NEWS: Chicago Cubs Waste $30 Million

On Monday the Cubs signed free agent outfielder Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30 million contract. A physical is pending, and is scheduled for Thursday.

The goal for the Cubs this offseason was to add a left handed bat to the middle of the batting order in someone who can play right field. The Cubs had issues against right handed pitching last year, and in Bradley will add the sixth highest batting average in baseball from 2008.

Last year Bradley had an impressive .321 batting average and an inhuman .436 on-base percentage. On the surface, this would figure to fill the Cubs needs. The problem with adding the switch-hitting Bradley to the order is that, while he put up incredible career numbers in 2008, much of what the Cubs will try to sell fans on regarding Bradley is smoke and mirrors.

Problem is, Bradley batted .037 higher right-handed than he did from the left side. In fact, Bradley had as many home runs, 11, batting righty as he did lefty in 142 fewer at bats.

Another problem with adding Bradley is that he rarely played in the outfield last year. Bradley had his career year protecting one the the great comeback stories in baseball history, Josh Hamilton, as a designated hitter. Bradley had only 77 at bats as an outfielder in 2008.

Yet another problem is that Bradley excelled in a hitters ballpark. I don't need to remind Angels fans of how their Rangers payday has turned out so far; Gary Matthews Jr has played well enough that the Angels went out and signed a fourth outfielder, Torii Hunter, to a blockbuster deal last winter.

Bradley batted .358 at Arlington last season with an on-base percentage of .466. On the road, he batted only .290 with a .410 OBP.

Another problem with Bradley is that he actually had a higher batting average against left handed pitchers (.341) than against right handers (.312) last year.

Finally, another problem with Bradley is his inability to stay healthy. He has played in over 100 games just twice since 2004, with one of those being as a DH last year. He has sustained multiple leg injuries over the past five seasons that, coupled with public issues with teammates and umpires, have led to Bradley having not signed a contract for longer than one year yet in his major league career.

So a guy who is supposed to bring a left handed presence to a batting order and help attack right handed pitching while playing right field has a number of problems: he has better power from the right side, he isn't as good against lefties as he is against righties, and he doesn't stay healthy when playing the outfield.

And so on this, the fifth of January, the Cubs gave $30 million to a big problem. Bradley doesn't solve any of the Cubs problems, and will likely create some of his own.