Milton Bradley: Baseball’s Bad Guy

Will it ever stop? Only a year ago Milton Bradley was declaring himself the reason the Cubs would win the NL Central. After antics like throwing balls into the stands with only two outs and having an all-around disappointing season, Milton was finally cut loose and traded to Seattle. Milton Bradley started blaming Chicago for his failures last season and continued to feel sorry for himself in his latest comments to the AP:

If I was a musician, I’d be Kanye West. If I was in the NBA, I’d be Ron Artest.  In baseball, they’ve got Milton Bradley. I’m that guy. You need people like me, so you can point your finger and go, ‘There goes the bad guy.”

Can I point my finger and say there goes the cry baby? Kanye West should be insulted that Milton made that comparison. Sure, West has been known to do some rude things, but at least he is great at what he does. Bradley has had two pretty good years in 2004 and 2008. In 2004 with the Dodgers he had 67 RBIs and 19 home runs, in 2008 with the Rangers he had 77 RBIs with 22 homers — both pretty great years.  West, like I said can be rude at times, but he has won 47 awards for his work so I see no comparison.

I really don’t know what satisfaction Bradley gets out of saying this outside of putting himself in a victim’s role. Does he just want to stay in the spotlight for as long as he can? As far as I’m concerned, Bradley’s light bulb has burned out — now it’s time for him to move on and focus on a new season with his team instead of dwelling on the past.

Sources:
Milton Bradley says he’s the bad guy in baseball, a la Kanye West [USA Today]