Saying he could no longer tolerate the disrepect Milton Bradley was showing to fans and media personnel, Cubs GM Jim Hendry suspended the troubled outfielder for the remainder of the season. The final straw appeared to be comments Bradley made in an article written by Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald and reported in this blog yesterday.
I have been consistent in my criticism of Bradley. While I don’t believe that Bradley’s performance and behavior were the main reason for the Cubs downfall this year, I do believe that they were the most distracting for the team. Bradley’s teammates didn’t have much sympathy following the announcement of his suspension.
According to the Daily Herald’s Miles, Ryan Dempster had this to say:
“To say that everybody’s out to get you and the reporters are looking for you and always looking to stick a microphone in your face, well, if you notice that they’re always for you, I think maybe you’re always looking for them,” Dempster said. “I’ve been here six years now and haven’t had a problem with anybody here. D-Lee’s been here, Z, a lot of guys for a long time. Yeah, you have some tough times, but the city’s great. The fans are great. You’ve got to realize sometimes the consequences of your own actions.”
Paul Sullivan of the Tribune quoted Dempster as saying:
“At the end of the day, he was provided a great opportunity to be part of a really great organization with a lot of really good guys,” pitcher Ryan Dempster said. “It just didn’t seem to make him happy — anything. Hopefully this is a little bit of a wake-up call for him, and he’ll realize how good of a gig you have.
Other players commented as well, including Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson. Everyone disagreed with Bradley’s comments that a negative shadow hovered over the Cubs organization. Manager Lou Piniella spoke about Bradley’s impact on the clubhouse:
“Last year, I don’t know how many times I heard from the media that we had the best clubhouse in the league,” Lou said before tonight’s game. “Things don’t change that rapidly in a year.”
While I have not been a fan of Bradley and his bad attitude, I don’t think Jim Hendry handled this situation very well. When Bradley pulled himself out of Friday’s game in St, Louis with an injured knee, Hendry had the perfect excuse to put Bradley on the DL. If he had, he wouldn’t be dealing with the PR mess surrounding Bradley’s suspension and he would have made Bradley more marketable in the off season. Instead, now he’s going to have to try to move a clubhouse cancer rather than just a player who had a bad knee.
The Milton Bradley experiment has been a complete and utter disaster. Thankfully, it is coming to an end. Let’s hope that the Cubs don’t try anything crazy like this ever again.
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The Cubs beat the Cardinals 6-3 to remain 8.0 games behind the Rockies in the Wildcard race with just 15 games to go. The Cubs travel to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in a three game set starting tonight. Tom Gorzelanny (5-2) will take on Braden Looper (13-6).
