Bradford Struggles

Ed Ryan at Mets Fever (Shea Nation Network), writes about Chad Bradford and how he's struggling in Baltimore:

Many of us Mets fans were very disappointed when Chad Bradford signed elsewhere. The biggest question this offense season was; did the Mets mis-gauge the market (value wise) or did they really see more up-side in Schoe. Relatively speaking both players received the same contact, they are around the same age and have the same type of resume. Schoe is a lefty, doesn't have a history of injuries and was believed to be able to go several innings (although he hasn't shown that so far). Interestingly enough, both players have struggled with their new teams. Schoe hasn't been horrible but isn't the dominant LOOPY or long man that we hoped for and at times has been very inconsistent. Bradford is struggling in Baltimore and part of that maybe due to the defense not being able to cover all the ground balls he induces. Orioles GM Jim Duque is said to be interested in Chan Ho Park, maybe Bradford could be returned to in exchange for Park. All of Bradford's good years (Oakland & New York) have come under Rick Peterson, besides Omar has a habit of obtaining players he knows, i.e. Roberto Hernandez.

Schoe has a record of 0-0 with an ERA of 2.93 in 15.1 innings (18 games) 11 hits, 5 ER, 1 HR, 7 SO and 11 BB.

Bradford has a record of 0-1 with an ERA of 3.07 in 14.1 innings (21 games) 20 hits, 5 ER, 0 HR, 8 SO and 5 BB.

Hat tip to Gotham Baseball Forum contributor "Tom" for the Baltimore article.

Chad Bradford trotted to the mound Tuesday night with a four-run lead, but by the time he walked toward the dugout, the Orioles' advantage was just two runs. In his one inning of work, Bradford gave up four singles to the first five hitters he faced, leading to two runs.

Bradford, one of the Orioles' four offseason bullpen additions, leads the American League with 19 appearances, though he has given up 20 hits in his 13 2/3 innings. He has also walked five, and opponents are hitting .351 against him.

Bradford, a submarine right-hander, isn't happy he's giving up runs, but he hasn't noticed any major flaws with his mechanics. "If I'm getting ground balls, I'm OK with that," he said. "You want to make quality pitches."

Of the four singles he allowed Tuesday, three were ground balls. "I wanted to get the ground balls. "That's all you can try to do," he said. "You can't make them hit it at somebody." source Baltimore Sun