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Rays Never Serious About Bonds
The whole Barry Bonds to Tampa Bay storyline has been well overblown, as Cork Gaines has written numerous times. Jon Heyman recently talked to a "Rays person" who put the odds at 100 to 1.
Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, says "People are being cheated" by not being able to see Bonds play. Interesting choice of words. Beyond the mild Tony La Russa flirtation, Heyman notes one anonymous AL GM who wanted Bonds but had his owner veto the idea.
Let's see what MLBTR readers think about this situation. Will Barry Bonds play for a Major League team in 2008? Take the survey here and look at the results here.
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My guess is that someone will pick him up after ST when we get through all the late signings, trades, and injuries and each team has had a chance to let all the pieces fall into place. Only then will teams be able to evaluate whether the media circus will be worth having him around.
Posted by: FineHamAbounds | February 27, 2008 at 09:09 AM
Dang. I really thought his OBP would have looked good in that Rays line up.
Posted by: wihargo | February 27, 2008 at 09:38 AM
The Rays obviously aren't serious about winning then either.
Posted by: celtics464 | February 27, 2008 at 10:11 AM
The Rays just gave $3 million to Cliff Floyd to DH. So signing Bonds would potentially be a waste of the $3MM given to Floyd.
But more importantly, the Rays have new uniforms, new colors, a new name, new logos. and they are trying to market that brand to the public. the last thing they want is for the worlds first experience with that new brand to be in the form of the most hated person in sports.
Posted by: Cork Gaines | February 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM
I think Bonds would be an awesome match for Cleveland. Replace Dellucci with Bonds and you have a serious upgrade. Imagine that lineup... Sizemore leading off, Bonds batting third followed by Hafner and V-Mart.
Lets be honest, they are going to have to upgrade their offense if they want to try to compete with the Tigers this year.
Posted by: lordsimmons | February 27, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Technically they made new logos because the Devil Rays name and logo was associated with a losing franchise in the area. Bonds in Tampa finishes off putting a legit winning team in the Trop for the first time ever. They want to associate the Rays with winning. What better way than by bringing in the best hitter of all time.
Posted by: celtics464 | February 27, 2008 at 11:13 AM
I think that teams are more waiting to see his legal status rather than waiting to see how their pieces fall into place.
Posted by: worldcupfever | February 27, 2008 at 12:01 PM
It's very possible that Selig has put his imprint on the Bonds' situation as well.
Owners don't like offending the commissioner - he's been good to them.
Some teams will do it (going over slot on draft picks), but it comes with a price - at least a little bit of lost good will between that franchise and Selig.
If Selig has issued a silent/confidential "Avoid Bonds" memo, then defying that would be far more severe than going over slot.
Perhaps that alone wouldn't be enough to stop teams. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was some perceived pressure from the commissioner's office to avoid him - and if there is, that's yet another red flag (along with team chemistry concerns, legal concerns, alienating the fan base, etc.)
Posted by: notsellingjeans | February 27, 2008 at 04:05 PM
But what power does Selig really have?
Posted by: wihargo | February 27, 2008 at 04:15 PM
If a team that is trying to win won't sign arguably the greatest slugger of all time simply because the Commissioner sent out a memo asking them not to, then thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Yeah, I'm gonna let my team do worse this season, just so I don't piss off the guy who benefits the guy I work for.
I understand there are a lot of negatives to signing Bonds, but offending Selig should not one of them.
Posted by: scribbletone | February 27, 2008 at 04:53 PM
I'd love to see Bonds play in Japan for any team other than the Yomiuri Giants, they've alredy pillaged Central league rivals of their best foreign players. Man, if you thought Bonds was a circus freak in the States he'd be something else in Japan.
Posted by: 5ToolFarmHand | February 27, 2008 at 06:00 PM
Whatever, I really hope Clemens, Bonds, and Piazza wind up on the same HOF ballot. Three guys who, just looking at their baseball careers, are no question, first ballot guys. But when Piazza gets in and Bonds and Clemens don't, we can finally start to feel like the steriod era is ending.
Posted by: MEddler | February 27, 2008 at 08:12 PM
I really hope Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz all end up on the same ballot with Bonds, Sosa, Clemens, Palmeiro and McGwire.
Posted by: scribbletone | February 27, 2008 at 09:50 PM
Bonds should sign with a Japanese team with an opt-out at any time during the season. Then he can just wait for the Yankees and Red Sox to get into a bidding war once the inevitable injuries to their outfielders/DHs hit.
Posted by: ColonelTom | February 27, 2008 at 11:04 PM
"It's very possible that Selig has put his imprint on the Bonds' situation as well."
After what happened with LaRussa and the unnamed GM, don't be surprised if the Union files a grivence for possible collusion. I can name half a dozen teams who if they signed Bonds would have good upgrade at DH. If he can improve the club and can sign Bonds for cheap, teams should be a lot more interested then they are now.
If Selig wanted to prevent Bonds from playing, he should just suspend him under the 'best interests' clause. If owners are feeling pressured not to sign him, that's collusion and could get MLB in a lot of trouble again.
Posted by: Peter_24601 | February 29, 2008 at 05:13 AM