The gut reaction is that the story making the rounds today that the Blue Jays briefly discussed trying to sign Barry Bonds is part of a larger fiction.
Paul Godfrey was on Toronto radio (AM680) today and related that they had talks that "lasted about five minutes" about signing Bonds. It doesn't pass the sniff test. Chalk it up to the feeling that major-league baseball would not mind having some plausible deniability with regard to the Bonds issue. The weeks will become months. Bonds will stay unsigned and people will cry conspiracy, but good luck proving it when there's a cache of news stories the Tampa Bay Rays or Toronto Blue Jays gave him some consideration.
Bonds is a headache times a thousand, but he averaged a home run every 12.1 at-bats last season while having to drag his tired old body out to left field. He slugged .565, led the National League in on-base percentage and he's still one of the 30 best hitters in the game. He could still play, but, as you know, he has more baggage than Mila Mulroney.
The opinion here about his perjury case remains the same: "Thirty years? He won't serve a day."
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"Acted in concert", or, "came to a universal consensus that the 43 year old was washed up and way more trouble than he was worth." I'll take door #2. This is pro sports, and if someone thought for a second that Barry could help them sell some tickets and win some games, they would sign him in a heartbeat. Signing him, though, would cause fan backlash in most cities, and it is far from clear that Barry could still contribute even as a DH. He has made his own bed.
Point of clarification: He is way more trouble than he's worth. It is clear, though, that Bonds could contribute as a designated hitter. His on-base-plus-slugging last year was above 1.000 and that was when he had to haul his tired old bones out to left field. He could DH for 115-120 games.
Point of clarification: He is way more trouble than he's worth. It is clear, though, that Bonds could contribute as a designated hitter. His on-base-plus-slugging last year was above 1.000 and that was when he had to haul his tired old bones out to left field. He could DH for 115-120 games.
That's the thing, though: the Jays already have one slugging DH who can't play anywhere else in Frank Thomas, who's both younger and doesn't have image problems. There's absolutely no need for them to seriously look at Bonds. It would make much more sense for other teams who have had trouble producing from the DH slot(i.e. the Seattle Mariners) to take a flyer on Bonds from a strictly baseball standpoint: as you pointed out, though, his off-field baggage scares teams off.
The Jays already having a DH and Bonds' baggage — Mila Mulroney's aide-de-camp didn't travel with so much baggage — goes without saying.
The point here is that baseball really, really wants Bonds to go away. It helps their case if it leaks out from time to time that a team considered him; the last thing they want is to turn him into another Pete Rose-style anti-hero.
TSN mentioned this morning that Bonds might wind up in the independent Atlantic League: any thoughts on that? Think he'd rather do that than retire?
The best tack with that would be believe it when you see it, but don't dismiss it out of hand. The Atlantic League plays a 140-game season; it's by far the best among the indie leagues. It would be a sideshow, but it's independent baseball. They love sideshows.
Former Lynx leadoff hitter Keith Reed just signed with the Newark Bears, by the way. He apparently had a great season there last year.
All these Mila Mulroney jokes... surely you're not THAT old, Neate.
Mila jokes are always in style, just like the lady herself.
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