Friday, June 29, 2007

Milton Bradley to San Diego

Photo Courtesy of Associated Press

UPDATE: THIS DEAL IS OFFICIAL NOW

Milton Bradley to San Diego

As promised by Kevin Towers, the Padres continue to make small improvements to their offense. It was announced yesterday that the Padres have tentatively acquired outfielder Milton Bradley from the Oakland A's. Bradley is a career. 271 hitter who is currently batting .292 with 2 HR's in 65 at-bats. The 65-at bats is the alarming part. Bradley has been injured throughout the year, severely limiting his playing time. Just last week Kansas City had reached a deal with Oakland for Bradley only to cancel the deal when they found out that Bradley was still hurt.

Now, reports in San Diego are saying that Bradley could be in the lineup as early as Sunday. It is also worth noting that San Diego is not requiring a physical for the oft-injured outfielder. We will know by Sunday if Bradley is healthy or not.

Other Bradley Concerns:

- He is temperamental. Most memorable for me was in 2004, when Bradley missed a fly ball and had a plastic bottle thrown at him. Bradley picked up the bottle and threw it back at the fan.

- He has a history of confrontations with media and players, saying about then teammate Jeff Kent that he "doesn't know how to deal with African-American players" and calling a L.A. Times reporter an "Uncle Tom."

- A great compilation of Bradley's troubled past is at the San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070629-9999-1s29bradbox.html

- Somewhat ironically, Bradley became available in Oakland because of the emergence of Jack Cust...a player the Padres essentially just gave to Oakland.


Weekend Preview:

- Brian Giles has been activated off the DL and is expected to start today in L.A. in Right Field. Giles doesn't hit for power anymore, certainly not in the way he did in Pittsburgh. But, he is patient (a rare commodity in this Padres lineup) and provides an upgrade in quality at-bats.

- Chris Young gets the start tonight after his best performance of the year against Boston. Padres get a chance to redeem themselves against Hong-Chih Kuo, who last time against the Friars gave up only 1-run and struck out 8.

- Great pitching match-up on Saturday with Jake Peavy and Brad Penny.

- Sunday features the tallest pitcher in MLB history, Chad Billingsley. Just thought you should know that.

- Last time the Padres played L.A. they swept them out of Petco with a dramatic 5-run 9th inning.

- Although they won 2 of 3 in San Francisco, the Friars only mustered 10 runs in 30 innings. The Dodgers are coming off taking 3 of 4 from Arizona to move into a tie for first...with San Diego

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome back B. Giles!

I don't know... if someone threw a bottle at me, I might just throw one back at them as well!!!

Anonymous said...

Bradley sucks, he's a malcontent, a jerk and a cancer. For a team that loves to comment about their chemistry they added one player known for messing up chemistry everywhere he goes.

GTH said...

Yeah, this is very unlike Sandy Alderson to me, to bring a guy like this in. I know we need a bat but at what cost? Yeah, in players not much, but in chemistry...probably alot.

Anonymous said...

You write "Giles doesn't hit for power anymore, certainly not in the way he did in Pittsburgh."

Am I the only person who suspects Giles was on steroids in Pittsburgh? Sure, there is a huge difference in the size of the ballparks, but who goes so dramatically from a basher to more or less a "punch and judy" hitter?

GTH said...

I've heard this before and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that. But the parks to play into this. Petco is huge, plus he has gotten older. Still, the drop off was so sudden and dramatic I wouldn't surprised. What you don't see is Giles getting injured much, usually a sign of steroid use.