rich man bored man
“I haven’t received any offers on Barry since he became a free agent,” said (Barry) Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris. (Source)
So, you know, naturally, the owners are conspiring against baseball’s grand poobah. That’s the obvious conclusion, right?
All of this seems to follow the release of Frank Thomas by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays dropped Thomas on his ass because he wasn’t hitting, and they wanted to give his spot to other players who might be able to carry their fair share. Speculation grew from there — if the Jays didn’t have a DH, wouldn’t that mean they needed one? Wouldn’t they want the most powerful one? Wouldn’t they want the Queen hisself?
Then Oakland picked up Thomas’s contract, and suddenly the question was: whoa, if Oakland needed a power-hitting DH so badly, why hadn’t they called Barry before signing Frank? Cue suspicion and manufactured intrigue. And once there’s enough suspicion and intrigue, cue Barry. Whining. Via proxy.
But I don’t buy it, and I don’t think anybody who follows the game does, either. Barry Bonds cheated. I believe that. Some people still don’t; some people don’t care. But nobody can deny the baggage that Bonds drags around. The posturing. The hurled syringes. The sneer. But is that enough for baseball’s owners to secretly agree not to hire him?
Tom Verducci wrote this for Sports Illustrated:
The risks? The possibilities that he poisons the clubhouse, challenges the manager’s authority (think he’s going to listen to John Gibbons, such as if he asks him to stretch with the team?), demands special treatment, brings media and legal distractions, breaks down physically, turns 43 in July at a time when stars of the Steroid Era are falling off career cliffs, and generally harms whatever team culture an organization has established. As Jays president Paul Godfrey told a Toronto radio station, 680 News, back in March when Jays officials ruled out Bonds after, oh, five minutes of thought, “We all agreed unanimously that Barry Bonds would be a major distraction to the team.”
Emphasis at the end there is all mine. Owners aren’t colluding against Barry Bonds. They just don’t want him.
And really, when you see this photo, who would?
Comment on this entry
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May 7th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
[…] deeplyshallow wrote an interesting post today on rich man bored manHere’s a quick excerptAs Jays president Paul Godfrey told a Toronto radio station, 680 News, back in March when Jays officials ruled out Bonds after, oh, five minutes of thought, “W… […]
May 7th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
[…] deeplyshallow wrote an interesting post today on rich man bored manHere’s a quick excerpt“I haven’t received any offers on Barry since he became a free agent,” said (Barry […]
May 7th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
[…] deeplyshallow wrote an interesting post today on rich man bored manHere’s a quick excerpt“I haven’t received any offers on Barry since he became a free agent,” said (Barry […]
May 8th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Aw CRAP… I demand that you remove that image from my brain immediately.
But seriously, if a team does pick him up, the real question is would you put him on YOUR (fantasy) team?
May 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
If I did, I think the rest of my players would quit in protest.