Ryan Lefebvre's Comments About Bradley

Full Disclosure: I've interviewed Ryan Lefebvre twice in the past two years. Here is a link to the first interview I did with him before the 2007 season. Here's a link to a story I wrote about him for Baptist Press Sports after interviewing him about a month ago. Having met him several times, I am a professional acquaintance with Lefebvre--nothing more, nothing less. With that said, I like the guy. He's got a great baseball mind, he's doing some good work in the Kansas City community, and and he's one of the nicer guys I've met in the industry. Now let's move on to the post...

I know that there was some initial shock over the fact that Milton Bradley climbed the stairs to the fourth floor at Kauffman Stadium in an attempt to talk/confront Ryan Lefebvre in the press box yesterday after the game because he didn't like what Lefebvre said about him on the air. But now that more than 24 hours has passed, I doubt that anybody is really surprised. And it would seem to me that he proved Lefebvre's point about him in the process.

Here's what Lefebvre said on the air:

"Here's a guy [John Hamilton], with all the troubles he's had, has shown that if you work at it, you can get your life back in order. And that would be a pretty good role model for Milton Bradley who clearly has no control over himself because it's the same thing year after year."

And then there was this:

"This game, this country really, if you follow baseball, has really embraced Josh Hamilton, and I think they've wanted to do the same with Milton Bradley, but Milton Bradley has refused to allow himself to be put in that position."

So, what exactly was Lefebvre referring to? Any or all of the ten incidents listed in this column in The Dallas Morning News today: from spitting gum at an umpire, to public intoxication, to failing to run out ground balls in Cleveland, to yelling at a police officer, to heated exchanges with teammates. Does this sound like a guy who is under control?

And if he has turned over a new leaf, as he claims to have done, then the best thing he could have done is to prove Lefebvre wrong by not adding to an already ridiculously long list of offenses. But to attempt to confront him in the press box, where he has no business being, just shows that he still doesn't have any control over himself.