Barry Bonds

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.