Milton Bradley goes too

This is going to be quick as I am leaving Seattle with the team right now, but the news of Milton Bradley being designated for assignment came quickly. Almost as stunning was the news that Carlos Peguero and Mike Wilson were joining the team. You wanted to see some youth? Well, here you go.

With Bradley more than anything I think it came down to his play. Yes, he was a distraction at times and yes, he had the capability of taking more of Eric Wedge’s attention than he should. But this weekend illustrated the shortcomings of Bradley in the field. Separated from his best year with the bat by over two years, he hadn’t shown much since then and was hitting just .216/.313/.356 in 101 at bats. There had been enough time for him to settle in at the plate and it just wasn’t happening.

“There was no particular incident,” Jack Zduriencik said on a conference call. “It was just an issue where as we evaluate where we are, we evaluate where we are going and the parts that we thought would be part of this, in our estimation he did not fit. The situation with Milton, we just felt that Milton was not part of our future and not part of our present.”

Zduriencik and Wedge discussed the move this weekend and then Zduriencik took the move to Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln. Both were very supportive of the decision, according to Zduriencik.

Off the field things didn’t seem as strained with his teammates as they did last year but a source tells me that certain actions did wear thin in the clubhouse and one teammate let him know about it.

As for the players coming up, Zduriencik said that they most likely would split time in left field with Michael Saunders staying in center. This is a great opportunity for Wilson and Peguero, and apparently a fantastic Mother’s Day present for Wilson’s mom.

“Mike got to call his mom on Mother’s Day and tell her that he was going to the Major Leagues,” Zduriencik said. A nice present indeed.

We will have a different look team tomorrow in Baltimore.