If Milton Bradley can stay healthy enough to give the Cubs 450 to 500 plate appearances, his signing will prove outstanding for Chicago. The question is whether his body will permit him to play that much.
The 2008 season was Bradley's second in which he qualified for the batting title, and he just barely did so after missing games here and there with wrist, knee, quad, shoulder, hamstring and back problems. Now the Cubs will ask him to play the field 120 or so times, and they have no designated hitter spot to use to hide him when he's healthy enough to hit but too hurt to field. It's a big risk to take given his track record of injuries great and small.
Bradley is an excellent hitter who has power and patience and delivers lots of hard contact from both sides of the plate. He's also -- or at least was before his knee injury -- a very good defensive outfielder who's plus in a corner and at least average in center. He's at least a one-win upgrade over the players he's replacing (mostly
Jim Edmonds), more if his defense hasn't slipped thanks to the knee injury he suffered at the end of 2007, but the risk entailed in giving such an injury-prone player a three-year, $30 million deal seems excessive.
There also is some risk of a recurrence of the behavioral problems that cost Bradley playing time with the Los Angeles Dodgers and earned him tickets out of Montreal and Cleveland, but other than the 2007 incident (in which he was taunted and cursed at by umpire Mike Winters, who's still working in MLB), he has stayed out of serious trouble for a few years.
The Rangers will miss Bradley's bat, but they have plenty of power hitters who can play DH in their organization and could use the spot to get both
Chris Davis and
Jarrod Saltalamacchia regular playing time, with
Max Ramirez also an option. They'll also receive a supplemental draft pick, which is quite valuable to an organization that drafts well and isn't afraid to ignore MLB's absurd slot recommendations.
The available supply of DH/LF types, assuming that
Jason Giambi's deal with Oakland goes through, is limited to
Manny Ramirez,
Adam Dunn and
Bobby Abreu, not coincidentally the three players in that class whose agents have made the highest demands to interested clubs.
Keith Law
