Milton Bradley vs. Cliff Floyd

You know how in sports there are certain guys that you have difficulty separating or just seem like the same guy to you? Everyone has their own connections and I have a million examples of guys that always seemed like the same guy to me. One example that comes to mind right now is Pat Burrell and Russell Branyan when they were first coming up. Two guys that were home run or nothing and were just the same guy to me. Feel free to fill the comments with your own examples.

Another such set of guys in my mind were Milton Bradley and Cliff Floyd. Not simply because they are two black dudes with nerdy white guy names. As non-Cubs I knew of them as incredibly injury prone corner outfielders with some pop. Fantasy baseball probably helped make this connection that Milton was just a younger version of Cliff, I'd seen this story before. 'If healthy' was a phrase that followed these guys around everywhere. Both guys started their careers with the Expos and bounced around the league after that.

Now having seen them both up close and personal as Cubs has only reinforced this comparison to me. You always heard announcers talk about how hard Cliff Floyd hit the ball as a Cub whether it was a single or a home run. Milton seems to be the same way. Watching them hit you'd expect them to hit more home runs than they really do. Trying to figure out what to expect from Milton going forward, I decided to take a look at the comparison in numbers. Hendry is preaching patience pointing to that hand-pissers awful first year, let's see if we should expect a similar turnaround.

Floyd is 6 years older than Milton, but started in the majors when he was 2 years younger. After the first 10 seasons of their careers, their number of at-bats are pretty similar (they've missed about an equal amount of time). Here's how their first 10 seasons compare:

Floyd- 955 G, 3132 AB, 891 H, 132 HR, 508 RBI, 347 BB, 115 SB, .284 AVG, .356 OBP, .494 SLG

Bradley- 917 G, 3174 AB, 882 H, 112 HR, 430 RBI, 450 BB, 76 SB, .278 AVG, .372 OBP, .451 SLG

Floyd hits about 2 more home runs per season, steals more and walks and strikes out less than Bradley. Very similar with Bradley getting on base a little more while Floyd displayed a bit more power and speed.

For fun let's see the comparison of the two in their one year as Cubs. Milton isn't done with the year yet and is 4 years younger than Cliff was when he joined the Cubs, but let's check it out anyway.

Floyd- 108 G, 282 AB, 80 H, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 35 BB, 0 SB, .284 AVG, .373 OBP, .422 SLG
Bradley- 103 G, 316 AB, 79 H, 9 HR, 31 RBI, 61 BB, 2 SB, .250 AVG, .383 OBP, .383 SLG

Some pretty similar numbers. Bradley has gotten on base a little bit more, but hasn't knocked in as many runs, similar to their career comparison. Hopefully Bradley doesn't continue to follow the years Floyd had following his season with the Cubs. Though one wouldn't expect him to as he had been a player on the rise joining the team, while Floyd was known to be an older fading player.

Milton had his first big year in 2003 while missing time, and followed it up with another good year in 2004 at the age of 25. That was the only year of his career he topped 130 games. Last season, which included career high of 22 home runs, is what got him his big contract in Chicago.

Cliff's career year came in 2001 at the age of 28 his last in Florida. He put up a few more decent years while battling injuries before having another big year in 2005 at the age of 32. That would be his last impactful season. Interestingly, Milton will be 32 next year. Let's see if he has one more big year in him at 32 as well...