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When I was ten or eleven, I remember having a conversation with my dad about Marvin Gaye. He told me that for all of Marvin's talent, he was someone who had trouble with life. My dad said that as I got older, I would encounter people who simply could not figure things out.

Milton Bradley is one of those people.

And while Milton's demise as a Seattle Mariner has been greeted by most with great enthusiasm, I, for one, am not celebrating. Even before the M's acquired Milton in a still brilliant move by Jack Zdruiencik in December 2009, I was one of his bigger supporters. I remember being livid that the A's were able to get Milton from the Dodgers prior to the 2006 season. At the time, I felt like that deal epitomized the vast difference between a forward thinking team like the A's, and a team being run by a special needs GM.

Bradley's talent is undeniable, if not alluring. That's what's kept him in the big league for the past decade. But Bradley's personal demons have robbed him from ever having some normalcy in baseball. Those demons also robbed fans of enjoying someone who should have had a great career.

Milton has played on nearly one-third of the Major League Baseball franchises. And aside from his All-Star season in Texas, he wore out his welcome on every team he played for.

In Milton's final ten days with the Mariners, he got booted from two games for arguing with umpires. The first was while he was on second base in Boston on a play that had nothing to do with him. The second came this past Friday. Milton got a called strike on a pitch that was clearly out of the zone. I could see in his body language that this was going down hill. I turned to my buddy and told him Milton would get tossed. Sure enough, two more called strikes later, and Mt. Milton erupted.

Milton is an enigma. Between the baselines he can be an absolute menace. But in interviews he's soft spoken and incredibly insightful. For every great story you hear about him like this and this, he undoubtedly finds a way to cancel that out with a negative like this gem where Hall of Famer Eddie Murray says about Milton, "I don't like the way he treats people".

I really wish Milton could have figured things out in Seattle. He had to have known that this season was his last chance to stay in baseball for a few more years. He was playing for a new, albeit much smaller contract than the one he signed with the Cubs in 2008.

We wanted to see a focused, driven Milton. Instead, we got ear plugs and constant complaining to umpires about fans heckling him.

It's safe to say that Milton's lackluster performance at the plate the past three seasons, coupled with all of his other baggage will prevent every team that hasn't already taken a chance on him, to pass. There won't be a minor league contract. There won't be a team willing to see if there's a bullet in the chamber.

If there's any good to come out of Milton's baseball career ending, it will be that he can find some peace and happiness in his personal life.

Maybe Milton will finally figure things out. He deserves as much.