Will Bonds ever play again?
Indictment or no indictment, Barry Bonds is just 21 homeruns shy
of the All-Time record and he’s sitting at home without a job. Yet
he can still play the game, wants to, and he’s not more than 65
years old.
Will Bonds ever play again?
Indictment or no indictment, Barry Bonds is just 21 homeruns shy of the All-Time record and he’s sitting at home without a job. Yet he can still play the game, wants to, and he’s not more than 65 years old.
Is this a trick question or something?
I ask, what is the matter with the Giants front office or any other team for that matter who won’t sign Barry Bonds?
If the Dallas Cowboys can take a chance on T.O., someone’s got to sign the greatest free agent slugger of his time. It just doesn’t make sense, with or without the steroid case brewing.
It makes no sense.
Bonds wants to remain a Giant. He put the McCovey Cove on the map. People in this area are about the only fans that still love him and want to see him do well and he’s from here.
So why balk at signing him?
Simply put, the San Francisco Giants are Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Barry Bonds.
Sure, no one knows what lurks in Bonds’ off-the-field future. That’s a question only grand jurors and federal prosecutors can answer for sure but we all know what lurks in his on-field future – and that’s the most coveted record in sports.
Right now, he’s only 21 jacks away from surpassing Hank Aaron on the all-time homerun list. Why wouldn’t anyone in the Giants’ front office want to see a Bay Area guy set it in front of his most beloved fans? It just makes no sense.
All the hoopla and media frenzy will follow Bonds wherever he goes will intensify the closer he gets to the record. Just as the steroid issue will, too, and obviously a lot of clubs don’t want to touch that with a 10-foot pole, but controversy as well as boos have been following Bonds for years. It’s just part of the territory when you’re the best. Some people love you and others are jealous and hate you. But how does that have any negative ramifications on the Giants organization, I ask? Look what his 754th homerun will do for the team’s revenue.
Steroids or not, this guy is the best baseball player that anyone under the age of 50 has ever seen. So why don’t any of the GMs throughout the league want to gamble on him? And how much of a gamble is it in signing a man who will eventually have the title of the most prolific homerun hitter of all time?
Obviously the fear here is over signing him without an indictment clause in his contract. What else can it be? This is a Hall of Famer who wants to play.
His agent has said time and time again that Bonds will play next year, but the question is where?
The obvious answer should be right up U.S. 101 with the Giants. But as more time passes by that’s looking less and less likely, especially since the club seemed more hell bent on signing Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee or some other high-profile free agent than Bonds, based on the club’s recent actions.
But with the opportunity for any of those players fading away Bonds will probably end up being the only big time cleanup guy left for the Giants to pursue.
So why won’t they spend it on Bonds?
Other than the scenery, the guy has been the only reason to go to AT&T Park in the first place.
It’s not because of a lack of money. The Giants have shown they have many dollars to spend, after allowing players making well over $50 million to become free agents.
When the team didn’t offer Bonds arbitration last Friday, at least one message that sent was that the Giants want him to take a pay cut if he returns. But when the bartering is done, money shouldn’t be the ultimate reason Bonds stays or goes.
The real reason should be what he’s done for the game, the record books and, most importantly, the San Francisco Giants and their fans…
