Bradley will help, but not where needed

The Cubs keep adding pieces, but the player they need might not be out there.

Outfielder Milton Bradley was signed as a free agent Monday. For the 100 to 120 games he'll be healthy, he'll provide considerable offense and inconsiderable defense.

The oft-troubled Bradley also will give the Cubs a clubhouse presence, albeit a dubious one.

What Bradley won't be is a leader with an attitude that spits at the notion of a jinx, hex or curse being the reason the Cubs haven't won a World Series in 100 years.

Seriously, that's what the Cubs need: Somebody who not only relishes the idea of being on the Cubs when they finally win but snarls at a journey pocked with negativity.

No matter what last year's Cubs said, they weren't mentally tough enough to win the 100-year war.

Ryan Dempster said in spring training that the Cubs would win the World Series. Did he really convince you he meant it?

Most Cubs indicated they didn't listen to the chatter. What they needed was somebody who listened to it and smirked at it, somebody who will embrace the predicament rather than endure it.

Now Bradley arrives. He's certainly an in-your-face guy but with too wacko a background for anybody to follow anywhere, much less into a 100-year black hole.

Here's the prototypical guy I'm talking about: Pete Rose, the player not the gambler, though gambling fit neatly into who and what he was.

Rose won a couple of World Series with the Reds, but when he went to Philadelphia in 1979, the Phillies hadn't ever won one.

The first time Rose came to Wrigley Field with the Phils, their future Hall of Fame third baseman made a memorable observation.

Mike Schmidt said that it was great to have Rose on the team because the media flocked around him and left everybody else alone.

Rose was the kind of guy who wanted a piece of all the action, including the pressure on the field, in the clubhouse, with reporters, fans, dignitaries and other celebrities.

Most of all, Rose wanted the challenge of sticking it to anybody who doubted him or his teammates.

Not surprisingly, during Rose's second season in Philadelphia the Phillies won their first world championship.

The Phils' second came last season when another player had the audacity to irritate opponents and challenge fate.

Jimmy Rollins didn't mind saying out loud that the Phillies were better than the more highly regarded Mets.

The first year Rollins said it the Phils beat the Mets out of a division title. The second year they won the World Series.

The Cubs need somebody like Jimmy Rollins and Pete Rose. They need somebody who isn't afraid of coming across as the bad guy, who enjoys being booed on the road, who is obsessed with tucking history into the past.

A few decades ago the major leagues had several veteran players teams wanted for leadership even though they clearly were beyond their primes.

Pete Rose was one of them. Joe Morgan and Don Baylor were others. Now Jimmy Rollins appears headed in that direction.

The Cubs need somebody with that sort of attitude, but I can't think of any who are available.

Milton Bradley will help in some areas, but not that one.

mimrem@dailyherald.com