Rumors are swirling around Chicago that the Cubs, who fired two hitting coaches during the 2009 season, have strong interest in former Texas Rangers coach Rudy Jaramillo.
Jaramillo's resume stands on its own merits. During his 10-year tenure in Texas, 17 Rangers won Silver Slugger Awards. He gets a lot of the credit for the Rangers being an offensive powerhouse over the last decade.
But my interest in this rumor is deeper than a great hitting coach being available...
Could the Cubs' interest in Jaramillo be directly tied to their inability to unload disgruntled outfielder Milton Bradley? And, if Jaramillo does indeed come to Chicago, does that mean Bradley stays?
Bradley had by far his best season in Major League Baseball under the watchful eyes of Jaramillo in Arlington in 2008, when he set personal highs in nearly every category. Based on that one season, Cubs GM Jim Hendry foolishly awarded Bradley with a three-year contract.
Then 2009 happened.
Bradley regressed both socially and statistically, and was eventually sent home by the team in early September because of comments he made about the Cubs and their fans to local media. His marriage with the Cubs was about as pretty as the Mike Tyson-Robin Givens nuptials 20 years ago, with Cubs fans ending up the punching bag for Bradley's verbal jabs.
Because of his actions and words, every indication from the Cubs organization is that they will do everything in their power to play the 2010 season without Bradley being associated with the franchise. Some rumors have said the Cubs might have to pay as much as $18 million of the roughly $22 million Bradley is due over the next two seasons for another team to take him in a trade.
With new ownership in the process of taking control of the Cubs, there have been questions about whether or not the Ricketts family is willing to pay that much for Bradley to play somewhere else.
Hendry wrote the contract, and it might become the stain on his legacy as GM of the Cubs.
Which is why framing the Jaramillo rumors in the context of Bradley's contract make this entire set of circumstances intriguing. If Jaramillo comes to Chicago, and Bradley produces at the plate the way he did in Texas in 2008, there would be a lot less for the harassing bleacher fans at Wrigley to jump all over Bradley for next year.
And yet, the cynical part of me wonders if bringing in a familiar hitting coach as a Band-Aid is going to cure anything about Bradley, and whether or not the Cubs should pursue options to move Bradley even if Jaramillo comes to Chicago.
The parallels between Jaramillo and Bradley raise the questions, and it's up to Hendry to provide the answers.
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