The hottest rumor relating to the planned trade of Milton Bradley has him going to the Tampa Bay Rays for Pat Burrell in a classic bad contract swap. The main issue, however, is that Burrell has just one year left on his deal at $9 million, and Bradley has two years left at a total of $21 million.
So it would not be surprising to see the Cubs eat some of Bradley’s remaining deal, as well as take on all of Burrell’s, in order to move him. But what would be surprising – indeed, ridiculous – would be for the Cubs to eat the ENTIRE difference between the two deals, AND take on all of Burrell’s deal. Doubly surprising: this crazy scenario is actually getting play from reputable sources.
To summarize – under this scenario, the Cubs would be paying Pat Burrell for one year what they would be paying Milton Bradley for two years. Look, I get that the Cubs want to get rid of Bradley, but in no universe do they want to get rid of Bradley that badly.