Big Mike: Anything Left In The Wells?

As I wrote yesterday, I love this time of year in baseball. I’m already over the Cubs‘ latest disappointing season. Anything can happen now. The Cubs have just as much chance to play in the 2010 World Series as a dozen other teams.

And, as I wrote yesterday, step one in getting there is dumping Milton the Monster. Now, who in the hell wants to take on a guy who’s owed $21M over the next two years and has a rep for alienating everyone who comes within 10 yards of him?

Maybe someone who needs his very potent bat and has an even more onerous contract they want to shed? How about the Blue Jays?

I mentioned Canada yesterday as a potential destination for Milton Bradley. Now comes a report from Toronto (via Bleed Cubbie Blue) that the Blue Jays and Cubs just might be talking about a deal wherein Bradley and centerfielder Vernon Wells swap uniforms. Blue Jays accountants would be ecstatic with the deal because, according to reporter Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the teams would split the difference in salaries owed the two. Wells has $107M due to him over the next six years, the remainder of  a ridiculous extension ousted general manager JP Ricciardi signed him to three years ago. Subtract Bradley’s $21M from that and you have $86M — meaning Toronto would pay $43M of Wells remaining salary.

Wells, for a brief shining moment, appeared to be on his way to becoming one of the top ten players in the game. His 2006 season was a marvel: he hit home runs, was an all-star, won the Gold Glove and earned a few MVP votes. Ricciardi rewarded him with a deal worthy of one of the ten top players in history.

Then Wells became very pedestrian. Many of his woes could be blamed on nagging injuries. Even his fielding has suffered. The Hardball Times ranked him the third worst fielder in the game, relative to position, this past season. Yuck.

That deal, among many other sins, got Ricciardi fired.

Wells, though, might be a decent risk for the Cubs. Throw him in Wrigley Field’s more cozy centerfield, meaning Kosuke Fukudome goes back to his more natural position in right, and maybe Wells doesn’t look so bad. Plus — and I’m remembering Andre Dawson’s move from Montreal to Chicago — maybe playing on natural grass will restore the spring to Wells’ legs.

baseball-reference.com, using its Batting Similarity Scores metric, compares Wells most closely with Reggie Smith through ages 29 and 30. Smith, it must be noted, turned in several sweet seasons after he hit 30. Why not take a chance on history repeating?

Like I say, anything can happen.

Big Mike: Milton The Monster

Wrigleyville (the community of fans as opposed to the neighborhood around the ballpark) is abuzz with speculation about whom the Cubs will get in exchange for one Milton (no middle name) Bradley of Harbor City, California.

Shoot, I thought all mass murderers or assassins had middle names. Isn’t that what Milton Bradley is? For all the bile spewed in his name since his very first game at Wrigley Field as a Cub, Bradley has to rank among John Wayne Gacy and Richard Franklin Speck as a local villain.

Of course, he’s brought much of the odium on himself but the rage expressed at Bradley is alarming. I mean, jeez, he’s just a ballplayer, albeit one with a paranoiac streak and who can’t control his rages and alienates just about everyone he’s ever shared a shower room with. It’s not like he lied to the country to whip up war fever or is mad because taxpayers won’t pick up the tab for an eight-figure bonus he thinks he should get.

Still, don’t count me among the Bradley defenders. (Then again, are there any Milton Bradley defenders anywhere?) I’m one of those numbers-crunching stats geeks old-time baseball fans like to pillory. I’ll always look to a player’s BAbip, VORP, WARP2, OPS+, UZR, and occasionally his pH level rather than fairy tale attributes like “character,” “ability in the clutch,” and (ugh) “scrappiness.” I have no idea what a “gamer” is but I do know how many Runs Created each player on the Cubs roster was responsible for in 2009. And Milton Bradley is one fine ballplayer based on any metric you can name.

That said, there’s no place for him here next year. If you can find anybody who’ll disagree, then you ought to play the lottery.

Gameboard is owed $21M for both the 2010 and ’11 seasons. The other 29 GMs in MLB know Jim Hendry has to exile Bradley from Cubville. So you might think Hungry Jim is over a barrel. He may have to eat up to $10M of Milton’s remaining pay and accept some other team’s albatross in the bargain. You may be right. Yet, there’s always someone who thinks he can handle the other guy’s problems, especially if that problem is good for a plus-.375 on-base percentage. Might someone be willing to swap some usable talent for him?

The Mets are said to be sick to death of both Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. The Rays are stuck with Pat Burrell’s big contract. The Blue Jays may want to rid themselves of Vernon Wells’ bloated contract. Then there are the Red Sox who always are on the lookout for hitters who produce, leaving others to fight among themselves over the Boy Scouts.

Some say Hendry ought to agree to a deal with the first team that offers to take Bradley off his hands, no matter the return. But reporters like Ken Rosenthal and Bruce Miles claim their sources tell them Hendry already has received more than courtesy calls regarding the wayward rightfielder. Even if Hendry takes his time to sort through whatever competing offers there may be, he has to close the book on Bradley before or at least early on in December’s general managers meeting. The Cubs absolutely cannot stand still as they did in the 2004-05 off-season while trying to exile Sammy Sosa. Not only did they get next to nothing back for a man who’ll waltz into the Hall of Fame, they were unable to pull the trigger on any other signings that might have actually improved their chances the next season. In the weeks leading up to Sammy’s foregone departure, other teams snapped up the likes of Beltran, Magglio Ordonez and even Roger Clemens. I’m getting aroused just thinking about any of those three on the Cubs.

Anyway, Hungry Jim has about five weeks, max, to peddle Bradley. If he doesn’t do the deed by then he may as well hang on to him, which means a lot of unneeded clubhouse drama next season. Whereas clubhouse drama doesn’t necessarily preclude the winning of the World Series, as the mid-70s A’s or late-70s Yankees proved, it doesn’t make the task any easier. And, it must be said, the 2010 Cubs will not compare favorably with either the of those champs.

Had I magic in the snap of my fingers, I’d put together a package of Carlos Zambrano, Milton Bradley and Sean Marshall for Beltran and Reyes. Everybody’s happy that way — the Mets get rid of a couple of guys whom they (wrongly) consider lacking and they get the stud pitcher and outfield masher they so crave. The Cubs, meanwhile, wave bye-bye to their most villified player since Todd Hundley as well as a guy whose mound blow-ups are becoming increasingly intolerable. Plus, they get a brilliant switch-hitting leadoff man shortstop and slugging centerfielder, neither of which they’ve had since the Fillmore administration. Sigh.

Will it happen? Hell no! But that’s what I love about the hot stove season — I can pretend it might.