Theo Epstein

There are many ways that people can leave a club. For example, Shaq and Kobe hated each other's guts and traded insults until Shaq left Eagle, Colorado's least favorite visitor in Los Angeles, and went on to a progressively extended career with stops in Miami, Boston, Cleveland, and Phoenix. In the end, he was a lovable guy who's contributions to cell phone commercials and stopping online predators far outweighed his performance on the basketball court or in the studio. Maybe he didn't know when to leave. Maybe he believed that a high field goal percentage from shots really close to the basket constituted greatness... we'll never know or really care at this website, but all the same, it's sad to see someone who defined the game as much as he did leave it.
And if Daisuke Matsuzaka is bidding adieu to Boston in order to get Tommy John Surgery, his last game on May 16th, a game where he let up 5 runs in 4.1 innings with 2 strikeouts and 5 hits to go with his 7 WALKS is a fitting end to a mistake that Theo Epstein made by bidding $51,111,111 just to deal with Matsuzaka. Sure, we were hyped up with the talk of the gyro ball and the 150 pitches a game and the World Baseball Classic performance, but in the end, if he was great, and we're definitely not saying he wasn't, let it be known that a fish out of water in a major media town is a recipe for disaster. Boston's courting of Hideki Okajima to be Matsuzaka's wingman seemed like an OK move... until it all went south with spot relief and holding pattern usage taking him to an ERA that is north of 4. Boston sent him down to AAA Pawtucket, and we forgot about the 2007 All Star appearance and the terrible post seasons in 2007 and 2008 because we knew that he wouldn't be around much longer.
And Daisuke was all alone to face the hate of a manager who really doesn't manage and a town who expects a hell of a lot from all of their players, but why shouldn't they? Matsuzaka cleared $51million for 6 years that saw him go 49 and 30 on a team that was really good for pretty much all of those years. Sure, he has a 6th year to come, but Tommy John Surgery isn't quick, and let's be honest, if it takes a year to 18 months to recover, it's not like he's going to be flame throwing AL East competition.
Instead, he'll be recuperating in Japan or wherever he chooses to go. The Red Sox won't be able to deal him, and they'll eat the last $20million for this year and next year and have less interest in picking up Asian players after the debacle of their last few (ok, so Hideki Nomo did have a no hitter in game 2 of 2011 against the Orioles, but other than that...
And it's a shame, but we can't all be Ichiro or Godzilla.

Milton Bradley

At the end of the day, it's all about being productive, and what better way to be productive than to celebrate the 27th anniversary of a game that was played for 25 innings (just over 8 hours)? Thank you Harold Baines for wrapping that one up (while not the longest ever by innings - Boston and Brooklyn battled to a 1-1 tie after 26 innings in 1920 - it was the longest by time). And with that, here's to baseball history, present, and future.
So let's see who's being productive at the end of the 5th week of baseball 2011...
(definitely not my fantasy team who lost for the first time all year in head to head games).
Derek Jeter lost his power, and then he got it back with 2 home runs in one day after not hitting one in his previous 256 at bats. Is this the end, or is this Jeter bouncing back to glory? He did have 4 hits and a stolen base to go up to a .276 average, so that has to be something.
HOWEVER, not everyone had a good day on Sunday. Take Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson, who were swept out of the playoffs... not that we care, but that said, it's great to see the NBA's Ben Roethlisberger getting sent home early with his little Zen buddy and the Kardashian circus tag along getting sent back for siesta in most unceremoneous ways. No offense to Phil and Lamar, but when it comes to those who commit sexual assault (and only get out of it by using their fame against their accuser), they should all go drown.
But alas, that's just me.
All the same, today is the end of the road for yet another Milton Bradley adventure. While he did just get ejected against Boston not 2 weeks ago, it wasn't his attitude, but it was his bat failing to live up to its potential that sees Bradley getting ready to tread the unemployment lines of baseball as he faces outright release or trade due to being put up for assignment. Batting .218 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs will do that to a man.
Thus, in honor of the man with the most unfortunate name in baseball (even worse than Coco Crisp since that's at least a fun name, and apparently, it's not the kind of name that inspires a player to go loco), there are the many problems of Milton Bradley: bottle throwing at fans who litter the field around him, accusing teammates of racism, accusing fans who hate his foul attitude of racism for sending him hate mail, screaming at teammates, screaming at managers, and trying to scream at announcers. Yep... he's done the whole spectrum... from umpires to oppoents, there is a world out there that hates Milton, and frankly, there's no internal locus of control to make sense of it all.
While not always his fault, it's all about how a man walks the walk after hearing the talk, and unfortunately, for this, Bradley's potential has been cut short.
We'll see if he comes back, but until then...