The Bradley Backlash

So, less than a week and already, the baseball world has plenty of critics weighing in on the Bradley-Silva trade. Leading the way is Yahoo Sportswriter, Steve Hanson, calling Bradley, "a reckless risk," and runs down every mishap that Bradley every committed. Of course, we can't forget that nearly every Cubs fan is ecstatic and in disbelief that we'd take on such player.

But then again, this trade is all about Carlos Silva. The reason why many are excited about Bradley is because no but thought it would be possible to be rid of Silva so soon and so easily, and get anything for him at all. Bradley may be the biggest risk ever to take, but many figured we'd have to wait out Silva's contract and let him go to free agency for nothing.

Now, this isn't to say that Bradley won't show up and have issues as he had elsewhere. Hanson beats this issue to death and foresees Bradley's past catching up with him. In fact, Hanson thinks that Bradley will bring the whole team down going as far to say that, "until Friday, the Mariners were favorites to win the Al West," but that the addition of Bradley, "will make the good intentions and shrewd moves moot." Essentially, Bradley has doomed the Mariners. I can't believe Yahoo actually pays this guy!

So, Bradley is going to be so disruptive that not only will Cliff Lee's pitching flop, but Felix Hernandez will gain 50 pounds and become the new Carlos Silva. Bradley will disrupt Franklin Gutierrez's fielding with rude gestures and swearing, and he will take put Chone Figgins on the DL with a thrown batting helmet intended for a water cooler. All the while, Don Wakamatsu and Jack Zduriencik will not only let this happen, but give up the season as a loss cause. Yep, Milton is going to nuke the Mariner's chances of competing all by himself.

This kind of an assumption is irritating, because the Mariner's current management doesn't take a back seat and give endless chances to players that cannot produce. If anything, the Mariners were continually moving players around and experimenting with different lineups, even cleaning house of players that were no longer assets to the lineup.

Ask Yuniesky Betancourt. Betancourt took over as the starting shortstop in 2005 and adequately filled the whole for a while, but found himself being called out by Wakamatsu for a lack of commitment. Halfway through the season he was sent off to kansas city and briefly replaced by Ronny Cedeno until Zduriencik upgraded Jack Wilson.

Johjima found himself playing part time when Rob Johnson started to mesh better with Felix Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn. Part of the reason why Johjima left for Japan is knowing that he no longer had the catcher spot locked down in situations where Wakamatsu felt Johnson would be a better fit.

The outfield spot that Bradley is vying for is also being coveted by Corey Patterson, Ryan Langerhans, and Michael Saunders. While Bradley is clearly the one to get first crack at starting in left and DHing when Griffey isn't in the lineup, Wakamatsu is not afraid to bench him in order to give a more productive player a chance at starting. Especially, if Bradley makes a spectacle of himself.

Anyways, to suggest that Bradley will bring down the Mariners, let alone that Wakamatsu and the front office will let him is asinine. If anything goes awry, the Mariners will eat Bradley's contract and bench or release him. That is more or less the equivalent of what they were going to do with Silva anyway, (unless you count relief pitching in garbage time a valuable use of a multi-million dollar pitcher), but this way, a gamble on Bradley may pay off. For now, I'm gonna cheer for Big Bad Bradley. I'd love him to turn over a new leaf, lead the AL in on-base percentage, and return to the All Star game. Likely? No, but not impossible.