First of all, I would like to propose that we all impose on ourselves a moratorium on those hard-to-resist "Milton Bradley board game" jokes. That means no referring to his ups and downs as "Chutes and Ladders," no suggesting that the A's now have a "Monopoly" on the AL West, no describing his past as "Sorry," his rap sheet as "Taboo," his reputation as "Checkered," his acquisition as a "Risk," or his anger management counseling as a "Trivial Pursuit". We have to control ourselves, people.
Unless the A's sign Tomko, in which case all bets are off.
OK, on to today's topic, somewhat rewritten after Blez willfully and maliciously stole one of today's thoughts, which was going to be that Antonio Perez has "Mark Ellis" written all over him--the quiet throw-in to complete the acquisition of a bigger name, blah blah blah you read about it yesterday. But I do still have one observation to add to the discussion of Milton Bradley:
There has been far more focus, so far, on Bradley's "extra-curricular" activities than on his statistical splits, but the switch hitter's left-right splits are really interesting...
For his career against LHP, Bradley is a solid .295/.367 but in 2003 his stats against LHP were simply staggering: a .402 AVG, a .500 OBP, and a 1.134 OPS, in 132 plate appearances. Yet in 2005, Bradley hit only .278 vs. LHP with a .293 OBP. So batting right-handed, Bradley has put up, in two different seasons, OBPs of .293 and .500.
Meanwhile, last season Bradley was a solid .294/.371 against RHP, but over his career his numbers are far more modest at .258/.344. In sum, Bradley appears to hit much better from one side of the plate, but he also appears unable to make up his mind which side.
In so many, many ways, Milton Bradley appears difficult, if not impossible, to predict--not unlike the man who brought him to Oakland.
