NEWSLETTER
Yes, it’s time for another obsessive watch. Harden’s shoulder largely held up this year, the Cubs’ new owner is all but in place, and Jake Peavy ended up on the other side of town.
So let’s obsess about something we’ve already obsessed about for months: Milton Bradley. As the Cubs just finished a four-game set with the Giants, it is appropriate to speculate: might they be interested in Bradley? And might they be interested in dumping an equally unattractive contract like, say, Aaron Rowand?
[B]oth GMs are motivated sellers, and a Rowand-Bradley deal would not be out of the realm of possibility. Rowand has three years and $36 million left on his contract, while Bradley has $21 million and two years left on his deal. Obviously more players would have to be involved, unless the Giants were willing to pay around half of the $15 million difference in the contracts.
Rowand hit .309 with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs with Philadelphia in 2007, so it’s hard to believe he’s cooked already. But it’s a bad fit for him in spacious AT&T Park, and Rowand could be revived in his favorite city, perhaps even reunited with his old friend, Reed Johnson, who is a free agent.
It’s just one of many scenarios that will be speculated about as the Bradley Watch moves into high gear after the season next week. Hardball.
Calling things “___ Watch,” are we now, Paul Sullivan? I see how it is.
Rowand is a solid defensive outfielder, but one whose offensive prowess always seemed a mirage to me. That 2007 season, which Sullivan cites as proof that Rowand still has some top level offensive ability, seems more of an anomaly than anything else. It came during a five-year stretch where Rowand never topped .750 in the OPS department, except that 2007 season.
Worse, he played his home games at a very hitter friendly park in Philadelphia that year, and predictably, his numbers were much better at home than on the road.
If you held a gun to my head and forced me to choose between these two guys and their contracts, I think I might just see how fast I could run. Or see if my karate lessons are paying off. I’m a maroon belt.
