Is Milton Bradley gettin’ boned?

Milton Bradley believes he’s under attack:

Bradley believes his strike zone is being widened, forcing him to chase pitches he normally doesn’t swing at or risk being called out on strikes. Asked if there have been repercussions from Vanover’s fellow umpires since the incident, Bradley didn’t mince words . . .

. . . “Unfortunately, I just think it’s a lot of ‘Oh, you did this to my colleague,’ or ‘We’re going to get him any time we can. As soon as he gets two strikes, we’re going to call whatever and see what he does. Let’s try to ruin Milton Bradley.’ It’s just unfortunate. But I’m going to come out on top. I always do.”

This seems like something that could easily be checked via PITCHf/x data, and I assume someone with PITCHf/x-fu will do so at some point (I possess no PITCHf/x-fu). Probably doesn’t matter, though. Bradley seems like the kind of guy who’s going to cast himself as a victim no matter where the pitches are. I found this comment interesting, though:

You lead the American League in OPS (in 2008), and two years in the top three in the league in on-base percentage. All of a sudden now, I come to Chicago and I can’t see the ball no more? I don’t know a strike from a ball?

While I’ve seen guys talk about OPS in the course of articles/interviews that specifically dealt with advanced metrics, this, I think, is the first time I’ve seen a player throw out OPS casually like this.


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ElBonte
14 years ago

Yeah, but they don’t even show OPS on Wrigley’s scoreboard, so it doesn’t mean anything.

Aaron Moreno
14 years ago

What sucks for Bradley is that his rep is so set in stone by now that we can’t really give him the benefit of the doubt. I actually wouldn’t be too surprised if he had the Tom Glavine Personal Strike Zone.

Andrew Zwillinger
14 years ago

Milton just went through contract negotiations.  His agent has schooled him well.

ditmars1929
14 years ago

Milton, would you like a little cheese with that whine?  Gary Sheffield will be your waiter.

Alex K
14 years ago

I’m not sure if it always happens, but at least once this weekend he got punched out on a pitch that was really high and outside. That along with the terrible pitch that he got called out on when his hat grazed the ump are two examples, but they don’t really prove anything.

Kelly
14 years ago

Milton may need a blood test to see if he has a paranoid disorder.  The man will do ANYTHING to land on the DL.

brian
14 years ago

Funny, on Fangraphs it shows Bradley’s walk rate and strike out rate are at his career levels, but his line drive rate is down and ground ball rate is up, and he’s got a lousy .203 BABIP. Umpires are jerks.