One of the questions surrounding the Mariners' hire of Eric Wedge as their new manager was how (or if) Wedge could co-exist with Milton Bradley. Larry Stone of the Seattle Times recaps their checkered history, stemming from a 2004 situation when Wedge pulled Bradley from a spring training game, Bradley got upset, and then was dealt to Los Angeles a few days later.
Wedge made it clear to Seattle management that he had moved past the incident, however, and it appears that Bradley also wants to move on. Stone heard from a Mariners official who revealed two texts sent by Bradley praising the club's hire: "Whatever took place was six or seven years ago and I'm over it" and "[Wedge] was a disciplinarian and I felt our team lacked discipline last year. Hopefully, he instills some of that.''
As Stone pointed out in his original post, however, Bradley doesn't appear to have much of a choice. His options are to either make up with Wedge and play out the season, or else get released. Bradley would still get the $12MM he's owed for 2011, but the Mariners are committed to paying him anyway and Bradley would be burning bridges with yet another franchise. Stone notes that Bradley is all-but-untradeable unless the M's agree to pay most of the contract or deal Bradley for another bad contract, a la their original Carlos Silva swap.
Stone brings up Pittsburgh as one potential trade partner for the Mariners, though surely one that would require the Mariners to cover Bradley's contract. Neal Huntington is a long-time supporter of Bradley and might be one of the few GMs willing to add Bradley to the roster. Bradley's injury history makes him a bad fit for the NL, however, since he wouldn't be able to handle playing the outfield. A player with Bradley's baggage is also not the kind of veteran influence that the Pirates would want to bring to their young clubhouse.
