Teams still want to try to ‘reform’ Chicago Cubs’ Milton Bradley

It would still seem odd if the Rangers took Milton Bradley back. (Image by Getty Images).

Seems there are a couple of baseball Henry Higginses out there who think they can uplift the Eliza Doolittle of the game — Milton Bradley. But this won’t be a feel-good, “My Fair Lady” story no matter how it turns out.

You can be sure that late into Tuesday night and until the general managers meetings at the O’Hare Hilton Hotel ended at midday Wednesday, Cubs GM Jim Hendry was pitching unwelcome outfielder Milton Bradley at anyone and everyone. The shock from working the lobby and GMs’ interview room Tuesday was hearing multiple teams already had started talks with Hendry, including ones that, according to a source, Hendry would not have to pay the lion’s share of the $21 million owed to Bradley over the next two seasons.

I still can’t believe that, and at least one old-time baseball sea dog agreed, expressing incredulity that any team would accept Bradley without Hendry owning up to his mistake and basically paying someone else to take him off the Cubs’ hands. That way, the recipient team is protected, according to the old-timer, if they choose to release him due to typical bad Bradley behavior. The Cubs would provide the financial insurance policy.

What the reality is — there’s always an executive out there who’s overly macho, or ignorant, enough to believe he can reform Bradley with a change of scenery or a different manager handling him. Some baseball organizations like the Braves and Twins, who have run successful farm system, value character as highly as raw talent. But others simply look at numbers and Bradley’s halfway-decent offensive track record, believing on-field production overwhelms the off-the-field headaches the multiple-personalitied good/bad Milton provides any employer.

Several other team officials with whom I spoke did see a scenario where Hendry would have one or more trading partners because of Bradley’s switch-hitting record, which nosedived with the Cubs after an American League-leading on-base-percentage performance in Texas in 2008.

The Rangers are always brought up as a team that would take Bradley back — but, again, at the price of Hendry assuming most of the financial liability as Texas is cash poor due to ownership flux. Another rumored trading partner is Tampa Bay and its desire to deal outfielder-DH Pat Burrell, who would put the Cubs in a quandary because they have no place to play him in the outfield.

Too bad Hendry is weighted down by the Bradley mess. He could be even more productive in possibly trading for second baseman Luis Castillo from the Mets. Yeah, yeah, you could say Castillo, 34, is on the downslide, and fast. But in 2009, he had a .387 on-base percentage (more walks than strikeouts) with 20 steals. He could be a stopgap at second and provide some legit leadoff-man skills  while top shortstop prospect Starlin Castro gains another year of experience. When Castro is ready, Ryan Theriot could slide over to second.

Hendry and Mets GM Omar Minaya apparently had prelimary chats about Castillo. Minaya refused to comment about Castillo during the media access time Tuesday afternoon.

And for those hoping that Hendry will swoop in and steal an ace like Roy Halladay, don’t hold your breath. With lefty Ted Lilly’s post-shoulder surgery availability for Opening Day 2010 in question and Rich Harden likely to depart via free agency, the Cubs have up to two rotation slots open to start next season. Hendry said he’ll go internally with the likes of Jeff Samardzija and lefties Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Marshall. His payroll level frozen, Hendry has no big bucks to shower on a free-agent pitcher.

Samardizja continued his slow improvement begun late in 2009 via five good outings in the Mexican Fall League before the Cubs shut him down. He was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA over 24 innings.

“He threw well,” Hendry said of Samardzija. “His command of his fastball was better. His secondary pitches were better. His command in the strike zone was better – not just throwing strikes, but location in the zone was much better. The slider got better. The split (-fingered fastball) obviously, he got back on track with a little better strike zone command of that, too.”

Samardzija getting better via maturity and finally earning his $10 million bonus sounds more logical than a couple of teams willing to take Milton Bradley, Cubs’ subsidy or not. I don’t like to bet, but if Bradley is traded, I wager that Hendry makes a cash call on new owner Tom Ricketts to pony up more money than he originally allotted to tell Uncle Miltie, “Be gone with you.”