton Bradley’s uncanny ability to continuously put himself in these positions you can’t say that he is a mentally stable individual.

It has certainly been a long time coming for Milton Bradley’s revelation that he needs help.  He has been known for his fiery temper and out-of-control antics for as long as he has played in the league. 

Along the way, many have tried to counsel Bradley and help him to shed his negative image and behavior.  But so far it hasn’t worked out very well, and maybe it’s because Bradley himself wasn’t ready to admit that he was the problem.

Perhaps the most intelligent thing I’ve heard about this entire situation is from Justice B. Hill, who covered Bradley when he played for Cleveland early in his career:

“Some people are so angry and carry such baggage with them that you have to let them go. They’re not worth saving,” Hill said. “Bradley is not worth saving until he saves himself. Because it’s always someone else’s fault. Someone always didn’t do right by Bradley.”

A lightning rod for controversy, Bradley is always outspoken, and never at a loss for words, which has turned him into one of the most controversial players in all of baseball. 

There’s no telling where this situation ends up, as Bradley has been given both the support of the Seattle Mariners as well as time away from baseball to try and fix whatever has gone wrong in his life. 

Hopefully, Bradley will be able to get the help he needs.

If something positive does come of this situation it would certainly be ironic that for once, something he said will help him avoid trouble rather than getting him in deeper than he already is.            

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

For a man considered by many to be very talented, Milton Bradley has called eight cities “home” in 11 seasons in MLB.

I realize there have been other players who have become “shop worn” over the years. Kenny Lofton pops into my mind first. He played for 11 different squads in his very good 17-year career.

With Lofton 10 of those teams came in his final seven seasons after spending a decade with the Cleveland Indians.

Lofton was one point away from being a career .300 hitter. He showed skills and was not ejected from one town to another because of his personal demons.

Bradley, on the other hand has never measured up to the model many people had thought he had trying to burst out from the rough exterior.

In his career Bradley has only played one season in which he had enough ABs to qualify for any time of statistical reward, not that any would be due him.

In 2004 with the Los Angeles Dodgers he played 141 games and had 516 ABs. He batted only .267 with 19 HR and 67 RBI.

In four partial seasons he managed to bat over .300, his high-water mark being in 2008 when he batted .321 with the Texas Rangers.

His personality disorder(s) has made him the modern day Jimmy Piersall. Many readers are too young to remember him.

He was an outfielder with similar personal problems, mostly remembered as a member of the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians.

There was also a movie made about him starring Anthony Perkins, called “Fear Strikes Out.”

Most people don’t remember that he had a decent career, just that he was “not right”.  Is that the legacy Bradley will be faced with?

He has already had enough strikes against him to be called out, and I mean out permanently. He is the MLB version of Terrell Owens, without being one of the best at his position.

The baggage he carries is too much for any Skycap guy to handle. I am not certain where or when his problems actually began, but the first I am privy to is the incident in Cleveland.

At the beginning of the ’04 season he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Franklin Gutierrez and Andrew Brown after a confrontation with manager Eric Wedge.

In 2007 he was placed on the Disabled List after he tore an ACL while being restrained by San Diego manager Bud Black.

Bradley was in an altercation with umpire Mike Winters.

Winters had told the home plate umpire that in a previous at-bat Bradley flung his bat toward him (Brian Runge). Winters was subsequently suspended after it was found that he had used profanity at Bradley (where would we be if every ump that cussed a player would be suspended?).

No further action was directed toward Bradley by the league.

In 2008 as a Texas Ranger, Bradley had a confrontation with Kansas City Royals’ announcer Ryan Lefebvre in the press box.

Bradley took umbrage at a comment the announcer made comparing Josh Hamilton and Bradley. A full-blown confrontation was dismantled and Bradley was reduced to tears in a public display of emotion.

With the Chicago Cubs in ’09 Bradley was again at the center of controversy. He was suspended for arguing a call with umpire Larry Vanover.

After Bradley flew out in a game against crosstown rival, the White Sox, he and manager Lou Piniella had a blow-up and Bradley was told by the manager to go home.

After that particular incident, Piniella reportedly said, “This has been a common occurrence and I’ve looked the other way a lot and I’m tired… I’m not into discipline, I’m really not. I’m going to put his name in the lineup tomorrow and that’s it.”

The Seattle Mariners acquired Bradley in an off-season deal that sent pitcher Carlos Silva and cash to the Cubs. The Mariners (as was I) were in high hopes that he could help them get to their first World Series this year.

In a game a few days ago he became irate after striking out twice in a game. Manager Don Wakamatsu removed him from the game prompting Bradley to say, “I’m packing my stuff. I’m out of here.”

Bradley sent a message to ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez, saying, “Any reports that I said I’m packing up and leaving are 100 percent fabricated.”

My point is this: How many strikes do you get? He has proved himself to be a polarizing (negative) component everywhere he has played.

The Mariners are waiting for Bradley to seek outside help and create a plan for self-improvement before any further action is taken.

It is clear to anyone with eyes that Bradley has some emotional disorder(s). Hopefully, he can get his personal life worked out.

I am told he is a pleasant man to talk to, but when stress levels hit the boiling point, he is someone else. Does Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ring a bell?

Every time I hear of one of Bradley’s outbursts I am reminded of the scene in “Fear Strikes Out” when Piersall (actually Perkins) begins climbing up the backstop.

What are your thoughts?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com