Kevin Millar, owner of a World Series ring and scruffy facial hair, is, in the simplest form, no longer a serviceable major leaguer.

If he makes the team out of camp it will be because his image as a blue-collar "winner" preceded him, and likely not because he tore the cover off the ball in Arizona against AAA pitching (although he is hitting a robust .400 so far this spring...in five at-bats).

I'm not here to argue Millar's resume because it speaks for itself.

He was a valuable member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox and a key bat in their fierce lineup.  He didn't have a great postseason for the Red Sox (.250 BA in the ALCS; .125 BA in the World Series), but was nonetheless a solid player worthy of a World Series ring.

But in the world of "What have you done for me lately?", Millar is lagging behind.

His 2009 batting average of .223 was downright sad, and because it came off the heels of a 2008 season in which he hit just .234, it is safe to say the 38-year-old is washed up.

His power numbers last year (7 HR, 29 RBI, .363 SLG) provide the nail in the coffin for Millar's career.

His 2008 campaign was at least tolerable for the Baltimore Orioles because it came with 20 home runs and 72 runs batted in.

It's not that I hate Kevin Millar (although I'll never understand why he is getting so much press this spring training); it's just obvious to me that he has no role on this team.

The man can not play anywhere but first base, where the Cubs have perennial All-Star Derrek Lee and left-handed bat Micah Hoffpauir already established on the club.

He can't play left field—his defense would be worse than Alfonso Soriano's—so scratch that idea, and he certainly can't be a designated hitter in a league that does not offer that option.

For Millar to occupy the 25th spot on this roster, it would strictly be to pinch-hit, and that is just not a feasible option.

The Cubs' bench won't be anything to write home about, but I'll take my chances with Koyie Hill, Sam Fuld, Tyler Colvin, Mike Fontenot/Jeff Baker, Andres Blanco, Xavier Nady, Micah Hoffpauir etc.

Millar has garnered attention on ESPN for his ability to "bust the curse" that was the Boston Red Sox' title drought.

However, anyone with a brain will realize that he was but one man on a very good (albeit steroid-filled) team and could be held responsible for only so much.

Millar has his best days in the rearview-mirror, but youngsters like Colvin and Blanco at least provide the glimmer of hope that they could improve.

But all is not lost for Millar.

He will no doubt be an analyst for ESPN in a year or two, so don't feel too bad for him if he doesn't make the cut this season.

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That was not a quote from Milton Bradley, formerly of the Chicago Cubs, and about a fourth of the teams in baseball.

He's probably not good enough. He certainly wasn't in Chicago.

I don't know how smart he is, but does a guy that acts like him have anything upstairs? 

As for people liking him—well you know the answer to that one.

People can't stand him—from his teammates, coaches, managers, GM's, and the fans.

Have I left anyone out?

If they knew him, they wouldn't like him either.

He doesn't even like himself.

After  departing Chicago and the debacle that was his time on the north side, Bradley vowed a few weeks ago that he was done talking about Chicago and that he was a Seattle Mariner now.

That was then, this is now.

Last week he came out in the New York Times and complained to them about his time spent in Chicago. Now he has come out to ESPN and reporter Colleen Dominguez about how poorly he was treated in the "windy city."

Bradley said he "felt like a prisoner in his own home" when he played for the Cubs last year.

"It was pretty bad," he told Dominguez. "I would have rather tore my knee up and gone through rehab all over again then have to deal with that."

Think of the torture the man went through for the first year of his $30 million contract.

I would have rather been a prisoner in the Cook County Jail then being subjected to his play on the field and his crying off of it.

Shut up already!

I thought you were done with Chicago and that was in the past.

He then plays the race card saying he received racist mail, and that even his 3-year-old child was called a derogatory name at pre-school.

I'm not saying it's impossible that he did receive racist mail, but come on, using the "N" word on his child by kids, parents, and teachers at the school. That's what he said last year when he was still with the team. His mother also alluded to that.

I'm not buying that one.

Bradley was kind enough not to blame the whole city of Chicago.

"I don't think the entire city of Chicago is racist or anything like that. If you weren't booing me, I'm not talking to you."

So now booing is racist.

How many racists were booing Todd Hundley, who was booed out of town despite his father having been a fan favorite in the '60's?

How about Kyle Farnsworth and numerous other white players that did not perform up to standards or show the type of attitude and work ethic that the fans deserved?

This is his 8th team in 11 seasons.

There is a reason for that.

I'm sure his current team, the Seattle Mariners, are questioning their decision to trade for him, wondering if he's going to ruin the chemistry in their locker room like he did with the Cubs last year.

Here's a guy who has had incidents wherever he has played, be it with the fans, teammates, umpires, broadcasters, and even his own managers.

As usual, he blames everyone except for himself.

"People don't want to see a guy that's brash and cocky and a little arrogant making a lot of money. When you get paid a lot to play this game, they expect miracles. And when you don't go out there and perform like that, then people don't like it."

Translation: I'm an ass who thinks I'm a lot better than I really am, and people shouldn't expect me to play hard or play well just because I'm making a lot of money.

The only comment Bradley made that made any sense was when he commented on Lou Piniella last year calling him a " piece of s___ " after another incident.

Piniella apologized personally to him, (I don't know why) but not in front of the team like Bradley wanted.

He said, "I accepted his apology nonetheless, because I've got enough stuff I've got to deal with."

A truer statement was never echoed, because he sure does have a lot of stuff to deal with.

Is Bradley just unlucky that all of these things keep happening to him?

Is he not to blame?

Maybe I'm one of those people expecting too much from the poor guy because he's making a lot of money. After all, it's not his fault that Jim Hendry gave him that contract.

Is Milton Bradley sane, and everybody else crazy?

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After breaking down the starters a few days ago, it’s time to look at the guys who will be working off of their performances.

The Cubs’ bullpen has always been a concern, and they have been changing closers pretty much every season.

Most recently, Kerry Wood and Kevin Gregg held down the closer position, but neither of them were closer for more than one season.  So what will the bullpen look like this year?

Closer: Carlos Marmol
Rest of Bullpen: Complete Mess

I know that doesn’t offer up too much when it comes to telling you who will pitch what innings this season.  But at this point, your guess is as good as mine.

The Cubs lost Kevin Gregg and Aaron Heilman during the offseason.  And with Angel Guzman due to miss a lot of time at best, the Cubs are in desperate need of somebody to get the ball into Marmol’s hands.

Jeff Samardzija had a great season two years ago, but had an above-7.00 ERA in about 35 innings last season.  He is still young and raw and could return to his 2008 form.

John Grabow is the most experienced option, and the fact that he is a lefty helps out too.  However, he has never been exactly overwhelming, and with a career ERA of 4.03, he isn’t a prime option.

Esmailin Caridad is a possible option.  He had a low ERA, struck out a good amount of batters, and had two holds in 19 innings last season.  But it would be a stretch for him to come out of nowhere and be consistent all season.

The best chance that the Cubs have to fix their bullpen this season would be by some sort of trade, but Spring Training deals are rare.

Of course the Cubbie faithful could take up a different strategy in trying to fix the bullpen: pray…a lot.  Pray for Guzman’s injury to just go away, pray for Samardzija and Caridad to have magical seasons, and I can’t stress this enough, pray a lot.

Either option is viable.  And with Jim Hendry’s past, I feel the second option is more likely to work than the first.

I’m Joe W.

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That's my first thought after running through the morning news, and finding these delightfully insane, and completely narcissistic interviews with Milton Bradley and Torii Hunter.

First, we have ESPN sitting down with Milton Bradley to discuss at length, his time in Chicago. Bless ESPN, who never resists an opportunity to facilitate flinging in the name of ratings, but this piece may have been the worst thing I've seen since Bonds on Bonds.

Asked about his manager, Lou Piniella:

"The next day, he called me into his office and wanted to apologize. I felt you put me on blast, called me out in front of everybody, you're going to apologize in front of everybody."

Nice. Except for the fact that he did, on numerous occasions.

From a Chicago Tribune article at that time:

"But I told him it wasn't right, and I apologized for it. But I also told him that we just can't continue to have the shenanigans that we've put up with it. I told him he's going to hurt somebody. He's going to hurt himself. But at the same time, I did talk to him and I did apologize for that last comment."

The organization? When asked about the source of his hate mail, and where some of it may have come from the Cubs themselves, given the lack of postage:

"I would hope not, but ... who knows? I don't know. I don't even care to know."

And my favorite money quote:

"I don't think the entire city of Chicago is racist or anything like that. If you weren't booing me, I'm not talking to you."

If you like Milton Bradley, then it's all good. And if you don't, well then, you're a racist. I booed on occasion. I wonder whether that applies to me, too?

This all actually pales in comparison to Torii Hunter, who chose to go equally batsh@#$t in his interview with USA Today on race in baseball. To wit:

People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American. They're not us. They're impostors."

As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us.

It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican Republic or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper.

It's like, why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?

Huh?

Let me share a couple of thoughts with you.

Inner-city kids until recently have wanted to play baseball professionally about as much as they wanted to become NASCAR drivers. The interest simply was not there, and where there was, the economics made it difficult, not the lack of interest on behalf of the MLB in recruiting these kids. 

Gloves, ball, bats, and lack of fields in most neighborhoods made baseball cost prohibitive in much of the 80s and 90s, especially when all you needed was a cheap basketball for the whole neighborhood to play that sport.

Of course the money often wasn't there, again, because NO ONE WANTED TO PLAY!!

Hmm...let's see. Top pick in the 2007 draft? David Price—black.

2008? Tim Beckham—black.

Top prospect in baseball? Jason Heyward—black.

Seems to me like baseball pretty much takes talent wherever they can find it, regardless of race. And don't even get me started on the contract that the Reds gave Aroldis Chapman.

It was a bag of chips, and all that, to boot.

You know, you grow up in the inner city, it's very easy to see racism around every corner, and in many cases, it's often very real. But watching a couple of black men cite racism over a league and its fans who that will make them millionaires MANY times over,  and more often than not, shower them in adoration is truly enough to make me weep.

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Now Bradley is back with new comments, to ESPN's Colleen Dominguez, about the racial tension he felt while with the Cubs.

"Well, I mean unless you go out there and you're Superman -- you're Andre Dawson, you're Ernie Banks, you're in the Hall of Fame -- then it's going to be tough," Bradley said. "People are just the way they are."

Bradley's latest round of Cub-hating comments are possibly his most arrogant and self-serving comments since leaving the Windy City.

He compares the hate mail he received to that of former closer LaTroy Hawkins and outfielder Jacque Jones. Both were coincidentally African American but were also extreme under-performers during their time in Chicago.

What Bradley needs to understand is that with a high paycheck comes higher expectations. Especially when you choose to sign with a team that hasn't won a World Series in over 100 years.

Blaming racism and the fans, the team, and so on is cowardly. It's arrogant. Most of all, it's getting old.

I have been going to Cubs games since before I could even throw a ball and can honestly say I have never heard a fellow fan make a derogatory remark about a player's skin color.

Am I ignorant enough to believe that absolutely nobody has? No, but a few bad apples shouldn't ruin it for the rest.

If you talk to Bradley though, him, Jones, and Hawkins seem to be the only African Americans to have played in Chicago since Andre Dawson.

But what about Derek Lee? What about the left field bleachers' love affair with another under-performing African American outfielder named Alfonso Soriano? What about Carlos Marmol?

None are hall of fame-bound. All have been booed in their times at Wrigley but haven't come crying to "Mother Media" with racism claims against an entire city or neighborhood.

They understand their paychecks mean performance. All of them have owned up to their performances, and Lee is leading the example of how to bounce back from it.

Sure, the Cubs don't have a lot of African Americans on roster, but that's a disturbing trend around Major League Baseball. It's not racism; it's numbers. Fewer African Americans are choosing to play the game of baseball every year.

Yes, Adam Dunn was the Cubs fans' first choice in 2009. Yes, Cubs fans were a little tougher on Bradley, and I'm the sure the locker room had some tension. But don't try to skate away as the innocent victim here, Milton.

You hit a putrid .257, an agonizing 40 RBI, a low 12 home runs, and had a slew of problems in the field. You were the one essentially caving under the pressure of the big money and big market in a city where they love their teams. Not the fans.

And you were the one who, even by admissions of players like Lee an Soriano (also African American - Gasp! ) was a loner in the clubhouse. Or are they just racist, too?

And now you continue on fighting this losing battle, and it's not against racism. It's against Milton Bradley and Milton Bradley's track record. We've seen in it Los Angeles and Oakland too, where ironically enough, he underperformed and said he received hate mail.

I see a pattern here, and it looks better for Chicago than it does for Milton Bradley.

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He was asked if race played a role in the "city's hatred" for Bradley. The response he gave to ESPN was repulsive.

"I got the same mail Latroy [Hawkins] probably got; the same mail Jacque [Jones] got," he told Colleen Dominguez on ESPN.

News flash Milton: Cubs fans everywhere didn't hate you because you were black. We hated you because you got paid an enormous sum of money and you sucked. You sucked beyond the acceptable level of sucking.

When you are making around $10 million a year and batting .257 with only 12 home runs and 40 RBI, you are more than deserving of the bad treatment you get. You can't even blame injuries on his poor performance; he played 124 games last season. 

Bradley told Dominguez that Cubs fans expect miracles out of their players. If that doesn't happen, you get booed and hate mail. Not true.

Look at the players who have played for the Cubs. The mediocre ones.

Mark DeRosa wasn't making miracles happen on the field. He was a gritty ball player who got the job done. Something Bradley didn't do.

Ronny Cedeno is another good example. He hit .252 in the few years he had with the Cubs. He was awful, but he played a role. He wasn't paid a lot of money and the fans didn't expect much out of him.

Fans expected a lot out of you, Bradley, because of your salary and the great year you had with Texas. We didn't expect miracles.

Also, look at the names he threw out to Dominguez: He said the same mail that Jones and Hawkins got. Both names bring back awful memories and make me cringe.

With the Cubs, Jones actually wasn't bad the first season. No hate mail.

His second season was a different story.

In season number two, 2008, Jones hit a respectable .285 but only had five home runs and 66 RBI. Not good numbers for a major league ball player of the caliber he was supposed to be.

What about Hawkins?

In 2004, Hawkins posted a 5-4 record with a 2.63 ERA. Usually decent numbers for someone who is the middle reliever. Not the closer.

It gets worse.

During his career with the Cubs, Hawkins had 29 saves in 42 opportunities. That's 69 percent! When you are supposed to be the shut-down guy in the back of the pen and you save 69 percent of your saves, you deserve the bad treatment.

Bradley was traded for Carlos Silva in December. This is Bradley's eighth team in 11 years. Bradley claims he has moved around due to injuries. I beg to differ, sir.

In Oakland and Texas he caused trouble. He was thrown out of games and even tried charging the mound a few times.

Chicago was no different. He was suspended on Sept. 20 of last season for the final games of the year. (Best birthday present ever, if you ask me.)

One of the last quotes from Bradley on ESPNChicago.com says that Bradley hints that everyone who booed him was racist. I take offense to that.

I go to a very diverse high school on the south suburbs of Chicago. White people, like myself, are actually either the minority or on their way to being the minority in my school. I am the farthest from being racist.

Milton, please get over yourself and come to your senses. Chicago isn't racist. Chicago Cubs fans aren't racist. Chicago would welcome you back to visit. We won't take you back to play, though, because you just down-right suck.

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While that may be true, some players get more out of their talent than others. To date, Carlos Zambrano has always fallen into the underachiever category.

Look, it has never been a question of whether he has the stuff to succeed; rather, it has always been a question of preparation, self-control, and health.

It's not just a matter of statistics, though everyone likes to point out that Big Z has never won 20 games in a season. In fact, it can't be just about stats, for they fail to tell the whole truth.

First of all, if you are still judging pitchers by their win-loss record, you are living in the past. There are so many variables that go into a decision that are beyond a pitcher's control, such as run support and defense, that to make this about winning 20 games would be shallow.

Instead, the outward signs of a visibly upset Carlos Zambrano angrily shouting at teammates, breaking a bat over his knee, or  killing a water cooler looms over the big right-hander's broad shoulders.

And that's too bad because it clouds the enormous talent exuding from this Cubs "wanna-be" ace. He should be the ace, and he has been in the past, but he usually isn't because things get in the way that are within his control.

One of those things relate to his conditioning, or lack thereof. In the past, there were issues over his weight, and whether or not he was drinking enough water.

And at times it seemed he was almost more interested in hitting a baseball than pitching one.  

But this year, he is supposedly a changed man. He has lost weight, done his exercises, and will not be pinch-hitting during the season unless absolutely necessary.

In other words, could it be that Carlos is finally, dare we say, maturing?  

Hey, the proof is in the pudding, and the results have to be on the mound. No, not winning any arbitrary set number of games, but instead delivering consistently solid pitching performances would be nice.

Limiting his walks, making fewer mistakes, and pitching deeper into ballgames is what we hope for and what this ball club desperately needs if it's going to contend in 2010 and beyond.

And Carlos needs to understand that there is a fine line between having the fire and passion and being out of control.

The best pitchers are often cerebral assassins. Consider Greg Maddux, for instance. You seldom saw him display much emotion during a game, yet you knew the competitive fire was burning brightly underneath.

He was trying to out-think you, not throw a baseball through your body. And that's what Carlos needs to understand. That's what Carlos needs to do.

There is certainly still time. He turns 29 in June. He can regain his past level of performance, perhaps even surpass it, but he will need to keep working hard and staying healthy in order to make consistent, quality starts.

His arm still appears to be strong. His SO/9 last year was higher than his career average and the opposing batting average on balls in play, BABIP, was higher in 2009 than in any of his other full seasons (Bill James, for one, expects that to decline by more than .25 points next season), implying some bad luck and equally bad defense.

In short, Big Z can be the ace he seems to truly want to be and that Cubs fans have been clamoring for. He did have 17 quality starts last year despite a myriad of ailments.

Let's not bet our mortgages on it, but there's no harm in keeping our fingers crossed. We're Cubs fans, after all, we should be used to it.

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I can tell you one young kid who will for the Cubs.

Call me crazy, but Tom Gorzelanny is going to get the fifth starter spot on the Cubs' staff.

We know who the first four are. In no particular order: Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, and Wells will be the top four. The fifth is up for grabs.

Off-Speed

Gorzelanny has an off-speed pitch—something former Notre Dame standout Jeff Samardizja has not really developed yet.

An off-speed pitch is something that needs to be prevalent in any major league pitcher's repertoire for them to succeed. In the MLB, you can't blow people away with a fast ball. They will catch up to it.

Take Kyle Farnsworth for example. Remember him?

He was a hard-throwing nut case. He threw the ball hard and that was about it. He sort of had a slider and nothing else really. What happened to him? Never made it in the show.

Don't turn Samardizja into a Farnsworth. Keep the kid in the bullpen if you don't want to waste his talent in AAA, and let him develop his change-up and slider. Once he does that, then let him fight with Gorzelanny.

Last Season

Last season, Gorzelanny had seven starts and posted a 4-2 record. He was very good down the stretch.

Gorzelanny showed he can pitch effectively last season. He isn't amazing, but he is effective.

Gorzelanny struck out 40 batters in 38.1 innings pitched over his seven starts and 13 total appearances. Batters had a .262 average against him. Decently effective, if you ask me, and something I can live with.

Gorzelanny only walked 13 people over his 13 appearances for the North Side Crew. One walk a game is a better average than Carlos Zambrano (4.1 walks a game).

Conclusion

Let the kid prove me wrong. Slide him in that fifth starter role for the start of the season, and if he can't handle it, then take him out. I think Gorzelanny more than deserves it. Let the kid shine.

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