A Day After Asking The Mariners For Help, Milton Bradley Hits The Restricted List

On Tuesday, Milton Bradley got pulled from a baseball game and left the stadium in the sixth inning. On Wednesday, Milton Bradley asked manager Don Wakamatsu and GM Jack Zduriencik for assistance in getting through some serious personal and emotional issues that have been building up for a while. And, on Thursday, Milton Bradley hit the restricted list.

The restricted list serves as a kind of DL for healthy players, except that the minimum and maximum durations are different - five days to two years - and the player in question usually doesn't get paid (although, in Bradley's case, he will). What this allows the Mariners to do is fill Bradley's roster spot with somebody else while giving Bradley all the time he needs to work on his issues off the field. The team has already arranged for a counselor, who will, at least in part, attempt to get Bradley to stop putting so much pressure on himself to perform. Bradley had his first counseling session Thursday afternoon.

Taking Bradley's place for the time being is outfielder Michael Saunders, who has recently come on strong after a disastrous start to the season in AAA Tacoma. It is unclear how much time Bradley will miss, as he could be out for as little as several days or as much as a few months. All that's known is that he will remain in Seattle for at least the beginning of the team's upcoming road trip.