Are the Padres Going Crazy?

It looks like the San Diego Padres may go down one crazy, psychotic road this off season. How so? General Manager Kevin Towers is willing to talk with the Chicago Cubs about suspended outfielder Milton Bradley.

Yea, I know you’re thinking WTF? First thing I said. Bradley is well known for his on the field altercation with an umpire that blew out his knee and the team he played for at the time was the San Diego Padres. So why would a team like the Padres consider revisiting that? There are actually a few good reasons.

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“I haven’t had any calls from Jim about him,” Towers told ESPN.com. “But I think people kind of know what players we target. We have to take chances sometimes. We took a chance on Milton the first time we had him, and he actually played pretty well [before the injury].

“We could be in the market for an outfielder. I’m not saying it’s necessarily Milton. But our experience with him was rather a positive one. It wasn’t really a negative one.”

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Looking back at his time with the Padres, prior to injury, it actually wasn’t that bad. He played 42 games and hit 11 homers with 30 runs batted in and a .313 average in just 144 at bats. His on base percentage was also a stout .414 as he had 23 walks. Pretty solid numbers for someone playing in Petco Park.

Jon Heyman at SI.com also likes the idea of Bradley going back to San Diego, calling it “one of the better stops for Bradley”. Looking at his career stats he’s not off base at all, one of his best seasons took place in San Diego and Texas. Unfortunately like most of his career both of those were one or partial season stops.

One consensus on all fronts is that San Diego would be a place where Bradley can just disappear. The problem with that happening thou is money.

Bradley is due to make $9 million in 2010 and another $12 million in 2011. A bat like Milton’s would help take relief off slugger Adrian Gonzalez but not at that cost. There’s no way the Padres can take on that kind of salary without some sort of relief, especially when they’re not going to be in contention anytime soon.

I think its a long shot he winds up there just for the monetary reason. Even so the Cubs will come calling in a few weeks and the Padres will definitely be answering.