Bradley Injured, Haters Overreacting

Sunday night, Milton Bradley pulled up lame on his way to third base after a Ryan Theriot base knock. He clutched his groin and the Cubs immediately removed him from the game -- said to be a precautionary measure. In the short term, the tweaked groin ended up being a blessing in disguise for the Cubs. Reed Johnson was inserted into Bradley's spot, and he made an unbelievable grand-slam-saving catch just a few minutes later.

Moving forward, though, Bradley's injury during the first week of the season is sure to draw the ire of the Cubbie-hating public and many Cubs fans alike. We know about his injury history, after all, and the Chicago media had a feeding frenzy on Jim Hendry when he granted Bradley with a three-year, $30 million contract this past offseason.

Additionally, Bradley hadn't gotten off a great start from a certain perspective. The man who led the American League last season with a .999 OPS had only accrued one hit in 17 at-bats this season. Personally, I think that's an awfully small sample size on which to wholly judge what he's done for the team. He has been the most patient hitter in the majors, averaging over five pitches per at-bat, and he's drawn 5 walks already. Team that with being hit by a pitch, and he's gotten on base a third of his plate appearances, which is pretty great considering his terrible batting average. After seeing his prodigious home run in Milwaukee -- yes, that was his one hit -- I felt like he was just getting ready to go on a roll.

Instead, he's on the shelf until the weekend at the earliest. The typical fan or media approach is to throw your hands in the air and say here we go again, it's Milton! I understand he's earned the label of fragile with his history, but there are small, day-to-day injuries occurring all over the league. His teammate, Geovany Soto, is presently fighting through shoulder woes, for example.

Additionally, his missing a few games at this point doesn't do the Cubs a ton of harm. The cold weather in Chicago definitely raises the risk for a worse injury, so keeping him on the pine helps keep his groin issue minor. The Cubs hadn't planned on playing Bradley more than 125 games anyway, so, not only are they equipped to deal with him missing a few games, they expected it.

Kosuke Fukudome and Johnson will both play, in the meantime, while Micah Hoffpauir should see some additional at-bats off the bench. Joey Gathright will see a bit more use, but he's still in the pinch-running/defensive replacement role.

Finally, there's a really good chance the Cubs will keep Bradley out a few extra games just to be overly certain he doesn't re-aggravate the thing. The season is a marathon, and the Cubs want Bradley for the long haul. The team has gotten out to a 5-2 start without a lot of help from Bradley, so losing him for a few more games isn't going to hurt. As for Bradley himself, he doesn't need to play in the cold weather of April. The Cubs, and Bradley alike, will be quite content with him playing instead in the cold weather of October.