Talking about a shocking trade that didn’t help anybody: look at the Milton Bradley-for-Carlos Silva deal Friday that the Mariners and the Cubs agreed to.
One (Bradley) is a bad actor; the other (Silva) is a bad pitcher. Both carry heavy-duty contracts, which limited any potential suitors. It took two organizations with the same purpose to swallow this deal whole.
Yet if somebody had to pick a winner here — and it’ll be a photo finish — he’d give the edge to the Cubs, because getting anybody to take Bradley off the team’s payroll was a dream Cubs general manager Jim Hendry couldn’t possibly have expected to come true.
Not that Silva will help the Cubs much; he won’t. A lousy pitcher in the American League won’t become a Cy Young winner merely by switching leagues. But Silva won’t turn the clubhouse into a nut house, which Bradley is sure to do in Seattle.
Now, the Mariners say they are hopeful Bradley’s nuclear temper will chill a bit under the influence of Grade A characters like Ken Griffey Jr. and Chone Figgins, a recent acquisition. They are also counting on a calmer, more sedate Milton Bradley being a productive Milton Bradley.
