The Bradley Effect

If you had somewhere around 15 games in your "How long will it take Cubs fans to get pissed off at Milton Bradley?" pool, congratulations, because you win. Bradley is still nursing a groin injury that he suffered on April 12th against the Brewers. On April 22nd, he started in right field and by all accounts he seemed poised to jump back into the every day lineup, but went 0-for-4 with 3 Ks and wasn't running at full speed, and so he has again been relegated to the bench. He has been used sporadically as a pinch hitter, and in one such appearance he made physical contact with an umpire arguing balls and strikes and got hit with a two game suspension. For reasons unbeknownst to me and most everybody else, he has decided to appeal the suspension, even though he could easily have served the suspension while being out with a groin injury with no real added detriment to the team. While he's managed to draw some walks, he's just 1-for-21 hitting, so yes, he has less base hits than he has games suspended as a Cub. Meanwhile, Bradley's contentious relationship with the media, something he was known for in Texas, appears to have manifested itself in Chicago, as Bradley accused the media of taking his quotes out of context and turning the fans against him, even though he didn't really seem to have a specific example of this actually happening. As I'm finishing writing this, the Cubs are playing out in Arizona and Bradley is in the lineup again. We'll see if he stays there this time. 0-for-1 thus far.

The Cubs also recently brought up Jeff Samardjia from AAA and, somewhat curiously designed Luis Vizciano for assignment for the corresponding move. In truth, there weren't a lot of other attractive options. Angel Guzman is out of options, so he pretty much has to stay up, as does David Patton, who is a Rule 5 pick from the Rockies, which means that he goes back to Colorado if the Cubs don't keep him up. But not only had Vizciano not allowed an earned run yet, he was also just signed at the start of the season for $3.5 million. Its possible that Vizciano doesn't get picked up by another team (I want to say that you can pick up a guy that got DFAed for half of his salary, or something along those lines), accepts assignment to the minors, and eventually makes his way back to the Major League club, but as of right now, Vizciano essentially made $3.5 million dollars for pitching 2 weeks. The rightys in the bullpen have certainly been pretty shaky with the exeption of Carlos Marmol, but the biggest issue in the bullpen right now is Neal Cotts, the Cubs' sole lefty. They've been trying to bring him in situationally against leftys in close games, but he's had a ton of problems with walking people. Some people have suggested that Samardjia should go to the rotation so Sean Marshall can head to the bullpen and become a left-handed situational guy. This would seem to be a little extreme, if you ask me. Marshall has looked okay so far as a starter, with a decent-by-5th-starter-standards 4.91 ERA, and Samardjia got roughed up a little bit in his first appearance since getting called up. There doesn't seem to be many good options available though. It wasn't too long ago that the Cubs were carrying 3 leftys in the pen and couldn't find innings for all of them.