Milton Bradley - Looking for Work

Kansas City, as we know, is not the epicenter of baseball activity. Let's cut out the superlatives, they're just awful.

So, say you're the general manager of the disaster that is the Royals organization. You've got no talent, you've got no money, and you've got no fans. Then, someone offers you a veteran outfielder with a career average of .270 for the ridiculously low price of Leo Nunez, him of the 6.99 ERA and 67 career MLB innings. You're going to want to take that deal no matter what, right? I mean, you can't even rip someone off like that in fantasy baseball.

And this is exactly what happened when the A's tried to ship off the ticking firebomb, one Milton Bradley, to aforementioned Royals. Milton was perfect for this deal. He's just the fire that KC needs. And we'll get to that in second. The impossible thing to understand here is that Kansas City canceled the trade after discovering that Bradley had suffered an oblique injury. This is just nonsense. I don't care if Milton comes to you with a fractured leg and green goo coming from his ears. You take the guy! He's talent! He's got to be better than seven of the guys you're starting now, easy. And what is your argument for this? That you need a player now, so you're holding on to Nunez? Nunez isn't even in the majors. He hasn't pitched in The Show all year. Even if you have to wait 6 weeks on Bradley, which is generous, he's still going to give you more than Nunez.

And now Milton is out of luck. No one else is going to take him because he's about as volatile as jet fuel over an open flame. Only the Royals need talent that bad, and Kansas City is about as small a market you can get, where you can just reasonably hope that when he screws up, no one will notice care. So this was a great deal for all parties involved. But hey, Milton is a full 29 years old, and you never know when he might be a worse bet in the outfield then Emil Brown or David DeJesus. Or any of the 9 guys on your DL. Mark Teahen (RF) can actually hit, but you can always send him back to 3B and kick out Alex Gordon. But now, for fun, let's recap the dangerous world of Milton Bradley:

• April 2004: Indians trade Milton Bradley to make room for Coco Crisp.

• June 2004: Ejected by Terry Craft, Bradley leaves his equipment in the box and returns to fling a bag of balls on the field. Suspended 4 games.

• September 2004: Fan throws plastic bottle on field. Bradley responds by throwing plastic bottle violently at man nowhere near original launch site. Suspended 5 games.

• November 2004: Police pull over Bradley's "friend" on the highway. Bradley stops alongside his friend and approaches police yelling, "why did you stop my friend!" Officer: "Return to your vehicle." Milton: [Hands behind back] "Arrest me." Officer: "Alright, let's go to jail." Served three days in the slammer.

• August 2005: Calls Jeff Kent a racist.

So there's really no telling when Milton is going to strike next, or where. And the Royals canceled on their chance to get a hold of this gem of a guy? Why?