Mets Should Sign Milton Bradely

On Thursday the Oakland A's designated outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment. As you know the A's now have ten days to trade Bradley, or he'll be released after the ten days (he probably won't accept an assignment to AAA). Bradley has always been a talented outfielder, but his hot-headed attitude and injury prone body has held him back from establishing himself in the majors. His best year came with the Dodgers in 2004. He hit .267 with 19 home runs(career high), 67 rbi (career high), 71 BB (career high), and 15 SB in 516 at bats. 2004 was the only year in Bradley's career that he had more than 377 at bats. Bradley, who turned 29 in April has played on 4 teams in his career, and has never stayed on one team for more than three seasons.

With the rash of injuries suffered by the Mets this year, especially in the outfield, the Mets can use all the talent they can get. Shawn Green is struggling and Carlos Beltran seems to be coming out of his slump. It seems like Willie is platooning Ricky Ledee and Carlos Gomez in the outfielder. I like Gomez, but anyone who has seen most of hits knows that nearly half of them have been lucky dribblers. Gomez seems to be over-matched badly against most good pitchers. Yes he has gotten hits off of Mariano Rivera and Johan Santana, but he has still looked very bad against some of the better pitchers in the league.

Unlike Gomez and Ledee Bradley has started for a ML team for a full season. Bradley is also a solid defender in the outfield, with a strong arm. Omar should trade for Bradley and place him in left field until Moises Alou comes back. Bradley just returned from an injury himself (he missed 18 days) so all the Mets would need him to do is stay healthy for about two-three weeks. Once Alou comes back the Mets could play the switch-hitting Bradley in right field against lefties, and give Shawn Green (Bradley's teammate in LA) a day off. For his career Bradley has a career batting average of .260 when batting lefty and .297 when batting right handed. Since Endy Chavez is out for a couple of months the Mets need a good fourth outfielder, and Ricky Ledee is not the answer. Gomez could be, but I think he is better suited to get consistent playing time in AAA.