Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 25, 2008
No Barry in St. Louis

Tony La Russa wanted Barry Bonds to hit behind Albert Pujols:

"When you look at somebody dangerous to hit behind Albert, Barry was the guy I thought of," La Russa acknowledged before Sunday's workout. "For whatever reason, at the general manager or the ownership level, they didn't agree."

La Russa said he consulted his coaching staff before making the recommendation and received a positive response from some, but not all.

Any intrigue surrounding the possibility evaporated when Mozeliak concurred with the owners that signing Bonds would run counter to the club's stated commitment this season to younger players.

"It became moot as soon as I raised it and they said no," La Russa said.

Mozeliak confirmed discussing the matter as well as underscoring his lack of enthusiasm for the idea.

"Tony and I discussed it. I never got the feeling this was something he wanted to push for. He had some interest in it," Mozeliak said. "To me, to bring in somebody as protection in case something happened is a very different equation."

La Russa has a history of tolerating players accused of using steroids. I'm sure Bonds would have had a positive effect on Rick Ankiel. :-)

However, Tony is right. Pujols and Bonds back-to-back would give the Cardinals a scary offense. If this was a team that needed one piece to be able to compete, it would be a great signing. Given their pitching woes, however, that's not likely to happen.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:03 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Because a "young" Ryan Ludwick or Skip Shumaker are so much more productive than Barry Bonds. A team that actually wants to win should sign him just to stick it in MLB's eye. How Bonds is somehow "not worth it" (even at what? 43) is beyond me.

Team to Selig: We're thinking of signing Bond.
Selig: No
Team: Why?
Selig: Well...because he's bad.
Team: No, he's still pretty good...at least at hitting.
Selig: No, he's bad.
Team: No...pretty good.
Selig: I say don't sign him.
Team: What if we do?
Selig: Well...I won't come to your games.
Team: Really? Great, we're signing him.

Posted by: Kent at February 25, 2008 09:54 AM

The roid taint around LaRussa is staggering. Pujols should have killed this himself, guilt by association.

Posted by: abe at February 25, 2008 10:04 AM

Any intrigue surrounding the possibility evaporated when Mozeliak concurred with the owners that signing Bonds would run counter to the club's stated commitment this season to younger players.

Translation: "Our pitchers and outfielders will shoot me dead if I even *think* about putting that gimpy old man out in left field. For God's sake, even the Giants didn't want him out there any more."

Posted by: M. Scott Eiland at February 25, 2008 04:20 PM

Myth #42: Barry Bonds is a hobbling disaster in left.

Check out any defensive rating system you wish; heck, you're commenting here, so check out PMR:

http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/DisplayCharts.py?PlayerID=1109&fpos=7&year=2007

Bonds is a mediocre-to-subpar defender, but his bat more than makes up for his glove.

I'm pretty sure that there are 29 teams that would be improved by making Bonds an everyday player. I can't quite justify it for Boston, given Manny and Ortiz, but if Manny doesn't bounce back Bonds would be an improvement with the bat *and* the glove:

http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/DisplayCharts.py?PlayerID=210&fpos=7&year=2007

----

The lack of interest in Bonds has everything to do with the off-field stuff. On the field, he's still one of the best players in baseball, even at 43.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at February 26, 2008 02:07 AM

Myth #42: Barry Bonds is a hobbling disaster in left.

You're right - he's worse than that.

Posted by: Bandit at February 26, 2008 08:27 AM

There are plenty of bad LFers out there. The fact is that Bonds is still a very productive player, even at his age. All the "he's this" or "he's that" or "he just needs to go away" crap is being fed to us (see: Ken Rosenthal's latest). This is PROFESSIONAL baseball and like it or not, Barry Bonds has another season or two left in the the tank to help a team W-I-N. I'd have him on my team and the only factor against that would be if he refuses to budge on his contract demands (i.e. if he wants last year's salary). And Cardinals fans...you'd rather have Shumaker's dirty uniform vs. Bonds' bat?

Posted by: Kent at February 26, 2008 09:37 AM

Frighteningly, Bonds was actually better in left that Duncan last year, at least by PMR.

As far as Pujols "killing this", he can only do so much; be not endorsing it, he effectively denounced it without being unprofessional. I'd say he handled it perfectly.

Posted by: SleepyCA at February 26, 2008 02:01 PM
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