My favorite thing about Milton Bradley is that, more than any player I've ever seen, he seems--what's the phrase I'm looking for?--totally psyched to draw a walk.

Huzzah for walks!

I may have left some people thinking I don't care for walks after a recent throw-away comment I made about walking in RBI situations. Jon Weisman took me to task for it yesterday over at Dodger Thoughts.

My beliefs are a bit more subtle than that flip statement made it seem. (I explained this in more detail in the DT thread.)

It's not that I don't like walks in RBI situations. For a batter, a walk is always a good thing. But in some game situations, a ball in play has extra value. At those times, it's nice to have a good contact hitter at the plate. The A's haven't had many good contact hitters over the years, so Jay Payton was a refreshing change. That doesn't necessarily make him a better player, overall, but the contrast with the recent past helped me enjoy Payton's tenure in Oakland.