After all, Silva consistently pitches horribly, and hasn’t had a good season since 2005 when he went 9-8 with a 3.44 ERA. That’s not exactly an All Star season, but it’s the best season he’s ever had.

Well, it was the best season he’s ever had, until this season.

It is still early, but Silva has yet to lose a game, going 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA while losing the stigma that comes with being Carlos Silva.

We heard before the season started that he was working on his delivery, and he did have a good Spring Training, hell, I even figured I would write an article on how good he could be.

Even I couldn’t predict this breakout, I was more thinking that he could make the roster, pitch average in the bullpen, not do anything stupid, and he would have a better season than expected, and be an upgrade over Bradley.

Instead, he is becoming the best pitcher in the rotation and is doing his best to help Cubs fans forget about the other Carlos.

Now Silva isn’t tearing up opposing team’s batting orders, but he is doing good enough to get wins and keep the Cubs in games.

Silva went from being a possible fifth starter who everybody hoped would pitch no more than a few innings a series, to the best pitcher on this staff, leading the starting rotation in wins and ERA.

If you look at some of his stats, he is playing at the level of a solid second or third pitcher in a rotation.

His WHIP is 1.20, which ties him for 36th in the majors. His batting average against is .258, his career best and 56th among pitchers with at least 40 innings. His quality start percentage is 0.71, which is second on the Cubs behind Ryan Dempstrer (0.75) and tied for 34th in the majors.

Will he stay loss-less this whole season? Probably not. Will he become a bona-fide ace in the Cub’s rotation? Probably not. Is it fair to think that he will contribute very well and keep up the way that he has thus far this season? It’s not out of the question.

We don’t know what Silva will do the rest of the season, and it is still only May 18th, but he has the opportunity to make a complete career turnaround.

Although I doubt that he will completely earn the $12 million that he is making this season, if he continues to pitch this way, the Silva-Bradley trade may be one of the more one-sided trades in a long time.

I’m Joe W.

It’s a world where, if you screw up, the world is just against you. It’s not your fault. Why should you take the blame when people are trying to hold you down?

This is the world that former-Cub Milton Bradley lives in, and he has been showing it to the world the past week, with an interview with ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez.

Let’s take a look at this interview comment by comment from Milton Bradley.

Quote- “Well I mean, unless you go out there and you’re Superman. You know, you’re Andre Dawson, you’re Ernie Banks, you’re Hall of Fame. You know know, then, it’s going to be tough.

“It got to the point where I didn’t even have to open up the letter to know what it was. I could see it from the envelope.”

Analysis- Yes, Milton. The major reason is race, and look at these other two examples of disappointing Chicago Cubs players as proof.

What he’s really disappointed about is that Cubs fans didn’t give his magic a chance as a way to embrace him despite his struggles on the field.

I mean, being able to read mail without opening it, that’s magic on Chris Angel’s level. In fact, when he threw that ball up in the stands despite there only being two outs, he was actually performing a magic trick, we just didn’t let him finish.

Quote- “I’ve never got hate mail. I got it in LA (Los Angeles), I got it in Oakland and I got it in Chicago. And never anywhere else.”

Analysis- Exactly, it’s not like those three stints made up half of your career. And it’s also not like you just contradicted yourself completely in about 15 seconds.

Quote- “You really think that something’s going to take place. I’ve had bottles thrown at me, um, you really think it’s going to be something worse. You’re kind of on the field, you know, not feeling comfortable”

Analysis- I now exactly how you feel, and when you keep saying “you know,” it really hits home, you know.

And I’m really curious on what that “something worse” that Milton says he fears of. Is it just upping what get’s thrown at him, or is he saying it is on the line of assassination?

Because if it’s just a different ballpark snack, who cares, if it’s an assassination attempt, why would he even take the field, you know.

I commend Milton for his bravery, it takes great heart to show up everyday despite having people trying to kill him at every game, just waiting for the right moment.

Quote- “I was pretty much a prisoner in my own home. You know, I pretty much stayed home, ordered in every day, never went anywhere.

“Saying how terrible we were and we didn’t deserve anything and we should go back to the ghetto where we came from and that kind of stuff.”

Analysis- Again, risking threat of death to show his friend a good time, Bradley’s bravery is commendable.

As for hearing that one person saying that Bradley and Soriano should just go back to the ghetto because they weren’t worth anything, all of Chicago is now lumped into this one fan.

Sorry Chicago, but because of him, you are all racist people who hate black people (although Soriano is Dominican).

Quote- “I fear more for the people around me, I don’t worry about myself too much. I’m going to be alright.”

Analysis- Give this man a statue, vote him into office, he deserves to be honored every way possible.

Quote- “I worried about my family, I worried about my kids. The worst part that was the last straw was when I found out that my kid had been called derogatory name at school, you know.

“Three-year-olds shouldn’t be called names, that comes strait from the home. And when we had a meeting with the school and we met with the parents, you know, the parents totally denied it. But, you know, that comes from the home.”

Analysis- I know exactly what you mean. These parents are just trying to deny that their kid did any wrong-doing, and people like that are the lowest scum of society.

Also, that kid must also hate Milton Bradley, because that’s the only way that it should be involved in an interview about sports, you know, because this interview is sports related.

Quote- “In that first at bat, bases loaded, big situation you know. Adam Wainright on the mound for the Cardinals, throws me, you know, a good curveball down and in, a ball. But I get rung up on it and react. I react, you know, never curse, never call the umpire his name, but I get ejected.”

Analysis- First off, the umpire was already decidedly racist because he called that close pitch a ball instead of a strike. If you weren’t swayed by the bad call, the fact that he threw you out of the game after you yelled in his face proves it.

Quote- “I have a painting, I have it in my house. It’s of a guy in the 60’s holding a sign that says ‘I am a man.’ It’s important to me because when you get into this game, you start playing, you know, people give you a check, and they think, you know, you’re a slave.

“They tell you what to do. Move, jump, stuff like that, and to a certain extent they can, but I’m a man first and you’ll respect me just like you’d respect anyone else.”

Analysis- AMEN. First off, that painting sounds just powerful. Secondly, you are a man Milton Bradley, and I’m behind you 100%.

They can’t make you their slave just because they pay you $7,000,000 to hit .257 and 12 home runs. Those guys like Lou Piniella are taking you for granted, if only you could show those guys and go make $7.50 an hour bagging groceries.

Those guys have it made.

Quote- “I take it all in stride (Piniella calling him a ‘Piece of sh*t’). You know, the next day he called me into his office and wanted to apologize.

“You know I don’t have time to hold grudges against people. You know, I’ve got enough stuff I got to deal with.”

Analysis- You are completely correct Milton. Even though that sh*thead Piniella did that to you, why hold a grudge. Just wait a couple months and talk about how Lou was wrong on ESPN.

If any of you couldn’t understand, I was being completely sarcastic. I think Milton was being a complete idiot throughout all of his time with the Cubs, and he has done so throughout his time in the majors.

Good luck Seattle Mariners, you are going to need it.

I’m Joe W.

They were, however, able to get rid of last season’s big mistake. Milton Bradley will be ruining the Seattle Mariners this season, after his work of art in Chicago.

However, if you ask Bradley, it was Chicago that ruined him, not the other way around, just ask the wordsmith known as Milton.

“Two years ago, I played, and I was good. I go to Chicago, not good.”

So lets see if Bradley returns to “good” this season, it should be interesting.

However, the Cubs didn’t just get rid of Bradley, they also found a couple of players who will come in and be pivotal to helping the Cubs try to get back to the top of the NL Central.

There will likely be only one starter this season who wasn’t on the squad last season, and that is Marlon Byrd.

Although he is 32 years old, he is the player that we were hoping Milton Bradley to be. He hit 20 home runs last season, drove in 89 runs, and hit for average at .283.

Although you shouldn’t expect another 20 home run season, you can expect his average to stay consistent and he will be solid defensively, which is huge as he will be playing center field.

Another solid free agent signing was Xavier Nady, who will come in and compete with Kosuke Fukudome for playing time.

Nady is historically better than Fukudome, and has shown that he can hit more home runs, drive in more runs, strike out less, and get more hits.

The only thing that Fukudome really has on Nady is the fact that he is a more recognizable name and that he is making twice as much as Nady.

I expect Piniella to split time between Fukudome and Nady, but that is for a different article.

After making big moves in each of the previous three free agent markets, Jim Hendry was quite this off-season and decided to keep largely the same roster that got them 83 wins last season.

Expect a similar outcome this season, but don’t expect a huge drop off either. The Cubs will be competitive, but they won’t be turning heads.

You are a tool, Milton Bradley. Fans aren’t booing you because you are black; they are booing you because you are BAD. And not bad as in “baaaaad,” but bad as in you suck.

Sure, you’re starting to hit now, but it’s too little, too late.

When you combine the lousy first half of the season with his crazy antics and his vitriol toward fans, you can’t help but wish the man would just go directly out of Chicago. Don’t pass Go, don’t collect the money; just get the hell out of town and never come back.

Look, are some Cubs fans racist? Of course, just like some percentage of all Americans are racist. Likewise, I’m sure there is an extremely small percentage of Cubs fans who are Satan worshipers. But don’t paint us all with that same broad brush.

It has been an equal opportunity hate-fest for jerks and lousy players in Chicago. There have been plenty of white and Hispanic players who have been ridden hard over the years at Wrigley Field. Todd Hundley…Ryan Dempster (the closer)…Sammy Sosa after the cork incident…the list goes on.

I really think there is something seriously wrong with Bradley. Waiters? He is paranoid. Meanwhile, keep in mind that even paranoids have real enemies.

Yes, we don’t like him, but it’s not because of the color of his skin. After all, the player known as “Mr. Cub” is a black man.

Whether you release him, trade him, eat his entire salary or part of it—whatever Jim Hendry has to do to admit his mistake and get Bradley the hell away from here…well, that’s just what has to be done.

I can’t envision any scenario where he comes back to the Cubs next season. Hell, he even said he “prays” that games don’t go into extra innings so that he can go home after nine innings.

I wonder if that thought occurred to Bradley when he came to bat with the tying run on base in the ninth inning on Thursday.

You feel hatred? Well, give us specific examples, or HOW ABOUT JUST SHUTTING THE HELL UP FOR A CHANGE?

I don’t know why Hendry couldn’t see what many of us Cubs fans could see with this guy, but it is what it is, and it’s time to cut bait and let this stinky fish off the hook so he can troll in someone else’s waters.

Bradley, your accusations are offensive to Cubs fans. It’s time to dispense with the politically correct talk and just man up and admit the man is a clubhouse cancer who needs to be eradicated.

The sooner the better, come to think of it.

Before the All-Star Break, the Cubs split a four-game series with the Cards. Since the break, however, the Cubs are 8-2. The Cardinals are 4-6 since the break, including losing two of three against the Phillies in their most recent series.

The Cards now go from facing the defending champions to facing this season’s best team, the L.A Dodgers, in a four-game series. The Cubs face the Astros, and have a chance to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division.

But what has caused the Cubs recent resurgence?

It starts with the starting pitching staff. Kevin Hart has been Randy Wells II, starting three games and not allowing more than two runs in any start.

With Ted Lilly on the DL, the Cubs will need him to continue playing at a high level, and if he does, then the Cubs may not even need to trade for a starting pitcher. But more on trades later.

Rich Harden has been struggling all season, but in his last three starts, he hasn’t allowed multiple runs to cross the plate. He has dropped his ERA from 5.47 to 4.55 in that span.

However, the pitching staff is not the only reason for the Cubs making waves in the second half.

Before the break, the Cubs scored an average of 4.1 runs a game, since the break, that number has been 5.6.

The reason for the sudden increase in runs has been the revival of Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez.

Fukudome was batting .255 before the break, in the ten games since, he has been batting .382 with an OBP of .477 and an OPS of 1.006.

Bradley was looked at as the disappointment of the century when he came to the Cubs and was essentially awful. However, since the break, he has been better in every facet of the game.

Bradley’s average, OBP, slugging, and OPS have all been at or above league average. However, you can’t look at this as just ten games for him, as these have come after he spent a few days out of the lineup and working with manager Lou Piniella on his swing.

Ramirez wasn’t exactly playing bad before the break, he just was out of the lineup. However, Ramirez has been having a career year in every offensive category that goes by an average.

His return has been a big part in the Cubs recent run, as they are 11-6 since he made his return to the lineup.

Soriano has been streakier than he has ever been this season, and he knows it. But his .444 average since the All-Star Break has been a big part of the Cubs coming back.

“I remember with the Yankees and Texas, I was also [streaky],” he said. “But what’s happened this season never happened to me before. I’ve cooled off for two to three weeks before, but never for a month and a half. That’s the first time in my life.”

But while all these players have been coming from virtually nowhere to make big contributions, the Cubs still will likely need to make a deadline to have a legitimate chance at taking their NL Central lead and turning it into a World Series.

They still have inconsistent bullpen play from most everybody besides Kevin Gregg, and could use another lefty bullpen arm. Despite Sean Marshall’s current 8.2 inning scoreless streak, the bullpen still lacks depth.

Bullpen depth could come with Baltimore Orioles reliever George Sherrill, whom the Cubs have been rumored to be interested in.

Sherrill has a sub-2.5 ERA and has 20 saves this season. A new arm in the bullpen is needed with the Harden, Wells and Hart in the starting rotation, who usually won’t give the bullpen a night off.

However, they are also said to be eying Orlando Cabrera, who can play both second or short stop. Cabrera, currently on the Oakland A’s, also has the Twins interested in him.

Cabrera would make a lot of sense for the Cubs, who could use some middle-infield depth, as Aaron Miles has been struggling in the minors and might not make it back to the majors this season.

Cabrera brings a consistent bat, solid defense, and some speed when he gets on base. He would solidify the infield and give Mike Fontenot a chance to play from the bench, where he thrived from last season.

However, the biggest potential move might not even involve a trade. With the recent signing of B.J Ryan, the Cubs are hoping that he can return to his dominant ways.

He has been working his way through the minors, and has been moved up to the AAA Iowa Cubs roster. Reports are that he has pitched well at every level so far.

“The guy has a good history and has pitched in the ninth inning in huge games,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “We wouldn’t ask him to do that. If it works, he can maybe add to the pen with ( Sean) Marshall.”

Whatever the Cubs do this season, they will need to continue their strong play, as the Cardinals just got Matt Holliday, and they won’t be playing the Phils and Dodgers every game.

-Joe Willett

Still, I found Geo’s explanation that this was “an isolated incident” to be borderline ridiculous.

Look, the WBC is a big deal to Puerto Rico. And Geo knew, in advance, that he would be tested.

Recognizing that, I feel that someone really has to be a habitual pot smoker for him to not be willing (or able) to quit long enough to pass a drug test.

Thus, whether it was the guilt of knowing that the news was going to come out, or the fact that the drug made Geo hungry enough to eat half of Puerto Rico, it obviously has affected his season.

Geo came into the season fat and looking sluggish. Now, whether due to the weight of the impending announcement off his shoulders, or perhaps some new-found sobriety, Soto is starting to hit the ball with more authority. His performance is critical for the Cubs.

Dare I say he’s “smoking” hot?

Cubs Manager Lou Piniella Admits He Smoked Dope Too

Hey, the Cubs clubhouse must be a wild place following a victory, what with all the pot heads on this team! Seriously, however, Lou’s admission that he once tried marijuana is hilarious.

Lou said it did nothing for him, which, as smokers know, is often what happens the first couple times one tries pot.

But it is still a funny visual to think of the crazy Cubs manager high on dope, isn’t it?

Should we change his nickname from “Sweet Lou” to “Sweet Leaf Lou”?

Milton Bradley Told to Take His Glove and Go Home

Finally, Lou gets some guts and does what he admits he should have done before: stand up to this idiot and take charge of his clubhouse.

This was the Lou we all thought we were getting when he was hired to replace the sleepy dude, Dusty Baker.

Look, this should be no surprise to the Cubs. Didn’t Jim Hendry say that the team was lacking fire? Well, Bradley gets angry and does his best Big Z impression and he gets tossed while Lou chuckles at Zambrano?

Well, not so fast. Apparently there is more to this story than has been reported. According to sources on the Bleed Cubbie Blue website, Bradley had words with Carlos Zambrano, and has routinely been the last player to arrive to games.

The site goes on to quote unnamed sources as indicating that writers in the other cities where Milton has played have called him “a clubhouse cancer in the truest sense of the word”.

A former teammate called Bradley “the biggest a-hole he had ever had as a teammate.”

While many of us suspected this was a marriage doomed to fail, few of us thought that Milton would struggle as badly on offense as he has.

I guess his antics are much more tolerable when the team is winning and he is hitting.

This is on you, Jim Hendry. I wish the Cubs would just release him. But that won’t happen, not with a guaranteed $30 million over three years.

Cubs Take Game One vs. White Sox

In the “my bad team is better than your bad team” series, the Cubs drew first blood. So much for momentum.

The Sox had just come off of winning a three-game series vs. the best team in baseball, while the Cubs had lost four in a row.

Yet the Cubbies walk into the Cell and edge the Sox. Yes, baseball is an unpredictable sport.

What to do with Jake Fox?

In many ways, this is a welcome problem to have. With no designated hitter in the NL, the Cubs seem to have cornered the market on players who can hit but don’t have a position.

While Fox has looked fine at third base so far, the reports are that he is brutal defensively. But we do know the man can hit AAA pitching.

We cannot get too carried away by his recent power surge because, as we learned from the hot starts of Kosuke Fukudome and the early impressions of Micah Hoffpauir, major league pitchers eventually learn to adjust.

But the early returns seem to indicate that Jake can rake. If so, I believe Lou will continue to find a spot for him, even if it’s behind the plate, where he started his career.

Mark DeRosa is Traded to the Cardinals

Sure, the trade that sent DeRosa to the Indians was awful. And sure, we’re all sorry that the Cubs couldn’t re-acquire him.

But the real salt-in-the-wound moment came when Cleveland traded the versatile DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals. I mean, come on, did it have to be the Cardinals?

Look, Mark isn’t an elite player, but he can play many positions, has some power (his 13 homers would be second on the current Cubs squad), and he is a stand up guy in the clubhouse.

Jim Hendry, your off-season just got worse, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

I guess expecting Milton Bradley to show up and stay focused for nine innings is asking too much for $10 million a year. At least it was Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The oft-injured disappointment should have stayed in bed, because he had the kind of day that one would just as soon forget. No wait, he has had an entire season like that, come to think of it.

The Cubs offense was once again out to lunch during the first five innings of their 7-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins. But even a three-spot in the sixth inning wasn’t enough to overcome Bradley’s three gaffes.

Milton giveth, Milton taketh away.

In the sixth inning, he hit a double off the wall that scored two runs. Then, he dropped a fly ball in the top of the seventh that led to a run. He apparently lost the ball in the sun.

Now, right field in Wrigley Field certainly isn’t the easiest place to catch a ball when the sun is shining, particularly when you haven’t had much experience out there. But there simply can be no excuse for what happened next.

Apparently, Milton was so delighted to actually catch a call in the top of the eighth that he forgot how many outs there were. Bradley flung the ball into the bleacher boxes behind him. The run would have scored anyway, but that’s not the point.

Bradley is being paid a lot of money. More, in fact, than the three other major free agent outfielders that GM Jim Hendry decided to pass on in the offseason—Raul Ibanez, Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu.

And, he not only hasn’t hit nor been healthy, he now doesn’t have his head in the game. What’s next—forgetting to put on his uniform?

Milton’s first mistake occurred when he was on second after his double and Mike Fontenot was on third. Bradley took off on a ground ball to short and was tagged out easily.

On a day when the Cubs actually decided to score a few runs, the pitching suddenly went south. Randy Wells had his worst start in the big leagues.

To add insult to injury, the Twins fans in the crowd were loud, drowning out the Cubs fans at times. I’m not sure why there were so many of them at the game, but there were about 35-40 percent Twins fans in the stands, according to BleedCubbieBlue.com.

These Cubs could learn a lesson from the Twins.

While the Twinkies play sound fundamental baseball—heck, even their pitchers (who don’t bat in the American League, may I remind everyone)—lay down perfect sacrifice bunts.

Meanwhile, the Cubs have struggled all season in this regard.

Also, what happened to the patience at the plate that served the team so well in 2008? Ten pitches was all it took for Joe Nathan to nail down save No. 14. The normally patient Kosuke Fukudome, who has never faced Nathan, swung at his first offering.

And, Jose Mijares retired the two Cubs he faced in the seventh on two pitches while Matt Guerrier threw only four to get the last out in the eighth.

So the impatient Cubs didn’t help the Sox, but the Sox didn’t do us any favors either, as they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2.

Perhaps Milton Bradley ought to buy one of those counters that the home plate umpires use, so he can track the number of outs. If he can actually count that high, come to think of it.

The only team that has underachieved more has been the Yankees, but since A-Rod came back, they have been on a tear, which leaves the Cubs all alone.

However, through the past five games, they have gone 4-1, which may be an anomaly in a disappointing season, but it could also start to signal change.

However, the Cubs haven’t been pulling off small, one-run wins.  They have won three of their past four wins by at least three runs.

Also, they have had outstanding pitching over the past five games.  They haven’t allowed more than two runs in any game, and they have allowed just a combined six runs in the past five games.

Another nice thing that has happened has been the resurgence of Milton Bradley, who has been the biggest bust on the Cubs so far this season.

Over the past week, Bradley is batting .400, and has brought his average up to .223 on the season.  He has also hit a home run and has five RBI’s.

However, the most interesting part of this five game span, is that they have been winning with multiple important players stuck on the DL.

Rich Harden, Aramis Ramirez, Aaron Miles and Ryan Freel all get decent playing time and all are currently on the DL.

When the Cubs get healthy, they may be able to continue their resurgence and come back with a vengeance.

Who knows, maybe they could jump out of fourth place in the division and start doing what we all thought that they would do this season.

Then again, it’s only five games, and maybe I’m putting a bit to much emphasis on it.

-Joe Willett

All photos taken by the Associated Press

So, Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley thinks the umps are against him in retaliation for an incident last month that resulted in a one-game suspension.

Come on, Milton, shut up, grow up, and most of all, show up.

Bradley said the umps are forcing him to swing at bad pitches because of a widened strike zone. Excuses, excuses.

“Unfortunately, I just think it’s a lot of ‘Oh, you did this to my colleague,’ or ‘We’re going to get him any time we can,’” Bradley said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “As soon as he gets two strikes, we’re going to call whatever and see what he does. Let’s try to ruin Milton Bradley.”

What is it with this guy? He truly seems to be paranoid. Oliver Stone has nothing on Milton.

“I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong. There’s a lot involved, and it’s a lot of politics where there’s nothing you can do about it.”

It’s always something with Milton Bradley. When Jim Hendry gave three years to this guy (and yes, it is three years, because all he has to do is play in 75 games to guarantee the final year), he was overlooking the obvious risk.

Hendry and Piniella were blinded by irrational thoughts of being too right-handed.

Of course, there were other players out there who could have fit this supposed need without the distractions. Raul Ibanez, Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu, to name a few.

But that’s all water under the bridge now. We’re stuck with him.

As the season goes on, it’s becoming more and more painfully obvious that this season is on Hendry and Piniella. If we don’t win this year, look no further than those two. Sure, the players need to step up, but it was this flawed master plan that has put us in a position where we have left-handed (or switch-hitting) batters “just because”.

It’s like having a lousy lefty in the bullpen “just because”. Oh wait, we have that too. Look, I’ll take a good right-handed pitcher (or hitter) if he’s better than the alternative.

I guess something had to be the scapegoat for that awful performance in last year’s playoffs. Too bad it was the wrong thing.

My advice to Milton Bradley is to keep his mouth shut. Even if he was right about the umpires conspiring against him, coming out and saying these things in the press is not going to help that situation any.

We didn’t win in the playoffs because we were too right-handed. Derrek Lee lost his power because he broke his wrist three years ago. We can’t hit without Aramis Ramirez.

And now, Bradley is struggling because it’s the umpires fault.

This is beginning to sound suspiciously similar to the Dusty Baker years, where nothing was his fault and there was an excuse for everything.

Well excuse me, but I’m tired of the excuses. Just play ball, Milton, and save the rhetoric, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

Look, I’m no Oliver Stone wannabe.

But the conspiracy theorist in me says that Milton Bradley’s contract plays a role in all this.

What other plausible explanation is there as to why the Chicago Cubs haven’t disabled the gimpy Milton Bradley?

The man can’t run, he can’t play the outfield and the weather in Chicago is awful right now.

Ah, but there’s a clause in The Game’s contract that guarantees the third year of his deal if he plays in so many games.

75 games, to be precise.

And even a pinch-hit appearance counts as a game played.

Apparently Jim Hendry and Bradley’s agent had so little faith in Milton’s ability to stay healthy that they decided 75 games was a worthy barometer for him to strive for.

Let me ask you a question: is 75 games worth $10 million? Apparently the Cubs think so.

By setting the bar so low, the Cubs have effectively let it be known that they fully expect Bradley to miss a lot of time. Which is understandable, I guess, given his injury-riddled history.

But this is exactly why I hate clauses like this in a contract. They put a manager in a tough position.

Don’t you think Lou could use an extra man on the roster right now instead of Mr. Hop-a-long?

Even when he pinch hits, you have to burn another player because you have to pinch-run for Bradley.

Uh, that is, if he makes it to first base. That is something Milton hasn’t been doing much of this year so far.

The Cubs had previously announced that MB would make his starting debut at home in tonight’s game against Dusty Baker’s Reds. If there is a game, however.

But even if the Cubs defy the elements and play tonight, no way does Bradley play. Not in these horrible conditions. The weathermen are calling for upper 30s and a snow/rain mix tonight.

Still we see ol’ Milt sitting on the bench, biding his time. It makes little sense to me.

Bradley is certainly not the only player affected by contract status.

Matt Wieters and Gordon Beckham are in the minors in order to delay their arbitration clocks. The same thing happened to Evan Longoria last year, until he coincidentally agreed to a long-term deal.

Money drives these kinds of decisions; they are not baseball decisions. And count me among those who do not agree with those decisions.

Then again, maybe there’s a reason I’m not running a team, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja