Why Won't Milton Bradley Just Shut Up?

More news out of Chicago about Milton Bradley making an ass of himself.  He doesn’t feel “comfortable” playing in Chi, because the fans boo him constantly for his pop-off mouth and his poor performance.

Here’s a blog piece from the Chicago Tribune with Bradley’s most recent comments.

Poor, poor Miltie. So much hatred in the world directed at little old him.

His $12 million option for 2010 has now long since vested, and the Cubs are stuck with his needless drama for another year.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Cubs deserve it for signing Miltie to a multi-year contract.  The Cubs had to know what they were getting into when they signed him, because Miltie’s is a tired, tired act.

At this point in his career, Miltie should be playing solely for one of MLB’s also-rans, and even then only on a one-year contract, so that he has to be on his best behavior at all times or get unceremoniously dumped at season’s end.

It’s still hard for me to understand why a contender like the Cubs would think signing Bradley to a three-year deal was a good idea.  A leopard can’t change its spots.

I think it has something to do with all the frequent turn-over in front offices and at the managerial position in baseball.  You’d think a team would get burned once on a player like Bradley and never sign that kind of player again, at least not to a multi-year contract. Nevertheless, teams looking for talent to fill a hole seem to do it over and over and over again.

Signing Bradley says a lot about Cubs’ management’s competence or lack thereof.  Most years it seems like the Cubs underperform and the much smaller market Cardinels overperform.

Can you even imagine a Milton Bradley playing on any team managed by Tony LaRussa?  If the Cardinals signed a player of this sort, I suspect that by the end of April or May, at the latest, LaRussa would be giving the GM an “it’s him or me” ultimatum.  As a Cardinal player, you pretty much tow LaRussa’s line or you’re gone.

The only exception to this rule is mega-star Albert Pujols, who can probably do pretty much whatever he wants.  However, Pujols is the kind of guy MLB management loves: he wouldn’t say shit if he had a mouthful.

At least here on the West Coast, I’ve never seen a report about how Pujols popped off and said something stupid.  If he occasionally does or says something dumb, it doesn’t get much press outside the State of Missouri.

One thing’s for certain, however.  You can’t argue with the Cardinals’ results since LaRussa has been their manager.