Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Cubs are trying to put together a “quick deal” with the Tampa Bay Rays that would send troubled outfielder Milton Bradley to Tampa Bay in exchange for OF/DH Pat Burrell.  Tampa Bay had an interest in signing Bradley last offseason, but were not willing to match the Cubs ridiculous contract offer.  Rumors at the time were that the Rays had offered Bradley a two-year, $16 million contract.

According to the article, Burrell has one-year remaining on his contract and is owed $9 million, although $2 million of that figure was pre-paid.  Bradley has two-years remaining on his deal and is owed a cool $21 million.  Any likely deal will involve the Cubs picking up a portion of Bradley’s salary.

I hope this report is not true, or at least that it doesn’t work out.  Pat Burrell is a decent player I suppose, but I have to believe that there are better deals out there.  Jim Hendry just needs to get creative.

One problem with Burrell is that he is 32-years old and has apparently already started to decline.  Also, he is a DH.  He only started one game in the field all year for the Rays.  Of course, that doesn’t mean he can’t play the outfield any more, but most people believe he is better suited to just hit.

Unfortunately, Burrell didn’t even hit very well in 2009.  His hitting line was .221/.315/.367 with 14 HR and 64 RBI.  He also struckout 119 times in 412 at-bats while drawing just 57 walks. 

There’s always the chance that Burrell just had a down year in 2009 and that he will revert back to his career averages.  That’s possible, but why take the risk?  If the Cubs approach a potential trade of Milton Bradley like he is a hot potato and they have to get rid of him at all costs, then they are going to make a bad deal.  But if they treat Bradley like a valuable player who was a poor fit in Chicago (and just about anywhere else he has gone), AND they package him with some of the other trade chips the team has, then they can likely get back a player or players that will fill their needs and make them a better team in 2010.

I understand the Cubs desire to move Bradley quickly so they can focus their attention on other issues, but that seems shortsighted to me.  They already are in a bad position with Bradley.  Why insist on trading him for another bad situation unless that other bad situation 1) is less of a jack ass, and 2) helps the team in 2010?  By all accounts, Burrell is a good clubhouse guy, but I don’t think he’s going to improve the team.

**********

I admit, I’m not a stat geek.  I’m sort of old school when it comes to evaluating players.  But I am trying to embrace the statistical side of the game.  I admit that advanced statistics can help us understand the game much better, and at a much deeper level than we can by only using our eyes and our experience.

The undisputed king of stats in Bill James, the father of sabremetrics and a consultant to the Boston Red Sox.  I love listening to James because he is very informative when he speaks about advanced statistics, but he’s not obnoxious about it like some of his disciples.  He understands that while statistics are valuable, they are not the complete picture.

James was recently on WGN Radio in Chicago with Dave Kaplan and Kap uploaded the interview to his blog.  Take a listen.  It’s good stuff.