Not Qualified To Comment » Trades That Make No Sense For Either Team, Starring Milton Bradley [Burrell for Bradley Edition]

Trades That Make No Sense For Either Team, Starring Milton Bradley [Burrell for Bradley Edition]

September 26, 2009 at 9:30 pm | Chicago Cubs
By: Stormin' Norman Disciple

Uncle Milty Well here’s another Bradley trade rumor that makes no sense for either side. This time the Tampa Bay Devil Rays apparently are expressing interest in Milton Bradley. ESPNChicago is reporting that:

It appears that there’s more than a little interest in Chicago Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley. A source with knowledge of the situation said that the Tampa Bay Rays are very interested in bringing the beleaguered outfielder to Florida.

The Rays would be looking to swap Burrell, who they signed after pursuing Bradley this past winter. Contractually the deal matches up and is somewhat more favorable for the Cubs. Burrell has only 1 more year at $9 million and Bradley has 2 more years at $9 million in 2010 and $12 million in 2011. After that, the deal just appears very strange. Why would the Cubs want to bring back $9 million in salary for a player that has produced significantly worse than Bradley?

Bradley: AB-393 BA-.257 OBP-.378 SLG-.397

Burrell: AB-391 BA-.228 OBP-.325 SLG-.370

I mean I can understand addition by subtraction to get Bradley’s “negative clubhouse impact” out, but how would bringing in a player that performed considerably worse and pay him the same amount make any sense? I’m sure you’re on board if you are an anti-Milton guy (which is pretty much everyone), but it sounds like there actually are some dumbass GMs out there that want him, so why would the Cubs do this deal?

And for the Rays, are you kidding? Which applies to pretty much any team that wants to deal with Bradley’s insanity as opposed to pretty much any other option.