FanHouse Milton Bradley

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Well, I'll tell you one thing: baseball ain't boring, folks. At least if you're in the middle class anyway; the upper crust is (somewhat) starting to establish itself across MLB's ranks and the bottom portion of the league is certainly holding steady. But in the middle, well, goodness. We have a lot of would-be title contenders. How's your semi-crappy team faring in the all-important MLB FanHouse Power Rankings this week? Find out after the jump.

Earlier this week, I joined up with Andrew Johnson and Will Brinson on the inaugural BaseCast to discuss the Cubs' unbelievably disappointing start to the 2009 season. To conclude the segment, I was asked if the Cubs can get things straightened out and win the division. I said that was an easy answer because of the word choice. Of course they can. Had the question been "will they?" I would have said no.

Just two days later, there are plenty of reasons on the horizon to believe they can head into the All-Star break not only in thick of things in the NL Central, but atop it. Wouldn't that be a weird sight -- seeing the Cubs in first place after such a disastrous first half.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

This coming weekend, Major League Baseball will reveal its 2009 All-Star teams. So what better opportunity than this to run through a list of this season's "Anti-All-Stars." Anti-All-Stars is far too bland a name, though, so we decided to name the team in honor of Andruw Jones. After all, he was the poster child for guys not earning the lucrative contracts bestowed on them last season. We'll sort through each position and find the player who is least helping his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.

It hasn't been the greatest week for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Not only is he feeling the heat of the Chicago media with the Cubs scuffling, but he's also gotten into an argument with Milton Bradley in which he called his right fielder a "piece of [expletive]." Regardless of whether the exchange should have ever left the clubhouse or not, it's not exactly the type of thing you want the world to know about.

All of this was done after a recent poll by Sports Illustrated in which Major League players were asked anonymously which manager in baseball they would least like to play for, and which one they'd most like to play for. Guess which one Sweet Lou emerged "victorious" in.

The White Sox and Cubs finished up their three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field on Sunday with a 6-0 White Sox victory that came complete with another Carlos Zambrano meltdown to put the finishing touches on a very ugly weekend for the Cubs. Of course, never wanting to actually talk about what the real problems are with the team, when talking about the team's lackluster play as of late manager ,Lou Piniella started talking about how the Cubs are helping the economy.

He talked of the team playing in front of three sellout crowds during the week in Detroit and how they helped fill all the seats on the South Side of Chicago over the weekend. Well, you can't expect Lou to make a subtle dig at the White Sox attendance numbers without Ozzie Guillen getting in a response, can you?

The "Battle For The Best Third Place Team in Chicago," also known as the Crosstown Rivalry, will come to an end for the 2009 season on Sunday, but that doesn't mean there won't be any lingering issues between the two teams.

Though the Windy City rivals have split the first two games of this series, which has been pretty entertaining to watch, the big story was and still is the argument between Lou Piniella and Milton Bradley on Friday.

Piniella sent Bradley home early on Friday after calling him a "piece of [naughty word]" in the visitor's clubhouse. According to both of them they've hugged out their differences, and now the Cubs seem to be turning their anger towards the White Sox. Particularly Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who wants to know who's been snitching.

I guess the Milton Bradley haters are all going to be basking in all their glory now. According to a report on Chicagosports.com, Bradley was taking out some frustration on the Gatorade cooler in the Cubs dugout when approached by his manager, Lou Piniella. Apparently the two exchanged "angry words" and Bradley was removed from the game.

In news much more disconcerting, though, Bradley was seen in street clothes leaving the stadium and is now gone from the premises. You might recall Sammy Sosa left Wrigley Field during the last game of the 2004 season and it was the last time he ever played for the Cubs. The Bradley situation will obviously conclude differently, because the Cubs signed him to a three-year contract this offseason and likely can't get a good return on him via trade.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Troy Tulowitzki was the runner-up for the 2007 Rookie of the Year, but he followed it up with a rough 2008. And a rough beginning to 2009. All of a sudden, though, the kid has caught fire. Not coincidentally, the Rockies have as well.

After trouncing the Angels Monday night, the Rockies have now won 15 of their last 16 games. After going 0-2 in the first game of the streak, Tulowitzki has gone 20-for-48 (.417) with 5 home runs, 11 RBI, 15 runs, 4 doubles and 5 stolen bases. Again, that's in 15 games.

Each year the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox play six times. Six. Out of 162 total games. Those games aren't any more relevant than six games between the Twins and Cubs or Brewers and White Sox. Of course, there are millions of misguided fans who believe there's a rivalry between the two teams, a notion that is only perpetuated when our President talks about how the White Sox play "real baseball." FanHouse's resident Cubs fan (Matt Snyder) and resident White Sox fan (Tom Fornelli) got together to discuss the aura surrounding what shouldn't be a rivalry.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Milton Bradley has often been called a five-tool player. Guess one of those tools isn't math.

The Cubs outfielder had a bad day. He caught a one-out fly ball in the eighth inning and then flipped the ball into the stands as a runner scored from third on a sacrifice fly. Bradley probably had no play at the plate, so the error was more strange than costly.

"I wasn't embarrassed," Bradley said. "I've done a whole lot of things to be embarrassed about. That's water under the bridge. The run was going to score, the fan got a souvenir. Worst case scenario."

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