I've worked with some real freaks. I've trained a woman who, when the mouse reached the bottom of the mousepad, could not continue working until someone helped her figure out what to do. I worked with a person who ate peanuts constantly, chewed with her mouth open, and did it while asking you a question from six inches away. Just yesterday, my boss microwaved a hodgepodge of Halloween candy until it melted, froze it in a cup, and left the weird, gross, frozen mess in my desk drawer. Then he called me from the next office and said, "I can't wait any longer. Open your desk drawer!" Why did he do that? Because it amused him, that's why.
But I'd wager that if you tallied up my output -- the number of envelopes stuffed, pizzas cooked, reports filed, or whatever -- it would be the same with or without these people. They just made me hate certain aspects of my life a little bit more.
When Ryan Theriot was stepping into the batter's box to face Adam Wainwright with two outs and a runner at second, I'm pretty sure this wasn't going through his head:
Okay. Come on, Ryan. Think. He's going to set you up with a fastball just off the plate. Don't bite. Sit on a fastball in, and only a fastball in, just in case he misses badly with his location. He's not expecting you to try to pull the ball for power; he's thinking I'll be content slapping the ball into right field. Right field. Where that jerk Milton Bradley plays. Oh, man, that guy is a real jerk. He's always dipping his fingers into the salsa. I swear, if he counts cards when we're playing blackjack one more time, I'm going to kil...DAMMIT, I GROUNDED OUT TO SECOND. Arrgh. That one's on Milton.
If Bradley was really a drag in the clubhouse, he probably just made everyone enjoy their job a little less. Maybe a lot less. That might have a small effect on production. You know what else might make a ballplayer enjoy his job a little less? Falling out of a playoff race because his team is unspeakably awful at hitting a baseball. Let's call it a wash.
(Aaron) Rowand is the life of a clubhouse and would restore the chemistry lost by the forced departures of Mark DeRosa and Kerry Wood. His hustle and nose for the baseball in center field are unquestioned, allowing Fukudome to move back to right field. A reprise of his Giants offensive numbers would be acceptable with all the other hitters in the Cubs lineup.
That's from a Cub perspective on a possible Rowand-for-Bradley swap. My response:
| Year | OBP |
|---|---|
| 2000 | .288 |
| 2001 | .288 |
| 2001 | .288 |
| 2001 | .300 |
| 2002 | .317 |
| 2003 | .421 |
| 2004 | .362 |
| 2005 | .350 |
| 2006 | .370 |
| 2007 | .402 |
| 2007 | .373 |
| 2007 | .414 |
| 2008 | .436 |
| 2009 | .378 |
| 10 Seasons | .371 |
| 162 Game Avg. | .371 |
Add in the $16M less that Bradley would cost compared to Rowand, the shorter contract, and I don't see how people can seriously think a Rowand-for-Bradley swap is anything but a positive for the Giants. I mean, it was awful when the Giants were so distracted by Barry Bonds that they were contending every year. I still wake up with cold sweats over that era.
In case you missed it, here's Extra Baggs last month:
But for what it’s worth, I asked someone on the Giants’ side — someone with veto power — whether he’d approve a straight-up Bradley-for-Rowand deal. And he said yeah, he would.
Of course he would. I'm filing the Rowand-for-Bradley scenario under wishful thinking and moving on.