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Barry Bonds

Bonds Still Not Signed

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Bonds: The Real San Fransisco Treat

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Joe Hamrahl reports that Barry Bonds has agreed to a $16MM contract with the San Francisco Giants to patrol left field in 2007, pending a physical. This coming after San Fransisco failed to land Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Manny Ramirez, Gary Mathews Jr, and Juan Pierre this off-season.

So they get Barry Bonds as a "consolation prize"? At least he gave them a discount from the 2-years/$40MM he reportedly was looking for originally. I’m not too sure anyone is really all that surprised at this point that this is where Barry ended up. I wonder if this is actually more or less than he would have gotten if the Giants had just offered Bonds arbitration.

By Adam Howe

Did Cards Meet With Bonds?

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The Mercury News reports that Tony La Russa met with Barry Bonds’s agent, Jeff Borris, and requested a meeting yesterday.  Walt Jocketty and Borris didn’t exactly deny interest when asked, either.

While pitching is rightfully Jocketty’s top priority, he could have a bargain on his hands here.  The fact is that Bonds would add wins to the 2007 Cardinals.  He’s also a low-risk signing if it can be done for one year.  Plus there’s that little home run record thing to bring increased revenue.

Can you imagine it?  Two .400+ OBP sluggers hitting back-to-back?  That’s Manny/Papi-like.

UPDATE:  Walt Jocketty got fed up with this stuff and told MLB.com, "There’s nothing on Bonds."  In addition, the slugger did not meet with La Russa.

Will’s Mill

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Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus is at the Winter Meetings, and filing reports daily.  Best of all, his notes today are free:

The specific Manny Ramirez deal offered by the Dodgers that the Red Sox turned down was for Jonathan Broxton and Andy LaRoche.  Sounds like it would take one more player (or an equivalent starter instead of Broxton) to get the deal done.  Either that, or the Sox are just showing Manny how valuable he is, and how much they love him.  I get the feeling that the Red Sox and Manny are like a Hollywood couple–let’s say Pam Anderson and Kid Rock–and all the troubles aren’t real, they’re just a way of keeping everybody’s name in the newspaper.  All the time.

The Rangers are in on Mike Piazza.  Anybody else think that Jon Daniels’s strategy is to bid on every single player Billy Beane shows interest in, driving up the price and making it impossible for Billy to acquire players?  He did it with Frank Thomas before Thomas signed with the Blue Jays; maybe he’ll jump into the Alan Embree negotiations next.

Will also prints the idea that Barry Bonds would be well-served by waiting until May to start playing.  Like Roger Clemens did last year, he could pick the team that looks best, and he wouldn’t suffer through a month of intensive coverage in March.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

One Theory About Bonds

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Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus speculates on the lack of interest in free agent slugger Barry Bonds:  perhaps teams are concerned that he will go to jail.

Keith Scherer wrote for BP in August:

"The likelihood of Barry Bonds going to jail if he gets indicted is high. If he gets convicted of perjury, it’s certain. If he gets convicted of perjury, he will go to jail for at least as long as the guys who cooperated, but most likely longer. This means he’s likely to do more than three months. If he gets convicted on tax charges, he could do additional time."

Perhaps a "jail clause" would simply be written into Barry’s contract.

No Interest In Bonds?

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John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle looks at every MLB team and tries to see which might have interest in free agent outfielder Barry Bonds.  Bonds is the top offensive threat remaining among free agents, and he’d probably command a low-risk one-year deal.  If teams are truly all saying no, they are basically saying that Bonds’s baggage outweighs the extra wins he provides. 

I am still not on board with popular opinion, which seems to be that a fan would rather see his or her baseball team lose than have a known steroid user join up.  I suppose that’s the moral high ground, but personally I want my team to load up with the best available players even if they are the scum of the Earth.  That’s just me. (I’m a Cubs fan, maybe losing makes me desperate).

According to Shea and various newspapers, the following clubs are out of the running:

Dodgers
Indians
Rangers
Red Sox
Angels
Blue Jays
Tigers
White Sox
Cubs
Yankees
Mets

Shea names the Giants, Padres, and Orioles as the main suitors, with the Red Sox and Angels perhaps considering it later after things settle.  In a strictly baseball sense, I think the Twins, White Sox, Rangers, Braves, Marlins, Dodgers, and Cards should be in on him.  Perhaps one of those clubs will stomach the cheating and emerge as a dark horse.

A’s Considering Bonds

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Now that Frank Thomas is out of the picture, the A’s need a DH again.  It’s no surprise that Barry Bonds would be a good fit–after all, the A’s need to find somebody to replace Thomas’s production, and there aren’t many options out there to do that. 

Billy Beane has been chatting with Bonds’s agent, so it would appear that the A’s have no objection to taking on Bonds’s baggage.  Certainly they managed just fine with their share of "problem" guys last year.  As Lew Wolff points out in the linked article, though, Bonds may out of the A’s price range, especially if the Padres make Barry a top target.

By Jeff Sackmann

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