You may have heard that Milton Bradley is available. The somewhat innocuous last straw was an interview in which he criticized the organization and offered the poisoned attitude of the team as the reason for their lack of championships. After all that Bradley has done, it didn’t seem like a big deal until it was.
Bradley is a warning sign to me. Maybe because I play fantasy and am not a real-life GM, I’ve always thought that talent trumps attitude – Give me Terrell Owens and a shot at the postseason, thank you very much. Gary Sheffield is available for a song? Yes. Randy Moss as the extra piece on my veteran team? Yup.
But Bradley seems to be a one-man antidote to that argument. Maybe because his talent is so borderline – he definitely can get on base, but the power comes and goes (.563 SLG last year, .397 this year), the speed is gone (12 stolen bases in the last three years), and the defense slowly out the door as well (this year was his second of his career under replacement level on defense) – but it seems obvious that because of his attitude, there’s an asterisk or a minus sign that you have to put next to any positive stats he puts up.
I mean, fangraphs has him valued at $5.3 million this year, which is not the worst bust ever, given his $10 million salary and the fact he’s been injured. But how do you put a dollar sign on all those questions that his teammates and managers have to answer about him? How do you put a dollar sign on all the fans that were turned against him? How much value do you put on all those calls from all the umpires who may occasionally make the odd call in honor of their compatriot (the umpire that was suspended when he called Bradley a boy)?
You have to think all the ill-will Bradley brought with him was worth a couple million dollars. Heck, Bradley was worth $20 million last year to the Rangers, and he signed for $10 million. There’s a reason he came ‘cheap.’
I propose the Bradley Factor: when a player’s attitude gets this bad, you have to halve his value. If he plays at a $20 million dollar level, he’s maybe addable to your team for $10 million. If he plays at a $5 million dollar level, he’s worth paying a couple million. If he’s got some talent, there’s always a price where he’ll make sense, especially if he put in an OPS over .950 from 2007-2008 like Bradley did..
Unfortunately, the Bradley Factor means that whoever trades for him (do the As want him back? can Omar Minaya take his shenanigans?) will want to pay him about $2.5 million a season, and want the Cubs to swallow $15 million dollars to get him off the team.
Ouch.
But Bradley would make a lot of sense for the Mets, especially if he comes for that cheap… what do YOU think?
