MILTON BRADLEY MAY HAVE BEEN RIGHT

by WCK, 100% Injury Rate

A lot of people went after Milton Bradley after he lost his cool at umpire Mike Winters and subsequently tore his ACL in the ensuing melee. That's only natural, because Bradley is one of baseball's ultimate hotheads. But it turns out Bradley may have actually had a semi-legitmate reason for flipping out.

According to the NYT, Winters was suspended by Major League Baseball for the remainder of the regular season today.

Winters was suspended because the commissioner's office concluded he had used a profanity aimed at Bradley, a baseball official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the reasoning for the suspension was not announced.

Although Bradley's reaction was still pretty much uncalled for, I think it's unfair to totally bash him. Winters has been around the league for a while, and as an ump he should know better than anyone that Bradley is prone to flying off the handle if provoked. Yet Winters cleary baited Bradley. As a result, San Diego is now without their best hitter for the rest of the season and it's put San Diego's playoff chances in jeopardy. There's a legitimate argument to be made that Winters should be suspended for a much longer period of time.