SAN DIEGO -- Michael Barrett's tussles with his teammates didn't scare away the San Diego Padres, and neither did Milton Bradley's outbursts.
The Padres acquired the temperamental Bradley from the Oakland Athletics on Friday, the second time in just more than a week that the two-time defending NL West champions added a player with a history of blowups.
"He's 29-years-old, he's been around the block and knows what's expected," Padres manager Bud Black said.
In exchange for the volatile outfielder, the Padres sent Oakland minor league pitcher Andrew Brown. The Athletics are giving San Diego $1,360,929 to cover part of the approximately $2.05 million Bradley is owed for the remainder of the season.
"Hopefully it's low risk and high reward," general manager Kevin Towers said Friday, a few hours before the Padres opened a road series against their biggest rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego led the Dodgers by just one percentage point in baseball's tightest division, with the Arizona Diamondbacks a half game back.
Bradley is expected to join the Padres on Sunday, although it's not clear how much he'll play right away because he hurt his oblique in his last game with Oakland. The A's designated him for assignment on June 21.
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| Milton Bradley will join a clubhouse that includes embattled catcher Michael Barrett. (Getty Images) |
Limited to 65 at-bats this season due to three trips to the disabled list, Bradley is hitting .292 with two homers and seven RBI.
"He's shown an ability to play all three outfield positions, which gives us flexibility," Black said. "He's going to help us win games."
Bradley, who agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal with Oakland in the offseason, has always been known as much for his volatile behavior as his baseball skills.
Bradley was suspended for the final five games of the 2004 season when he slammed a plastic bottle at the feet of a fan in the box seats in the right field corner at Dodger Stadium after someone threw it on the field. Nobody was injured.
In 2005, he accused Dodgers teammate Jeff Kent of a lack of leadership and an inability to deal with black players.
"There's a different type of fire with him. I think it's more emotional than maybe angry fire," center fielder Mike Cameron said. "That's who he is. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. We've all had a couple moments where we didn't see eye-to-eye with things."
