[John Cocktoston]

Let's not get too carried away here.

Michael Barrett is currently on the DL. More importantly, he's got an OPS of .437 since the All-Star break. That's not a misprint. He has an OBP of .200 and a SLG of .237. On the season, his OBP is .286. Let's not mistake this guy for anything resembling the answer to our prayers at the backup catcher position. To acquire him, the Rockies would have had to trade a young player or two and pay about $2.1 million in salary. He's not even replacement level, so explain to me how that makes sense? If you offer to punch me in the face if I give you $50 and I turn you down, does that mean that I'm a cheapskate?

As for Milton Bradley, acquiring him to provide outfield depth is an oxymoron. The only reason someone with his talent is available (apart from the fact that he's a headcase) is that he can't stay healthy long enough to step on the field. I think it's fair to look at what he's done in SD since Kevin Towers made what you seem to think was a shrewd move in picking him up. He had a total of 17 AB's between April 30 and July 1 due to injuries. He's got 9 AB's so far in August, largely because he hasn't played in almost a week due to a recurring hamstring strain that is likely to earn him another trip to the DL. You're talking about a guy with 140 AB's this year and exactly 1 full season under his belt in the course of an 8 year big league career. That's remarkable.

And that's better than $4 million invested in two months of a sub replacement level backup catcher and a talented outfield bat who would be more of an injury risk than the guys he was brought in to play behind. Not to mention the opportunity cost, which is that Bradley would have had to outperform Spilly over the last month, since that's who he would have been stealing AB's from.