Wednesday, January 19, 2011

More Bradley; Crazy Contract Provisions

Milton Bradley’s temper is in the news today as he was arrested in Los Angeles on Monday for allegedly making threats against a woman. Bradley, who has had numerous on and off the field run-ins with managers and umpires, was released on bail and is scheduled to make a court appearance on February 8th.

Jayson Stark of ESPN has put together a list of some of the wackiest contract clauses signed in baseball this off season. This list includes World Series MVP clauses for all of the Pittsburgh Pirates off season acquisitions.

Love this one:

"Jayson Werth isn't the first player in history with a powerful attachment to his uniform number.

Jayson Werth has a special affection for No. 28.

Rickey Henderson once paid Turner Ward $25,000 to get No. 24. Doug Glanville once bought Jimmy Rollins a laptop in exchange for No. 6. And many a Rolex -- not to mention a beverage or 20 -- has changed hands over the years after players switched teams and found their favorite numbers on somebody else's back.

But Werth, baseball's newest $126 million man, might have taken uniform-bartering to a whole new level when he signed with the Nationals this winter:

He went to the trouble of getting his uniform number -- which would be 28, in case you don't have this sort of thing memorized -- written into the contract.

So what's up with that? Ever since he switched to No. 28 (in 2004) from the No. 13 he once wore with Toronto, his teams have gone to the postseason five times, Werth told us. So why would he take any chances on losing his hold on a number with that much winning in it?

For the record, No. 28 was worn last year in Washington by utility man Mike Morse. But he'll now be switching to No. 38. Which might come as news to him …

Unless he's read the small print."

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