The Texas Rangers have the best offense in baseball, and outfielder Milton Bradley has been a big reason for it. Bradley has been having a fantastic season with the Rangers, but for the most part he's been overshadowed by the play (and story) of Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler. Still, after homering yesterday against the White Sox, Bradley now has 19 bombs at the All-Star break.Before this season his career high for home runs in a season was 19, which he set in 2004. So needless to say, Milton is loving life in Texas, it's just too bad he may not get to finish the season there.
"I don't speculate," Bradley said. "I know I'm going to be that guy that's speculated with trades because I'm multi-talented. I don't really care about it, though."Bradley says he doesn't care, but his wallet probably does.
As far as making Texas his long-term home, Bradley said: "I've enjoyed my time here, but it just seems wherever I've been, I've given someone an excuse to move me or trade me. Nobody has been willing to go out on a limb and make that commitment to me, and that's unfortunate. But it's not going to change how I approach things."
Milton signed a one-year deal with the Rangers worth $5.25 million before the season and will be a free agent at year's end. If the Rangers are more interested in trading him than signing him to a long term deal, it could cost Bradley some money on the free agent market. While Milton's always been a talented player, there's no doubt that playing half of his games in Arlington has given his numbers a bump this season.
Playing at home this season Milton has hit .353 with an OPS of 1.256 with 15 homers and 35 RBI. On the road he's hitting .283 with an OPS of .866 and 4 homers and 22 RBI.
Getting traded now would no doubt affect Bradley's numbers at the end of the season, which in turn would probably cost him quite a bit of money when he hits the market this winter. Frankly, if I were Bradley I'd stop pretending I didn't care whether or not I got traded and instead be on the phone with my agent telling him to do everything in his power to work out a long-term deal with the Rangers.
