As we watched team after team drop off the list of those we thought made sense for a Milton Bradley trade, our collective optimism that the Chicago Cubs could move Bradley for something remotely serviceable – if they could move him at all – fell by the wayside.
But Ken Rosenthal has come along and blown that thinking apart.
Multiple teams are in contact the Cubs about outfielder Milton Bradley, with one source saying, “You would be shocked at the level of interest.”
The Cubs remain confident that they can trade Bradley without assuming the vast majority of the $21 million remaining on his contract over the next two years.
New owner Tom Ricketts has set a limit for how much money the Cubs will include in a deal, one source says. The Cubs can take back a contract but pay only a fixed amount of cash.
Wow. Multiple teams? Shocked? Interest?
I wonder, of course, what that limit is with respect to how much money the Cubs are will to eat. If the number is too low, of course, perhaps all the interest in the world doesn’t matter. In fact, I would caution reduced excitement: a great deal of the interest could be stemming from the fact that most pundits believe the Cubs would be willing to eat well over 50% of Bradley’s salary to move him. At that price, there should be a lot of interest.
But maybe it isn’t the case.