Jekyll & Hyde, Meet Bradley & Meche

It has been a surprisingly newsy day in baseball. Some was guaranteed with arbitration figures being traded, but it turned out to be a noteworthy day without that.

First of all, Milton Bradley finds himself on the wrong side of the law again. Details are still breaking, and the charges probably won't be squared away for a while. However, Bradley has a well-documented temper, and it was already difficult to see how he fit on the M's roster well. This very well could be the end of Milton in Seattle, but we shall see.

Earlier today, Royals pitcher Gil Meche announced his retirement. You might remember him as a late '90s phenom that soared through the Mariners system, before blowing out his arm, and then coming back from that arm injury to be successful. At 32 years old, Meche's retirement is premature, and it might have something to do with injuries that he suffered in Kansas City. Joe Posnanski has a nice blog post with details. The most interesting thing about Meche's retirement is that he is forfeiting $12.4 million he could have otherwise earned.

Originally, I wasn't going to write about either of these stories. Actually, I was going to say more about Meche, but then Posnanski beat me to it, and did a better job than I would have anyhow.

Together though, the Bradley and Meche stories are a study in contrasts.

Aardsma's Trade Value

image from ESPN.com

It makes sense to trade David Aardsma. It has all off-season. His salary will go up, the Mariners don't have at one of money, and don't need a closer until they score a few more runs. Furthermore, David's value isn't likely to go any higher. It makes all the sense in the world.

However, if this report has any truth to it, David Aardsma may be around on opening day. Reports are that the M's are seeking an "impact" bat in return.

On some level, it makes a ton of sense to look for a bat with Aardsma. He is the Mariners most convenient trade chip right now, and their offense is still their biggest weakness. This isn't rocket science.

What exactly is an "impact" bat though?

The 2011 Core

This is 2011 Mariners week at the Musings, as I said with the first post yesterday. I split the roster into three basic parts: the guaranteed contracts, the arbitration eligible players, and everyone else (the folks making the minimum salary with no way out unless the team ditches them). Today is a look at the guaranteed 2011 contracts.

A guaranteed contract is a big deal, both for a player and a team. On the team's side, all the money is guaranteed, even if the player is cut loose. It's a significant financial commitment. On the player's side, the system is set up to make them go about a decade in pro ball before hitting free agency.

The system is set up for players with guaranteed contracts, particularly big ones, to be the core of a team. Players need to be good in a team's eyes to warrant big money, and they have to have accumulated enough MLB service time to make it this far. We will see that the Mariners have a few exceptions to this rule, but the basic premises set up how I will evaluate the core.

The first question is as simple as they come: How good is the core? Is it a group a winning team can be built around? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

The second question is almost as important: Is the core worth the money it is getting paid? There is only so much money to go around, and if players are gobbling up more salary than they are worth, it means that the overall core probably isn't that good, and also limits the ability to improve it with outside help. This is why bad contracts are so crippling.

I will start with the second question and get back to the first. Here is a look at each 2011 Mariner with a guaranteed contract:

Mariners Poised for Rebound

Another day, another M's loss. At least the earlier bullpen meltdown guaranteed that this would not be a walk-off loss. Not that the bullpen really lost the game, because the offense blew a bunch of golden, bases-loaded opportunities.

Believe big!

The most interesting part of this game happened immediately afterwards. A players-only meeting was called, and usually I don't pay much attention to these. I have no idea what was said, but this one has a chance to be powerful. It was called by new players - Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, and Chone Figgins.

This team has looked directionless on the field. It seems stuck in its ways, particularly of late, and that wouldn't be such a bad thing if their ways weren't so bad. The players are well aware of the hole and corresponding rut they are in, and it stinks for everyone involved.

However, it is easy to be competitive and happy when a team is winning. It is much harder to be on good terms when a team is losing, particularly when players are paid a ton to win.

That is part of what intrigues me so much about this team meeting. This season keeps drawing comparisons to the 2008 debacle, where everything went wrong. There have been nights where I have wondered if this team would be remembered in a similar way, and tonight was one of those nights - until the team meeting.

There are guys in that clubhouse who aren't going to let this season go without a fight. They won't accept losing, and they keep doing things behind closed doors to try to kick start something. Bad stretches have a knack for showing true colors, and I think this team saw something promising in the wake of this latest loss.

It saw Cliff Lee, increasingly the epicenter of trade talks, step up tonight and talk to this team about whatever he talked about. That's pretty special. Not only is he epically good more often than not on the mound, but he is invested in the team. He is all about winning, even with every reason in the world to worry about himself at this point. Talk about make-up that is off-the-charts.

How about Milton Bradley too? What kind of bizarro world are the 2010 Mariners living in? He was supposed to be the guy that would benefit from this clubhouse atmosphere. As of tonight, the tables completely flipped. It was Milton Bradley trying to bring this team together. He might be in the process of emerging as a clubhouse leader. Unbelievable.

Seeing Chone Figgins step up might have been the best of all. He is around for a while with the contract he signed. He has a chance to become a new clubhouse rock, in a way that an aging guy like Mike Sweeney can't be.

A clubhouse meeting won't breed a 35-home run slugger. However, these guys have to live with each other and the miserable season they are suffering through for a ton more games. Losing like this is ugly, and it seeps in everywhere.

Yet, there are guys stepping up, taking accountability, and putting up a fight. There are players that care on this team, and that take pride in the product on the field.

A new order might have begun to be established tonight. It could prove to be big. I don't think it is big enough to lift the 2010 Mariners from the ashes, but it might be enough to keep this organization from sinking, and needing to clean house. Losing ballclubs can develop losing attitudes, but this one has not yet, and I don't think it will after the leadership shown tonight. Too many people don't just say they care. They legitimately care.

Talking about the leadership shown in a clubhouse meeting totally ranks as a moral victory, and those don't do anything for the win-loss column. However, after watching how this team has performed for the past week, I'll take any victory I can get. Tonight could prove to be a turning point though. This team still believes it is better (and that's good, because it is), and it is not about to give in either.

Mariners Finished; Time For More Changes

Today's game left me irate. It is the angriest I have been at the Mariners in a long, long time. I will admit that I am as irrational as they come when I get angry, and I feel like that's even a trait of what makes me angry in the first place. So this afternoon's game probably wasn't the type that should set me off.

Still, 2010 is over. This was a game the team needed to get, especially with how it unfolded. The Angels were down Kendry Morales and Torii Hunter, and they tossed Joe Saunders on the mound. He looked awful, and the Mariners offense beat him up pretty good. Not only did that spot Ian Snell a big lead, but it gave the Mariners five innings against the worst bullpen in baseball.

Meanwhile, out in Detroit, the AL West leaders, the A's, were in the midst of getting shellacked, 10-2.

Then the roof fell in. The Mariners let the Angels back in the game with atrocious pitching. They never took advantage of the shoddy bullpen arms they faced for the majority of the game. The game was mercifully over when Howie Kendrick hit the latest dagger of the year.

I wish I never would have written that the Mariners could get back in this thing. I only wrote that yesterday. This team had a glimmer of hope, and what's so infuriating is that it is gone, and should not be gone. The M's got a killer start from Felix yesterday, and beat around a bad starter today. The rest of the west is playing poor enough right now to allow a team to gain ground. Everything was in place for the Mariners to make the run that I sensed they were about to get on.

Well, everything was in place but the Mariners themselves. They got so many breaks in the last few games, yet took advantage of almost none of them. Fielding miscues, baserunning miscues, and freak injuries should have derailed the Angels in this series. However, the M's found ways to out-miscue them.

If you want a more rational recap of today's game, check out Jeff Sullivan's thoughts at Lookout Landing. In fact, I recommend always checking his game thoughts. He is one of the bigger reasons I rarely recap games here.

This game is different because I need to get out the fury it caused. This is baseball, and you win some and lose some, but you can only flush so many games down the toilet before the whole season flows out a pipe into Puget Sound. That is certainly part of the fury - the realization that this season is over on May 30.

Part of the fury is how horrible the game was, purely from an aesthetic standpoint. Both sides pitched horrendously. The game moved along at a glacial pace, and it was only my dedication to this team and the game of baseball that kept me watching. As a reward, I feel like I got a bar of soap stuffed down my throat.

Part of the fury is how bad the offense continues to look. Today, the memorable hits came from Eliezer Alfonzo and Josh Wilson; both of whom are the definition of replacement level players in my book. Given with the M's current injuries and organizational depth, I have no problems with either of them being on the roster playing. I certainly root for them too. However, the offensive "surge" has come largely from fringy dudes the M's stashed away in AAA, and the regulars should be ashamed of that.

As much as I enjoyed the team making Joe Saunders look bad, I hated how they looked from the 5th inning onward. Jesus Colome came in and looked like Jesus Colome, further making me wonder why he is on the team. For the record, I was not irritated that Wak brought him in, but I was irritated to see him in there, because I am irritated that he is on the roster in the first place. Then, Kanekoa Texeira came in and threw balls over creation. I chalk that up to more of a bad outing of sorts, which isn't shocking from a young guy that hasn't pitched in a week. It's as if Jesus Colome takes away from appearances he should be making, and Colome sucks when he steals them to boot.

The hitting against the Angels bullpen was pathetic too. I distinctly remember the M's going 1-2-3 in the sixth inning against Trevor Bell, in particularly depressing fashion. Franklin Gutierrez fouled off one fastball down the heart of the plate, and then missed another for strike three. Milton Bradley followed up by breaking his bat on a 2-1 fastball, a count where he should have still been in the driver's seat. Then, after watching Bell struggle to throw anything but a fastball over the plate to Guti and Bradley, Mike Sweeney popped up a first pitch breaking ball down in the zone to end the inning.

That's awful hitting, and I am tired of watching it. Granted, the three hitters I just singled out have been among the better ones this season, so I was unfair. However, it's the kind of inning that has played out way too many times. We don't need to imagine what such an awful approach looks like when the hitters are awful too, because that's what we saw for the majority of this month.

The catcher's interference made me furious too. When will the Mariners find a catcher that can just catch behind the plate? The blown save was the ultimate dagger, though calmer heads have noted how impressive Kendrick's home run was. I wasn't in a mindset to be rational by the time we had hit the ninth inning anyway.

It felt like a game that the M's were destined to blow from about the 6th inning onward, and they did...with a walk-off home run...like they do at least a couple times a week on the road. It was so predictable, so depressing, so frustrating...so everything that makes me want to throw the remote right through the television.

That's why it is time for change. This is what this roster does. It is time to look towards 2011, and in the process, the team might stumble upon better performances this year. Here is the collection of moves I would make:

• Move Shawn Kelley to the starting rotation. Supposedly, Kelley has a change-up in his hip pocket that he hardly shows in relief work. That, with his slider and fastball, gives reason to think he has a repertoire that could power him multiple times through a lineup. More than that, I love his aggressive, strike-throwing mentality, with solid stuff. I want to find out if he can be a starter. I wouldn't even send him down to Tacoma to stretch out. Kelley replaces Snell immediately, and his pitch count works up on the fly. The move would leave Ryan Rowland-Smith and Ian Snell in the bullpen, so it could handle short outings as he builds his stamina.
• Send Casey Kotchman to AAA. Either that or cut him loose completely; I don't really care all that much at this point. His glove is as good as advertised, but he can't hit, and his overly timid approach locks him out from realistically improving. Ryan Langerhans could play first base, where he would be as patient of a hitter with more power, average, and much better baserunning. I think all that offsets whatever is lost defensively, and it also frees up more playing time for Michael Saunders in left field (assuming Bradley DHs more and Sweeney plays first more).
• Fire Mike Brumley. He never should have sent Josh Wilson home today. I think there is a good chance he had something to do with Eliezer Alfonzo's farce trying to make it to third base today. Unlike Allen Cockrell with the M's hitting, there is a legitimate argument to be made that Brumley's third base coaching has something to do with this team's atrocious baserunning. If the team doesn't want to can him, at least have Ty Van Burkleo, or even Don Wakamatsu himself, go out to the third base coache's box instead.
• Ditch Jesus Colome. And I want the official release from the M's to say they "have ditched Jesus Colome." No DFA'd, "moving on," or "going in a different direction," etc. I watched where Alfonzo set up for Colome today, and he consistently missed his spots today by a good foot to foot and a half. Low and away? I'll pitch middle in! He has no command whatsoever, and that's par for his career. The stuff is tantalizingly good (it's the only thing that keeps his ERA around 5.00), but he is 32 years old. He is what he is, and that isn't all that good, and it's likely to get worse as he ages out of his prime.

My moves leave two 25-man roster spots open, and at least one 40-man slot. One of them goes to a bullpen guy, and I would let Wak call up whomever he wishes. I am guessing that man would be Sean White, but perhaps Garrett Olson and Luke French also get consideration. The other spot would preferably go to a middle infielder. I would give it to Ramon Vazquez for the time being, until Jack Wilson is back. Vazquez would need to be added to the 40-man roster, but there is room with my moves.

Looking down the road, I have no issues shopping all sorts of pieces on this ballclub. Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard, and David Aardsma are all available for the right price.

Maybe all the moves I have in my head are cosmetic. They could even hurt this year's team, but after today, all that matters to me is change. This roster doles out painful loss after painful loss, and it just slammed the door shut on a season that practically begged them to be in contention. No organization that claims to care about winning can watch a team do what this one has without reacting somehow.

Milton Madness

And we thought the opening road trip was bad. The Mariners are in a bad free fall right now, and they are bound to hit rock bottom soon. The offense is failing spectacularly, the bullpen blew the one lead handed to it in the losing streak, and as of last night, the defense isn't so sure-handed, and players are leaving mid-game.

Or, at least Milton Bradley left mid-game in one of the more puzzling moves you'll ever see. Although Don Wakamatsu did not say why Bradley was pulled, it is clear that it was not an injury.

Let the speculation begin. There are reports that Milton just left, but the honest truth is that we will never know exactly what happened beyond that. As far as I'm concerned, we have no right to know either. There is a reason fans can't buy tickets to go in the clubhouse.

Obviously, we don't see ballplayers leaving like Milton Bradley did last night, and there aren't other ballplayers with a well documented past like Milton's either. It is easy to say this is the latest meltdown of his, and who am I to say it isn't?

I have a sneaking suspicion this one is a little different though.

We don't know what happened last night, but we know that Milton Bradley was at a team function today. He went to an elementary school, as scheduled, with Sweeney, Griffey, Ichiro, and Wak. By all accounts, Bradley gave a moving speech about what motivates him. According to a tweet by Jim Caple, Bradley said that his mother growing up put bills in two piles - bills she could pay, and bills she couldn't. That is what motivates Milton Bradley, according to the man himself.

There were also conversations today, in which Bradley asked for help with something "very personal and emotional."

That's where things get mysterious, and I doubt we will ever know more. However, I think it is safe to say that whatever Bradley is fighting had something to do with his disappearance last night.

More importantly, Milton's actions last night had nothing to do with the media, his teammates, or the organization. The facts that Bradley still showed up for a team function, and also asked for support from the organization, both assert that there are no riffs between him and the organization.

That doesn't excuse what Bradley did last night, and it doesn't make him any less of a headache or distraction. However, if a riff was forming, this situation would be toxic. It isn't. It's challenging, and unfair to the rest of the team, but I think this clubhouse is capable of handling it.

What happened last night was bad. Whatever Milton is going through is bad. The situation isn't cancerous though, and that's what I think makes it different (especially from Chicago).

As an M's fan, I know enough now to breathe easier than I was late last night. The situation, both on and off the field, has to get better. It can though.

Opening Day 2010 Musings

A collection of thoughts from yesterday, more or less in chronological order:

• Good to see guys like Albert Pujols, Roy Halladay, and Tim Lincecum pick up where they left off
• It was even better to see Miguel Batista pick up where he left off
• Very amusing to see the Royals roll out an opening day lineup with Jose Guillen, Willie Bloomquist, and Yuniesky Betancourt batting fifth, sixth, and seventh
• Mark Buehrle should already have a Gold Glove wrapped up after this phenomenal play
• Not even the Disney channel would touch a script of Jason Heyward's life at this point
• Miguel Batista and Jason Heyward helped me and my fantasy team ignore Carlos Zambrano's implosion

Of course, the main attraction for me was the Mariners game:

• I wonder what Ben Sheets looked like in the off-season. I don't see how a scout couldn't give a favorable report on him, based on what I saw last night. His fastball still has pretty good zip, and his curve ball is still nasty. I'm not sure it all adds up to $10 million worth of nasty, but Sheets looked better than I expected.
• Felix's six walks are not representative of how well he pitched. The strike zone was very small. In particular, the lower third was non-existent. There were a total of 15 walks in the game, which is ridiculous. None of the pitchers in the game (M's or A's) were that wild.
• Jose Lopez looked better at third base than I expected
• Milton Bradley broke his bat by slamming it in the ground, and a little bit later glared at the A's fans after catching a routine fly ball. He is a ticking time bomb, no doubt about it, and I found myself loving it. It might even be good for this team. I don't mind having one player around that is so hyper-competitive.
• One game isn't enough to answer all the questions on this team. However, Casey Kotchman looked good, Griffey had a productive night, Rob Johnson hit a home run (and walked too!), and David Aardsma looked like David Aardsma. One game in, we only got reasons to lean towards positive answers.

If the next six months are anything like yesterday, it's going to be a fantastic season.

2010 Mariners Preview

It has been a while since I've woken up and known the M's are going to play a game that matters. That is the beauty of opening day for me.

By now you have probably checked out enough previews and predictions, so I will try to take a bit different approach. Instead of giving some broad overview, or trying to give exact numbers, I will focus on key changes, and key players. With this team, that's more than enough to write about.

So, here are my reasons the 2010 Mariners won't be just like the 2009 bunch.

First of all, the changes:

1. Chone Figgins replaces Adrian Beltre - It is debatable which of these two players is actually better, but let's not forget how bad Beltre's 2009 campaign was. He missed significant time with injuries, and even when playing, they made him a shell of the hitter he can be. Figgins in 2010 will blow away Beltre's 2009 production, even if the defense isn't as good. This is one of the biggest reasons to expect the M's offense to be better this year.
2. Casey Kotchman replaces Russell Branyan - Kind of an opposite argument here to the Figgins/Beltre one. With Branyan's back problems, it is pretty clear who is the superior player right now. However, there is no getting around the gaping hole Branyan's 2009 production at the plate leaves. Kotchman won't fill it, but he should at least hit for average, and he brings a much, much better glove with him to first. Casey is a very different player than Branyan, but overall I think he is a better replacement then most are giving him credit for right now.
3. Jack Wilson replaces Yuniesky Betancourt/Ronny Cedeno/et al - Jack isn't a great hitter, but he's definitely better than Yuni or Ronny was in 2009. His defense is light years ahead of virtually every shortstop too (especially Yuni). It's easy to point at Jack and say he is a reason this team won't score enough runs, but don't forget who he is replacing from 2009. He is a big reason this team has a better starting nine this year - and even a reason it is reasonable to expect the M's to score some more runs.
4. Milton Bradley replaces Endy Chavez/Michael Saunders - I don't care how good Bradley's legs are, the defense takes a hit with him out there. However, he is the superior hitter. Yet another reason this team will score some more runs, though not as clear-cut if this is a significant upgrade, considering the defense, and Bradley's well-documented past.
5. The starting rotation has more upside - Chris Jakubauskas, Garrett Olson, and Carlos Silva combined to make 25 starts for the 2009 Mariners. That's not going to happen this year. Ian Snell is in line to eat up a lion's share of those starts. Certainly, Snell is a question mark, but I'll take him over the trio he replaces. Furthermore, Cliff Lee is in line to take Jarrod Washburn's starts, and while Wash was surprisingly fantastic, I'll take Lee too.
6. Kanekoa Teixeira and Shawn Kelley are taking over middle relief - Both of these pitchers have question marks around their ability to handle this role, but would you rather have them, or the Miguel Batista/Garret Olson/Chris Jakubauskas cross-your-fingers-for-a-few-innings mix the M's had in that role in 2009? I thought so.
7. Brandon League is in the bullpen too - Brandon Morrow, Roy Corcoran, and Randy Messenger combined for 44 relief appearances last year. A healthy Sean White and Shawn Kelley may take some of those appearances, but many of them will likely be handed to Brandon League. That's a good thing.

There are key holdovers to watch too. Here are some particular situations worth watching:

• Ichiro will be worse, but how much worse? Ichiro had one of his best years in 2009. Age and regression to the mean should catch up to him in 2010. He can't be banked on to put an equally insane year, though he should still be great. However, on a team offensively challenged, this is worth pointing out, and worrying some about.
• How good will David Aardsma be? I liked Aardsma as a breakout candidate last year, but never expected him to be as good as he was. He isn't likely to keep his home run rate as low as he did last year, and he has been beaten around pretty hard in spring training too. I wonder how long Wak will stick with Aardsma in the closer's role. I think Mark Lowe takes over as early as mid-May. I'm that worried about Aardsma.
• How good will the catchers be? I mean this in a positive way. The M's have suffered through a couple seasons where the backstops have more or less been a black hole on offense. That shouldn't be the case this year. Both Rob Johnson and Adam Moore have some offensive upside, and in this case, even being below average is a noticeable improvement. Johnson and Moore are more than capable of that. Plus, gone are the days of pitchers whining about Kenji's pitch selection.
• Will Ken Griffey Jr. be better than last year? Supposedly, Griffey's knee has been bad for a few years, but is better now. For what it's worth, Griffey's walk rate increased significantly the past few years, and his BABIP went way down. There is a correlation, but that doesn't mean causation, especially at Griffey's advanced age. If the knee has really been that big of a problem, perhaps Griffey can bounce back more than almost anyone (including myself) thinks he can.
• How good is Franklin Gutierrez? As big as Guti's 2009 campaign was, 2010 is in some ways even bigger. He established that he is a good player, but how good? It's easy to look at his breakout season, and assume he will regress down towards his career rates in 2010. That's okay if that happens, but I'm just going to throw this out there: Guti finally got a chance to play every day. He flashed some serious power at times in 2009. The M's want to see more of that, along with more patience. They've seen enough of both out of Guti in spring training to toy around with hitting him third. What if he sticks in the third spot, and hits around 25 home runs? That would put him close to 100 RBIs, if not over. Combine that with a decent batting average, improved on-base percentage, elite defense (and the newfound love for defense in the media), and a pennant run by the M's, and Franklin Gutierrez might get some MVP consideration.

The 2009 Mariners befuddled many experts, and just as people started to pick out what was skill from luck, the roster changed drastically. The 2010 team has tons of new faces, and more than its fair share of question marks. Combine questions with a poor spring training, and it is not surprising that the M's have gone from a novel pick to do great things, to an overrated posse with obvious holes.

For me, the questions remain unanswered. About the only thing I am sure of is that this team will score some more runs. How many more though? Will the pitching and defense stay just as good too?

I don't know how good this team is, but I think guys like Franklin Gutierrez, Casey Kotchman, Milton Bradley, Erik Bedard, Ian Snell, and David Aardsma will go a long ways toward determining this team's fate. I just listed a quarter of the roster, and that's the point. Turn anywhere on this team, and there is a looming question mark. No matter how much the roster is analyzed, those answers won't come until the season starts to unfold.

Hopefully the answers are more good than bad.

Coverage That Annoys Me

I happened upon a piece this morning by respected Sports Illustrated baseball reporter/writer Jon Heyman. It's title is "Griffey embraces ambassador role for promising Mariners, majors." The full article is available here, if you want to read it.

I get excited when the Mariners receive national attention, so I was excited to read this article. In particular, it seemed that it would focus on Griffey's impact off the field, so naturally I thought we might get an inside view on his clubhouse antics. I was settling in for a heart-warming feature on a player's transition from superstar to aging icon.

Instead, I got an eyeful about steroids, with a glancing blow to Milton Bradley thrown in for good measure.

The second through seventh paragraphs allude to steroids or performance-enhancing drugs to some degree, often times focusing on how Griffey's achievements are so remarkable because he didn't use anything. Then, the last paragraph and very last line of the entire piece come back to the notion of Griffey being clean. Is there much doubt that PEDs were a central theme to this little piece?

I'm just so tired of it. I'm happy that Ken Griffey Jr. didn't do steroids. It helps the whole "ambassador" image that Heyman highlights. It adds a new wrinkle to Griffey's nickname, "the Natural," thanks to the era he played in. It's something worth pointing out.

However, just as Griffey says in the article, the steroid era is in the past. Griffey even says that it's time to let what happened go, and he subsequently rattles off names of seven different players that he thinks fans should be looking forward to seeing play in the game right now. Clearly, Griffey's focus was on the here-and-now, his role with the Mariners, and perhaps his role in Major League Baseball too. Yet, the article still came back to steroids, and finished on that note.

The baseball media turned a blind eye to the steroids scandal as it unfolded, and that's unfortunate. It is articles like these though that make me feel like baseball media is trying to solving veering off the right side of the road by veering off to the left. Let the steroids scandal go. For heaven's sake, let it go. You might just find a group of youngsters in Peoria gawking as their boyhood idol, the one that perhaps made them want to play baseball, hands out ridiculous shirts with Rick Adair's mug on it. This part of Griffey has at least as much to do with the ambassador image as his non-use of PEDs, and it would be nice to see it covered as such.

So that's one thing that annoys me. Another is coverage of Milton Bradley. The national baseball media is being unfair to him. From the Heyman article focusing on Griffey:

...Yet another "improvement'' was importing Milton Bradley, the temperamental star who blew up on Chicago's North Side last year. Bradley seems better located in the faraway Great Northwest and occupies a locker a few paces down from Griffey, who seems to be making a special point of involving Bradley in his seemingly nonstop revelry. Still, Bradley is wasting time reliving his unhappy times in Chicago and typically blaming others...

It is important to acknowledge that this was in an article about Griffey, and so the quote is largely meant as a point to show how Griffey includes players. However, there are definitely a few assumptions being thrown around about Milton Bradley in the above words.

As a quick aside, Heyman is referencing the war of words between Bradley and the Cubs that escalated with this interview of Bradley done by Colleen Dominguez for ESPN.

To set the scene, Colleen Dominguez showed up to Mariners spring training, and had an exclusive, sit-down interview with Milton Bradley in which she asked him about his time with the Cubs. In Heyman's article, that is lumped in with "wasting time reliving his unhappy times in Chicago."

What should be expected? Bradley was asked questions about his past, and he answered them. It's not as if some beat reporter asked him how spring training was going, and he just went off about how awful Chicago was last year. This was a sit-down exclusive, where Dominguez had total control to ask Bradley what she wanted. She went straight for his time in Chicago.

Interestingly, the video of the interview isn't up anymore (it used to be with the article I linked to). I saw it before it was taken down, and all I'll say is that it's much more probable ESPN would take it down if it reflected badly on Colleen Dominguez, and by extension ESPN, than on Bradley. I didn't care for how Dominguez conducted the interview, and there are at least a few others (those are separate links) who came away with similar feelings.

I've seen Bradley make comments here and there in the past that he feels like people take unfair shots at him. This incident, from when he was with the Rangers, comes to mind. There was the pretty epic blow-up in San Diego too, where he tore his ACL as he was refrained from an umpire by Padres manager Bud Black (the umpire was reprimanded for his actions in that incident, by the way).

We've seen Milton Bradley do things and say things nobody else in baseball comes close to mimicking. It makes him fascinating, unique, and with what he does, a little bit scary. There is something about Bradley that makes him a little more volatile than anyone else.

However, I'm coming around to Bradley's point of view. Why is the world out to get him? Why is he cut  off mid-sentence as he's trying to articulate an intelligent thought? His words were spun into something they clearly weren't meant to be in the recent ESPN exclusive.

For me, the worst part of Dominguez's interview was when they were discussing the hate mail that Milton Bradley got in Chicago. Bradley mentioned that he got some, just like other black players had, and just as he had received in other major cities. He turned it into the Cubs PR office, and that was that.

Dominguez badgered Bradley over and over though, asking if he thought the hate mail had come from within the organization, once he revealed that much of it only had his name on it. Bradley never caved, but finally said he didn't know, but hoped it didn't. Even that much of a non-committal answer had to be pried out of him, but judging from the Cubs' GM's reaction, it hardly got communicated as the forced response it was.

I'm losing my excitement for national Mariners media coverage. If it continues to look like it has recently, it's going to get very annoying. The 2010 Mariners aren't about the turn-of-the-millennium steroids scandal. They aren't defined by the 2009 Cubs either. They have storylines of their own, some of which could have national interest...such as an aging icon embracing his role as senior figure (while maintaining a childish persona), or the latest fresh start for one of baseball's most volatile, star-crossed talents.

A Combustible Clubhouse?

The only thing that might stop Jack Zduriencik from making a deal on Christmas day are all the other GMs stopping to open their stockings. As if Cliff Lee wasn't enough this week, he flipped Carlos Silva to the Cubs for Milton Bradley.

On paper, the deal is miraculous. Bradley had a down year in 2009, but draws walks at prolific rates, and has proven over the course of his career that he can hit. If healthy and happy, Bradley is a legitimate force in the middle of the M's lineup.

Over the course of Bradley's career, those health and happiness have been huge ifs though. It's hard to forget when he tore his ACL in San Diego as he was restrained by manager Bud Black from going after an umpire. Even a person who does not value clubhouse chemistry at all would be worried about Bradley's attitude. He is about as combustible as they come.

On top of that, it has become clear that Cliff Lee was surprised by the trade. It is just as clear that he really liked Philadelphia, and wanted to stay there.

So, did the Mariners just add a disgruntled pitcher, itching to leave at the end of the season, and couple him with the biggest clubhouse cancer baseball has seen in a long time? Or, have they added two key pieces they can ride all the way to October?

There is a case to be made for both scenarios. For now, I'm inclined to believe the latter. Here's why.

First of all, why wouldn't Cliff Lee be disappointed in the trade? He just went to the World Series with Philadelphia, after being on an Indians team that was going nowhere. Then, the Phillies approached about a contract extension. He had his eyes set on many deep October runs in Philadelphia.

All of sudden, Lee is shipped to the farthest outpost in Major League Baseball. He doesn't know much about Seattle, as he has said. What he knows is that he is leaving a situation he liked a bunch.

That's what I've heard with Cliff Lee's remarks. He hasn't said much about Seattle. What he has expressed is how much he liked Philadelphia, and he wouldn't have chosen to leave. That makes perfect sense.

There is ample room for Lee to like Seattle, especially if the team wins. That's no guarantee that he will stay, but there is a distinct possibility that he could. Everyone, including Cliff Lee, will get a feel for those odds as the season unfolds.

Even if Lee hates Seattle, he is a true professional, and is a season away from a big pay day in free agency. Lee will perform to the best of his ability no matter his feelings about the city and situation. I am not worried about him.

Milton Bradley, on the other hand, is a well-documented problem in lots of the places he has gone. He seems quite mercurial and volatile, to the point that nobody probably has a true idea what he will do.

We do know this though. The M's coaching staff features a couple people who worked with Bradley when he was in Oakland and Texas, the two places he did not really cause problems. Jack Zduriencik also says that Bradley is very excited to be in Seattle. All indications are that Bradley will walk into a clubhouse excited to have him, and a situation he is excited to be in. The relationship will get off to a mutually good start. I think most places Bradley has gone, he has been met with reservation (and probably for good reason). However, that only seems to feed Bradley's problems.

Milton will probably be high maintenance, but the Mariners are loaded with guys capable and willing to do what it takes to keep him in good spirits. There are legitimate reasons to believe that Bradley will be happy and productive with the Mariners. Again, that's no guarantee, but a whole bunch better than hoping for lightning in a bottle.

Not that trading Carlos Silva for a shot in the dark would have been a bad idea. He had no spot on the Mariners. Milton Bradley could be a very useful player. Still, it is alarming that Bradley's personality was deemed so destructive by the Cubs that they were willing to ship him away straight up for arguably the worst contract in all of baseball right now.

We will find out how it plays out. At this point, is there a more intriguing team heading into 2010 than the Seattle Mariners? Between Lee and Bradley, this team went from a nice story, to a developing story, to maybe THE biggest story (Yankees and Red Sox not withstanding, of course). Hopefully it's one with a happy ending.