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Rowand for Bradley Could Work
[h2]Giants' Aaron Rowand appears to be plausible contract swap for suspended Chicago Cubs outfielder[/h2]
SAN FRANCISCO -- The market for troublemaking outfielders on the suspended list with expensive contracts may be better than originally anticipated.
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is definitely a motivated seller, trying to find a counterpart who thinks he can revive Milton Bradley'scareer after a crash-and-burn season. After pawning Todd Hundley off on the Dodgers in 2002 for Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek, Hendryis hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again.
While conventional wisdom says Bradley has burned too many bridges to make anyone want him, the Padres, Giants and Royals arethree teams Hendry may have on speed-dial this offseason.
So far, Padres GM Kevin Towers is the only one on record to say he may have interest in Bradley, who played for him in 2007.
"I haven't had any calls from Jim about him," Towers told ESPN.com. "But I think people kind of know what players we target. We have to takechances sometimes. We took a chance on Milton the first time we had him, and he actually played pretty well [before his knee injury].We could be in the marketfor an outfielder. I'm not saying it's necessarily Milton. But our experience with him was rather a positive one. It wasn't really a negativeone."
But the Cubs would have to eat the bulk of the $21 million remaining on Bradley's contract because the Padres have no high-salaried playersto dump.
Ditto for the Royals, who tried to acquire Bradley from the A's in 2006 for Leo Nunez.
According to Royals insiders, upper management still considers Bradley a talented hitter who could thrive in a low-key environment such as the one in KansasCity.
If the Cubs want to swap bad contracts, as they did in the Hundley deal, the Giants may be Hendry's bestoption. Center fielder Aaron Rowand has not put up the kind of numbers expected in San Francisco and has three years remaining for $36 million.
Rowand is two years removed from a 27-homer, 89-RBI season for the Phillies andwould be a good fit in the Cubs clubhouse.
"Cubs fans would fall in love with him, for sure," Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson said. "He did well on the other side of town, and I know people... appreciate the way he plays the game."
Like Bradley, Rowand is having an off-year offensively, and his power numbers have gone down in spacious AT & T Park. Entering Fridaynight, he had 63 RBIs with 15 home runs and 30 doubles.
"But he takes responsibility for stuff," Johnson said. "If you ask him, he'll tell you he could be playing better than he is now. But thisis a tough park to put up power numbers. If he went to a place like Wrigley, he'd be like he was in Philly."
