How do you think that conversation went?
Cubs GM: "I'll give you a career .277 hitter with average power and average fielding ability."
Mariners GM: "Alright. We could use an outfielder to fill a hole in our team. Never hurts to have a decent bat."
Cubs GM: "What could we get in return?"
Mariners GM: "We'll give you a recently-injured pitcher who hasn't had a winning season in four years and has a huge contract."
Cubs GM: "An extra arm never hurts. By the way, the guy we're giving you is a noted clubhouse cancer, never seems to work out, and is liable to explode at any moment and ruin the chemistry of your team and all the hard work you have put in this off season."
Mariners GM: "Well that's good, because the guy we're giving you is washed up and probably a terrible fit for a fickle and historically dangerous hitter's park in a tough town that is dying for a winner. But at least you got rid of that other guy, right?"
It's hard to believe that trades like this even take place. On Thursday, the Mariners sent struggling right hander Carlos Silva to the Cubs in order to receive volatile outfielder Milton Bradley in return. In truth, this is a case of teams dumping their problems on each other.
On the face of it, it seems as if the Mariners got the better end of the deal. Many baseball writers have expounded on Bradley's potential and seemingly abundant talent, but this has rarely come to fruition over the course of his career.
For all the expectations of his dangerous bat, Bradley has hit more than 19 home runs only once...and that was in a hitter-friendly Ballpark at Arlington.
Imagine how much he'll improve in the spacious greens of Safeco Field. Bradley also has the reputation (very well-earned) as a hothead and a team distraction.
His exploits are well-documented: slamming a water-bottle in Los Angeles, tearing his ACL in an argument with an umpire in San Diego, and being suspended by the Cubs at the close of the 2009 season.
His presence is thought to be a major contributor to the Cubs' failure to repeat their strong showing from 2008 this past year.
This is an especially confusing move for the Mariners given that they have had such a positive off season. They landed one of the best pitchers in the American League, Cliff Lee, from the Phillies in an enormous four-team trade.
They signed third baseman Chone Figgins away from the rival Angels to replace the departing Adrian Beltre.
Now they must adjust to the world of Bradley, who brings with him a whole new set of challenges. In Bradley's case, the question has usually been whether the risk is worth the potential rewards.
But 7 teams in 10 years is probably an indication that there is clearly more risk than most of those teams were bargaining for.
In friendly and baseball-crazy Seattle, the troubled outfielder could probably find his niche, as he seems to perform better in smaller media markets. Let's hope so for the Mariners' sake.
As for Silva, the Mariners are unloading an extremely expensive pitcher who has seriously underwhelmed.
Whatever Seattle was expecting from a pitcher coming off consecutive losing seasons over his last two years in Minnesota, Silva clearly failed to live up to them. The right hander was just 1-3 in six games a season ago before succumbing to injury. So the loss isn't that great.
From a Cubs perspective, the move is bamboozling. They do benefit from addition by subtraction: namely, ridding themselves of the nightmare that the Bradley signing had become.
However, it is hard to argue that the Cubs will gain the pitching help they are looking for in Silva.
There is a chance that this move was made solely for the purpose of unloading Bradley, and that anything they get from Silva is gravy. If so, they have certainly achieved that goal at the very least.
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