As the dust begins to settle on the Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva trade with Seattle, I want to examine the reactions I have seen around the blogosphere to the trade. By and large, the reactions have been running negative toward the trade. If I had to guess, I’d say that about 75% of the blog posts and comments I have read have been opposed to the trade.
Admittedly, I am in the minority on this issue. Given the circumstances, I think Jim Hendry did an excellent job of trading the troubled Bradley without having to pay a significant amount of money to do it. In fact, he even got Seattle to throw in some money on the deal.
Most of the criticism of the deal centers around the fact that Carlos Silva is not very good. It’s a difficult point to argue. In 2008, he posted a 4-15 record and a 6.46 ERA. In 2009, Silva had a 1-3 record and an 8.60 ERA in eight starts before injuring his shoulder and missing most of the remainder of the season.
His contract doesn’t help the situation. Silva is owed $11.5 million in 2010, another $11.5 million in 2011, and a team option for 2012 worth $12 million with a $2 million buyout. That’s a lot of money for a guy who apparently isn’t very good.
If I had to defend Silva (which I don’t, but I will), I’d point out that his last two years have been the worst of his career and now that his shoulder is repaired, there’s reason to hope that he’ll rebound to his previous form. To give you an idea of what Carlos Silva is capable of, his career ERA is 4.72 even after his two disastrous years in 2008-09.
I’d also point out that four times in his eight year career, Silva has pitched 180 or more innings in a season. So dispite his injury last year, Silva appears to be a workhorse.
Finally, I’d point out that, while Silva stunk up the joint in 2008, he did it for a team that lost 101 games. Silva may not have helped the cause much, but the Mariners were the worst team in the AL that year, so his record and ERA may be at least partially a result of the team he pitched for.
I’m not sure what critics of the trade expected the Cubs to get in return for Bradley. At one time early in the off season, I held out hope that Bradley could be included in a package that could possibly net Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays or Brian Roberts and Luke Scott from the Orioles. That was foolish. It was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Then I predicted the Cubs would trade Bradley to San Francisco for Aaron Rowand. In some respects, I think that deal had possibilities, but only if the Giants were willing to risk adding Bradley to their clubhouse. They wisely were not willing to take that risk.
I threw out a couple of other scenarios that were probably just as unrealistic as those I listed above. It was during the Winter Meetings that I finally realized that there really was no market for Bradley. Despite being one of the better hitters OBP-wise in the game, the vast majority of teams simply didn’t want to invite his abrasive personality into their clubhouse. Texas was only willing to bring Bradley back if the Cubs would pay them $16 million to do it. Tampa Bay had a potential interest, but only if the Cubs took Pat Burrell off their hands (a player the Cubs could not use) and paid several million dollars for the privilege.
During the Winter Meetings, I finally understood just how little leverage Jim Hendry and the Cubs had. They had painted themselves into a corner and had made it clear to anyone paying attention that they fully intended on trading Bradley, no matter the cost. No other team had reason to negotiate too hard. They knew they had the upper hand. Hendry and the Cubs were negotiating from a distinct position of weakness.
That’s why my opinion is that Hendry did an excellent job of trading Bradley. Was it a perfect trade? Absolutely not. Will Carlos Silva help the 2010 Cubs? It’s too early to tell. But given the circumstances, Jim Hendry made the best of a very bad situation. Of course, it’s important to remember that the “very bad situation” was of Hendry’s own doing, but in the end, he got the best deal he could reasonably get.
