Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva: hmmm....

This is potentially exciting news. The Mariners got a switch-hitting outfielder and dumped their last bloated salary in the process. I've been waiting since midway 2008 for Silva to be traded, because from the getgo his Seattle contract never made any sense, but the acqusition of Bradley may come with baggage.

Now on the principal that Silva is gone, I'm a little thrilled. The Mariners gave Silva a 4 year, 48 million dollar contract at the start of 2008 based on mediocre middle of the rotation pitching in Minnesota. Silva ended up going 5-18 with 6.82 ERA through the 2008 and 2009 seasons while only making 6 starts last season. If he had stayed in Seattle for the 2010, he would have been an extremely expensive garbage time reliever, as its almost certain there would have been no spot in the rotation for him evene prior to the signing of Cliff Lee.

Bradley, on the other hand, is the Cubs' Silva in a sense, but let's start with the positives. Bradley made the 2008 allstar game with Texas when he posted a .321 batting average with 22 homers and an on-base percentage of .436. In fact, Bradley's lifetime on-base of .371, is better than all the other projected Mariners starters: Jose Lopez (.303), Jack Wilson (.310), Franklin Gutierrez (.321), Rob Johnson (.274), Chone Figgins (.363), except Griffey, whose on-base is also .371 and Ichiro (.378). So, he can hit for power and get on the basepaths regularly enough, that hitting behind players like Ichiro and Figgins, should see his RBI total rise as well.

On the other hand, Bradley managed to get himself into trouble in Chicago and become the local pariah. He labeled Cubs fans as racist, gave away a game ball when the inning still had one out remaining, and found himself sitting on the bench for the last 2 weeks of the 2009 season. While Seattle is a fresh start and having someone like Griffey in the clubhouse is always good for troubled players, there is a risk that the Mariners may have to deal with Bradley's tantrums.

Another issue, is that Bradley has had many years with injury problems. He's only played in 100 or more games 4 times in his 10 year career, (2002 in Cleveland was close with 98). Hopefully, it appears he may have turned that corner as he played more than 120 games in both 2008 and 2009 (he' probably would have topped 130-140 this year if he hadn't been benched).

So, potentially, Bradley could be a productive member of the 2010 Mariners. If not, my money is that we still got the better deal than the Cubs, but Zduriencik better be on his toes if Bradley melts down.