4:55 P.M. UPDATE:
General manager Jack Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu have talked with reporters within the past 40 minutes, following what we’ve been told was an emotional team meeting in which Milton Bradley spoke to the players and discussed the issues he’s dealing with.
Zduriencik said Bradley came to him and Wakamatsu this morning and they talked face-to-face about 20 minutes. Bradley told them he’s dealing with personal issues and said he needs help dealing with them.
“He’s going through some things in his life right now that are very personal and very emotional,” Zduriencik said. “Milton has asked us to be of assistance to him, if there’s any way that we as an organization can help him get through this period of time. We’ll do everything we can to help Milton.”
For now, Bradley won’t go on any sort of disabled list, which means Wakamatsu will operate with a 24-man roster during the time he’s not able to play.
How long will that be? Zduriencik didn’t know. Nobody does because the seriousness of what Bradley is dealing with became apparent only within the past several hours.
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On another rainy day outside the ballpark, the scene inside Safeco Field right now is a bit surreal. While Doug Fister prepares to throw in the bullpen, the grounds crew is actually watering down the warning track.
That’s necessary, of course, because of the ballpark’s roof, which amazingly didn’t fall in after last night’s game in which nearly everything else related to the Mariners did.
But that was last night. Where was Milton Bradley today?
The man who left the premises after being pulled from the game spoke to school children this afternoon as the Mariners’ players and coaches fanned out across the city to leave a positive message with youngsters.
Bradley joined Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Sweeney and manager Don Wakamatsu — yes, the guy who took him out of the game last night — at Lakeridge Elementary School in Seattle.
According to Twitter messages from the Mariners, Bradley:
” … gave a very moving statement to the kids about what motivates him.”
“Says his mom worked 40+hrs/week in a grocery store &worried about making ends meet. His motivation was to succeed and take her worries away.”
The Mariners haven’t posted tonight’s lineup, so we don’t know how far the “Welcome Back Milton” sign extends. Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik spoke with Jim Street, who covers the Mariners for MLB.com, and said this:
“Anything that happens in the clubhouse will be handled internally. I would never go public on an issue like that. If something happens on the field and everyone sees it, that’s one thing. But when something happens in the clubhouse, now or in the future, it will be handled internally.”
My take on that is, fair enough.
But what happens with Bradley behind the scenes is having a direct effect on what’s happening on the field.
Let’s say he’d kept his cool last night and stayed in the game, prepared to put together at least one good at-bat against Rays starter James Shields after seeing the right-hander three times. He’d have battted in the ninth inning with nobody out, Franklin Gutierrez on first base after a leadoff single and the Mariners trailing 5-1.
Instead, Ryan Langerhans — newly called-up from Tacoma after Eric Byrnes was released Sunday — batted and flared a single to right field. It was nice to see Langerhans make an immediate impact. But it also would be nice to see Bradley step to the plate without the burdens that he’s carrying because the team is suffering from it.
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