Milton Bradley Suspended for Rest of 2009 Season

September 20, 2009 by cubsnet

Three months ago, it became apparent that if Milton Bradley did something to trigger the wrath of management, the players would not be there to stand behind him.

Yesterday came the something, which had obviously built up, in the form of comments from Bradley published by the Daily Herald (see also the follow up post by Bruce Miles).

“It's just not a positive environment. … It's just negativity.”

"And you understand why they haven't won in 100 years here, because it's negative."

(They? Shouldn’t it have been we?)

So Jim Hendry did what most general managers of any business would do with an employee who publicizes disloyalty and a lack of gratitude: he got rid of him. In this case, by suspending him for the season, and eventually seeking to trade him.

And not one of the Cubs’ players is willing to really stick up for Bradley, according to Bruce Miles.

The Cubs won’t get much in return for Bradley and may end up having to eat much of remaining $21 million on his contract. But they don’t care. As Miles notes, while Bradley has done a good job of getting on base this year, he just is not much fun to have on the team. So, next year, however Hendry manages to pull it off, Bradley will play for his 8th team in 11 seasons.

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