Bonds Still Not Signed
Ugh. Do we still care about this story? I was thinking about ignoring it entirely. Why is the Barry Bonds contract negotiation happening in public? We don’t need to see the back and forth.
Bonds’s agent, Jeff Borris, told the AP yesterday that Bonds still isn’t signing the latest version of the deal. There’s some disagreement over a personal appearances provision. We all know how personable Barry is. The commissioner’s office rejected this portion of the deal.
Borris also doesn’t think the indictment clause in the contract can be enforced, though he agreed to it. The collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow for such a provision. The Mercury News suggests the Giants included the indictment clause for appearances’ sake.
I just don’t get why Borris is choosing to negotiate in public. How does that help him or Bonds?
Bonds Still Not Signed
Ugh. Do we still care about this story? I was thinking about ignoring it entirely. Why is the Barry Bonds contract negotiation happening in public? We don’t need to see the back and forth.
Bonds’s agent, Jeff Borris, told the AP yesterday that Bonds still isn’t signing the latest version of the deal. There’s some disagreement over a personal appearances provision. We all know how personable Barry is. The commissioner’s office rejected this portion of the deal.
Borris also doesn’t think the indictment clause in the contract can be enforced, though he agreed to it. The collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow for such a provision. The Mercury News suggests the Giants included the indictment clause for appearances’ sake.
I just don’t get why Borris is choosing to negotiate in public. How does that help him or Bonds?
Bonds Deal Complete
According to the AP, Barry Bonds has officially signed with the Giants for one year and $15.8MM. We can finally get on with our lives. Bonds can earn another $4.2MM through playing time incentives.
San Francisco’s lineup should look something like this (PECOTA projections follow):
1. Dave Roberts (CF) – .295/.365/.407
2. Omar Vizquel (SS) – .288/.354/.403
3. Rich Aurilia/Ryan Klesko (1B) – .277/.335/.440 and .266/.373/.418
4. Barry Bonds (LF) – .267/.441/.535
5. Ray Durham (2B) – .304/.373/.500
6. Pedro Feliz (3B) – .262/.312/.442
7. Bengie Molina (C) – .278/.323/.433
8. Randy Winn (RF) – .298/.355/.444
The Giants sure wouldn’t mind to see Winn bounce back to that level. Overall, the offense should be OK when healthy. The Giants are below average at the infield corners but above average elsewhere.
Still No Deal For Bonds
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Barry Bonds is still in contract talks with the Giants. There’s nothing right now – Bonds chose not to sign a letter of agreement when the two parties initially agreed on a figure. It may be that the Giants are trying to carefully back out of the deal. I still don’t believe that Bonds would be left without a team though. A couple of teams would happily emerge to get him at $10 million or so.
The New York Times says the hangup remains Bonds’s conduct and entourage. Ray Ratto’s source calls it a coin-flip.
I projected Bonds to hit 27 home runs in 340 ABs in my ’07 fantasy guide.
Bonds Fails Amphetamine Test
According to a New York Daily News exclusive, Barry Bonds failed an amphetamine test during the 2006 season. The newspaper has several sources saying that Bonds indicated teammate Mark Sweeney as the source when informed of his failure. Sweeney’s agent denies it. Sweeney and Bonds have discussed the situation, which Bonds labeled as a misunderstanding.
There was no penalty for failing an amphetamine test for the first time except for regularly scheduled drug tests. A player’s first failure is to be confidential but it leaked out in this case. Right now it’s just another black mark on baseball’s favorite villain.
The NY Daily News also reports in a separate story that the sticking points in the Bonds negotiations are his desire to have his entourage back and language over possible legal problems.
Boston Globe Trade Rumors
Aside from the aforementioned Roger Clemens tidbit, Nick Cafardo’s recent Boston Globe column is packed with interesting info. A brief summary follows.
Cafardo believes the Red Sox will add one more reliever and then sort out the closer situation in spring. The Cordero, Lidge, and Gonzalez talks didn’t go anywhere. The idea of returning to Jon Papelbon, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense and isn’t out of the question. Failing that, Julian Tavarez could be the favorite. Shaky alternatives (Brendan Donnelly, Mike Timlin, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen) abound.
A source told Cafardo that Matt Clement wants to prove everyone wrong and could be throwing by springtime. Maybe he just wants to cash in after his walk year. Clement had rotator cuff surgery at the end of September.
Rodrigo Lopez has gotten interest from five teams. A move to St. Louis or somewhere like that could help him quite a bit.
Carl Everett and Sammy Sosa may need to play in the independent leagues to convince some team to give them a shot. Two of baseball’s finest role models, right there.
Mark Mulder is still looking at the Cards, Rangers, and Indians for his options. The Tribe has offered two years and $8MM with another $7MM in incentives. The Rangers offer less than $8MM guaranteed but a possible package of $18.75MM instead of $15MM.
The Giants would still like to recruit David Wells despite their signing of Barry Zito. Such a move would push Jonathan Sanchez to the bullpen. The Phillies, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Mets may also be interested in Wells.
Barry Zito Giants Projections
Check out my new Barry Zito Giants projection over at RotoAuthority.com.
The new ZiPS projection for Zito calls for a 4.00 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 216 innings.
Haven’t seen Zito’s PECOTA quote yet but I’m sure it’s forthcoming.
Surveying the blog world on the signing:
McCovey Chronicles seems confused. I can sympathize; I felt this way when the Cubs signed Alfonso Soriano. El Lefty Malo is kind of neutral about the signing. Athletics Nation is going through the five stages of grief, on the other hand.
Giants Sign Barry Zito
UPDATE: Peter Gammons is reporting that the Giants have signed Zito for seven years and approximately $126MM. The deal is said to include an $18MM option for 2014. The Yankees did not make a formal offer. San Francisco’s rotation now looks like this:
Matt Cain
Barry Zito
Noah Lowry
Matt Morris
Jonathan Sanchez
UPDATE: T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that the Rangers have been told Zito has rejected their six-year, $80MM offer. A source told Sullivan that the Rangers expect Zito to sign with San Francisco.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Giants are the frontrunners for Barry Zito and are willing to give him a $100MM contract. The Yankees, Mets, and Rangers aren’t expected to be in that ballpark and don’t want to give him six years. Seattle, however, could get crazy and make such a bid. That would cap a terrible offseason for Bill Bavasi in grand fashion.
The Yankees talked to the Giants about Randy Johnson, but Brian Sabean was not interested. Word is that Johnson is not old enough for San Francisco.
One more note from the column – Sherman mentions Tomo Ohka as a lesser option for Texas. Whether that’s purely speculation is unclear.
Zito seems unlikely to sign before New Year’s Day.
Mariners In On Randy Johnson?
I scoured what seemed like a dozen Randy Johnson articles, most of which had the same themes we were hearing yesterday: the Yanks don’t have to trade Johnson, the vacancy could go to Zito or Clemens, the Diamondbacks are in the thick of things, the Padres are the frontrunners, the Dodgers are just driving up the price, and the Giants and Angels are the dark horses.
Joseph A. Reaves of the Arizona Republic has a slightly different take, though: he says the Mariners have surfaced as a potential trade partner. It’s just a one-line mention, but I haven’t seen it confirmed elsewhere yet. I will try. Additionally, Reaves writes that the Dodgers are not interested.
Newday’s Ken Davidoff weighs in on the side of reason: he doesn’t want to trade a decent 200 inning starter. I also agree with him in that Kei Igawa can easily be pushed to the pen for two-thirds of a season if Roger Clemens is brought aboard. The Yanks aren’t so stacked with good starting pitching as to make Johnson expendable.
Giants Offered Zito Four Years?
Will Carroll posted yesterday at BP Unfiltered with some info from the rumor mill.
Carroll confirms that growing sentiment that the Rangers are out on Barry Zito. He also volunteers some new info: the Giants offered a four-year deal to the southpaw. That would have to be at least $70MM. Carroll expects a decision from Zito next week.
He also hints at a big three-team deal with three major players involved. Will cruelly decided not to name names.