On-base percentage is fine, but after you walk you still have to get around the bases. A walk seldom drives in a run, and it is relevant, I think, how often a walk scores a run. If a hitter’s production is measured in runs scored and driven in, then Fukudome is the least productive hitter [...]
The fact that he vented is more interesting than anything that he said. The outburst was not surprising, though, since you probably didn’t expect the Mariners to send you an Eagle Scout in exchange for Bradley. While everyone knows that Silva was linked to Bradley, few recall the chain of causation that connects both of [...]
I grew up watching the Cubs play ball in the afternoon, when I could have been watching soap operas. I feel pretty much the same way today. What I find interesting and relevant about Zambrano is that he doesn’t have very good aim with any of his pitches. His minimal pitching motion is also a [...]
Mariners outfielder Milton Bradley was ejected from Friday night’s game against the Reds at Goodyear Ballpark, marking the second straight spring contest from which he’s been tossed. On Friday night in the top of the fourth inning, Bradley, who started in left field and hit an RBI double in the first, appeared to dispute a [...]
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Posted 20 March 2010
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bradley
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The Cubs’ second biggest problem with Milton Bradley was his personality. Larger even than the chip on Bradley’s shoulder was his inability to fulfill the role of run producer, the proper role of a right fielder. Bradley ended the season (via suspension on September 20) with forty runs batted in and a slugging percentage below [...]
So far, Josh Vitters looks like a beta version of the player he will become. By contrast, Starlin Castro, Hak-Ju Lee, Brett Jackson and D.J. LeMahieu have shown polished two-way skills that may propel them to the majors while Vitters is working on his glove, his plate discipline, his power stroke. Either way–whoever gets there [...]
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Posted 05 November 2009
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bradley § Hendry § prospect § trade
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Also tagged: brett jackson, casey coleman, chris archer, chris huseby, darwin barney, dj lemahieu, hak-ju lee, jay jackson, jim hendry, josh vitters, junior lake, kosuke fukudome, kyler burke, logan watkins, ryan flaherty, starlin castro
Money talks, and so I fully expect Milton Bradley to be back in the Cub lineup next year. Bradley’s previous employers were careful to maintain leverage over him, so they could jettison him on a moment’s notice. Cleveland traded Bradley in April of ’04, and Oakland DFA’d him early in 2007. In both cases, the [...]
The answer depends on how much credit you are willing to give Joshua for Derrek Lee’s resurgence as a power hitter. The timing of Lee’s second-half power burst favors Joshua, as does the following syllogism. a) Lee has been looking for–and turning on–fastballs middle-in, pitches that confounded him during the previous two seasons as he [...]
Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times has written a defense of Alfonso Soriano, in which appears this item: It also has been well documented that what drove the price so high had nothing to do with the baseball operations side of the team, nor Jim Hendry. It came directly from the top of an organization that was [...]
One of my favorite all-time Cubs was a self-made hitter–not a natural hitter–who knew that working the count meant understanding two things: pitchers and umpires. Milton Bradley may understand a pitcher’s tendencies and tactics, but he doesn’t understand what a home-plate umpire’s job is. That, more than paranoia or a short fuse, is his problem. [...]