I noticed a previous thread which detailed Bradley’s season-ending injury over the weekend. Well, today the verdict on the whole incident came down. The umpire involved, Mike Winters has been suspended without pay for the rest of the season. Umpire Winters is suspended
Now before you think I disagree with MLB and their punishment for Winters–I don’t. Part of his job is to be professional and he apparently wasn’t.
But, I’m pitting Milton Bradley. He’s an ass. A loose cannon. This ain’t his first time.
I had the misfortune to hear/read about his antics while he was a Cleveland Indian a few years ago. He’s a flake. Latest incident is final straw - ESPN (This is April, 2004.
Multiple problems. Lots of them. He’s got a serious mental problem. On and off the field. JUst to highlight one listing from that cite
. Bolding mine. Any similarity to the seminal incident in this past weekend’s bruha?
Search for “Bradley” on the page. June and September. A complete maniac. Needs anger management classes.
I’m not even gonna chase what his stint in Padre-land has been like. Maybe he’s been the model player. (As an aside, he played for Oakland for some short period)
You can read about him at Milton Bradley for a general overview.
While he’s an exciting player, his downsides don’t balance the upsides, IMHO.
While Bradley may well be an asshole, I don’t see what he could be suspended for in this incident. Arguing with an umpire isn’t the kind of thing you get suspended for, and by all accounts he was provoked in this case anyway.
Admittedly, he’s only played 42 games for them this year since his move from Oakland (so small sample size warning), but in those games he has an OPS over 1.000 and is leading all Padres hitters in hitting average, on-base average, and slugging percentage. He has a WARP3 of 3.4 in just those 42 games. Without those 3 wins, the Padres are out of the NL West race, and just about out of the Wild Card race too. They’re in trouble without him right now.
Anyway, while he’s always been a bit of a hothead, i’m still not sure you can argue that his hotheadedness has made him a liability, unless there’s some evidence that his antics have adversely affected his teams’ performances. If anything has made Bradley a liability, it’s been his tendency to get injured. He’s only played more than 100 games per season twice in his career. Hell, he had only been back a couple of days from injury when the most recent, season-ending incident occurred.
Just because Bradley is an ass (no argument there…) does not give umpires carte blanche to bait and cajole him. I say good on MLB* for sending a message to the growing number of militant umpires.
Is Bradley still blaming the ump for blowing out his knee? Cause I’ve seen the footage, and while it all happens pretty quickly, I’m pretty sure the ump didn’t have anything to do with it.
You’re probably right, but I just think this is one of those time where you reap what you sow.
Bradley has a long history of being an ass (probably the biggest in MLB since Albert Belle), so it’s real hard for me to take his side on anything. And, like Belle, he may not have deserved a season ending (okay, Belle’s was career ending) injury, but it’s hard for me to be a big enough person to not point and laugh.
Bradley is an ass, a loose cannon, bad in the clubhouse, all that. Its common knowledge to anyone in baseball- so blame the people who keep giving him a job. There are many talented athletes who quit getting jobs because of attitude- JR Rider, Jeff George, Chris Jackson, Rodman, etc.- blame the Padres not him- a leopard can’t change his spots and all.
And sure the ump was out of line, but Bradley claiming the injury was the umps fault is asinine- “He made me try to physically attack him by calling me whatever he called me”- how adult.
Other than affirming the fan’s criticism, which is hard to see on YouTube, it was almost civilized looking at first. I thought it was extremely funny that he called time, went back to the base, THEN ran screaming after the umpire. Hothead? Yes. Willing to get called out at first? No.
This is the Pit, so do tell your Auntie Jodi: What exactly was the “profane derogatory remark” that was so “disconcerting”? What exactly was said that caused the guy to flip out and attack the umpire (or try to)?
I haven’t actually heard the audio, but if my interpretation of all the ellipses in the news reports in correct, he called him “a fucking piece of shit.”
Robert Barton, Parker Bros. President, lived in my hometown when I was a teenager and I checked out and bagged his groceries at the supermarket where I worked.
