Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I miss Milton Bradley

This may sound really stupid and odd, but I actually miss Milton Bradley. No, I don’t miss is great talent. I don’t miss his superior fielding ability. I don’t miss all the runs he drove in. (Oh wait...ha ha!) I miss the controversy. I honestly thought that not having him on the team would make my life better and make the Cubs more enjoyable to watch and cover, especially in the offseason.
I wish he was a Cub again...just so we could trade him.
The thing is, this fall and winter has been just way too quiet. At this time last year we were eagerly awaiting the immanent trade of Uncle Milty (though many people though we should have kept him…how did that work out for you???).

What has become apparent this year is that the Cubs have no intentions to trade away any of their bigger name players, and they have no intentions of signing any bigger name players….so that leaves us with bitching and moaning about financing of renovations and reduced payroll.

*YAWN*

We really have very little to talk about right now…good or bad.

Last year’s decree that Milton was to be traded at all costs, stemmed from the fact that the Cubs didn’t have an opportunity to give him a second chance after he was suspended from the team. We almost had a duplicate of that situation this year with Carlos Zambrano, but he had his blow-up a little earlier in the year. That gave the Cubs and Zambrano ample time to remedy things and now everyone loves him again (until he blows up again next season). If Z had messed up a little later in the season, we might very well have been stuck in the same situation was we were with Bradley last year.

I personally still want Zambrano off the team…especially if this is going to be a rebuilding year. Unfortunately for me, that isn’t going to happen. It appears the Cubs were more than impressed by Z’s turnaround after his stint in anger management. One has to wonder about the idea of the Cubs doing the same to Milton Bradley. I’m not sure that would have necessarily helped him but you never know. In the end, Bradley’s demise in Seattle last year had less to do with his mental problems and more to do with his physical problems…something that has also plagued him throughout his career (and yet another reason the Cubs shouldn’t have signed him in the first place).

For better or worse, though, Milton gave us something to talk about last year. Since he was such a polarizing player, the debate was fierce and interesting…and I miss it. Don’t you?