Milton Bradley finally ended his media boycott Thursday, though he declined to answer questions from anyone except a reporter for the team’s Web site.
A half-dozen reporters from print and radio surrounded Bradley’s locker after Thursday’s 7-1 loss to Cincinnati, seeking his reaction to earlier comments from manager Lou Piniella about Bradley’s groin injury and a drop from fourth to sixth in the batting order.
“Not happening,” Bradley said matter-of-factly.
In a brief discussion with reporters attempting to clear the air with Bradley, he complained about the local media coverage, comparing Chicago to Los Angeles, where he endured a couple of rocky years with the Dodgers.
Though Bradley didn’t elaborate on why he was upset, he suggested the media were focusing on him instead of the team, trying to create controversy.
Bradley returned a few minutes later and told a Sun-Times reporter that he was upset about a recent feature story in which he was asked about dealing with potential racial abuse from bleacher fans at Wrigley Field.
When reporters once again converged around his locker, Bradley called over a reporter from cubs.com to vent in private.
“I’m a positive person, an upbeat person,” Bradley told the Web site. “I’m trying to focus on what I’m trying to do here. My teammates are behind me, and the more reporters get in my face, the more I talk, the more things get written the way I don’t say them or they’re taken out of context, and that’s when you lose teammates and you lose fans. The best strategy for me has always been to not say anything.”
Bradley’s bouts with the media are well chronicled, but he seemed to be comfortable dealing with the Chicago media during spring training and on the opening road trip. Bradley began his media boycott after suffering his groin injury April 12 in Milwaukee, and hadn’t made himself available before or after games on the Cubs homestand.
Cubs management thinks players have a responsibility to deal with the media, and team executives are expected to relay that feeling to Bradley on Friday in St. Louis.
Manager Lou Piniella seemed to agree that being open and honest is the best policy for Bradley.
“You can make it much easier on yourself communicating [through the media],” he said. “That’s basically up to the individual, but at the same time, you’re in the public limelight and people want to know what’s going on.”
Piniella had a 10-minute chat with Bradley in his office Thursday morning and said afterward that Bradley won’t play again until he’s 100 percent healthy. Bradley did not run hard on a ground ball to first in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game and did not go hard on a pop foul down the line.
Asked whether Bradley’s not running hard concerned him, Piniella replied: “Nothing has put me over the edge. I don’t play people unless they’re totally healthy. That’s been my m.o. throughout my managerial career. With Milton, when he’s ready to play we’ll put him out there.
“I told him basically that I’m going to take him out of the fourth hole when he gets back and put him in the sixth hole, where he’ll be a little more comfortable. But when I get him out there, I expect him to run hard and play hard, the way he always has.”
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psullivan@tribune.com
