Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 11, 2008
Missing Barry

The LoHud Mets Blog asks:

Will anybody miss Barry Bonds this year?

I will. Barry generates news and stats, two of the things I enjoying writing about. As much as I don't like him personally, I'd love to see him have one last shot at baseball redemption. To do that, he needs to play for a team on the edge of contention and take them to the top. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave many options for Bonds. Given that he most likely needs to DH, I'd limit his teams to:

  • Tampa Bay Rays
  • Minnesota Twins
  • Seattle Mariners
  • Oakland Athletics

The Angels, Blue Jays, Indians, Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees and White Sox don't need him, since they all have designated hitters. The Orioles, Royals and Rangers aren't close to competing yet. My guess is that the Mariners would give him the best shot at getting to a World Series, but they would need to eat Vidro's contract. Playing for Tampa Bay would be a great story. He'd bring in the crowds, he'd improve the offense, and if he can lead the team past Boston and New York into the playoffs, he'd end his career on a positive note. Maybe he should make Tampa a deal they can't refuse. Play for a $1 million base salary, with incentives up to $15 million if the make the playoffs, the LCS, the World Series and win the trophy. Someone needs to think outside the box when it comes to hiring Bonds.

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Posted by David Pinto at 12:18 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

MLB rule 3 (b) (5) prevents teams from giving incentives for either player or team performance. Teams might be able to write in an A-Rod style "historical milestones" at, say, 800 HRs, 3000 hits (currently at 2935) or the career lead in Runs (2227, 68 short of Rickey Henderson).

Tampa Bay contending with Bonds would be a great story.

Posted by: Ryne at March 11, 2008 01:04 PM

Bill Clinton committed perjury and lost his law license - but he stayed on his job. Why shouldn't Bonds expect the same treatment?

Posted by: rmt at March 11, 2008 01:17 PM

Ryne,

People put performance bonuses in contracts all the time. Maybe not team performace, but certainly player performance.

Posted by: David Pinto at March 11, 2008 01:19 PM

The only player performance bonuses allowed are quantitative ones like IP and plate appearances, not qualitative ones like HRs and wins. Team bonuses aren't allowed after Schilling's contract in 2004.

Why not just give him a percentage of ticket sales above last year's?

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at March 11, 2008 01:58 PM

I'll miss Bonds, too. Not many players can go down 0-2 and it seems a reasonable thing to say "I bet he draws a walk."

Posted by: Chris at March 11, 2008 02:01 PM

So could Bonds' contract give him a bonus each time he hits a historical milestone, such as a new career homerun record?

Posted by: Capybara at March 11, 2008 02:19 PM

Billy Crystal will play in a game this week and Bonds doesn't have a job?

Bonds may have been injured for 3 years, but Crystal hasn't been intentionally funny since the Yankees last won a World Series.

Posted by: rmt at March 11, 2008 02:20 PM

Is there any evidence that Bonds really brings in the crowds at this point? He already broke the record and I don't get the feeling from talking to many other baseball fans that a lot of people are dying to see him play?

I've heard the argument a lot recently, but I wonder how true it is.

Posted by: Tom at March 11, 2008 02:56 PM

Bill Clinton was acquitted. We'll see what happens to Bonds.

Posted by: rick at March 11, 2008 03:22 PM

Even some of the teams that "don't need him" could use him. Hell, I wouldn't mind if my Yanks signed him. Giambi/Damon/Matsui is a logjam, but only until one (or more) of them get hurt. Good odds there of finding ~400 PAs for Mr. Bonds. Everybody hates the Yankees anyway and the team basically prints money, so what's the downside? Very little, IMO.

Signing him makes a heckuva lot MORE sense for Seattle. Or Toronto. Or even the Rays. Not so much the Twins, IMO, because even with him the Twins won't be in the hunt (the Rays won't either, but for them crossing .500 would be significant).

Posted by: Rob in CT at March 11, 2008 03:27 PM

Rick:

Clinton was not found guilty during the impeachment trial in the Senate.

He avoided perjury charges by agreeing with Whitewater prosecutors to state disbarrment and paying a $ 25,000 fine. He also gave up his Supreme Court bar.

According to the judge at the time, "Regarding Clinton's January 17, 1998, deposition where he was placed under oath, the judge wrote:

"Simply put, the president's deposition testimony regarding whether he had ever been alone with Ms. (Monica) Lewinsky was intentionally false, and his statements regarding whether he had ever engaged in sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky likewise were intentionally false .

Posted by: rmt at March 11, 2008 04:05 PM

Clinton was not acquitted, he took the plea and sacrificed his law license. Bonds is taking his case to the jury, he will get worse treatment if he loses. Re rmt's point, Bonds is employable, at the teams' discretion. It would have been the equivalent of Clinton committing the perjury and taking the deal in an election year. GM's and owner are acting as voters/electors. Bonds will not work cheap; he's an angry unpleasant presence in the clubhouse with major legal baggage. It is no surprise he has been unable to reach terms with any team.

Posted by: abe at March 11, 2008 04:09 PM

Thanks, Hei Lun Chan. I should have clarified: incentives can be based on playing time, but not on performance in that playing time ("skill", according to the rule). I think GS, IP and PA are about all that are allowed. Gate receipts are a maybe, but all that really matters is Selig's rubber stamp, which I'd imagine would be hard to get.

Posted by: Ryne at March 11, 2008 04:36 PM

Right. As noted above, Selig's too busy protecting the game from having a 60-year-old play better in the field than Derek Jeter (which is why they have to sign Crystal at 59 years, 365 days).

Posted by: Ken Houghton at March 11, 2008 06:17 PM

Whatever team looney enough to bring him in had better make sure there is space in the locker room for his TV (that no one else is allowed to watch) and his big comfy chair (that no one should even think of sitting in). Doesn't anybody remember Barry equating the Pirates contract offer to him as being given understanding as to what it is like for a woman to be raped? Does anyone remember? On ESPN he said about the Pirate offer, "Now I know what its like when a woman gets raped". Maybe its just me. Let Barry stay home and relish in all he has accomplished......by himself.

Posted by: Leco at March 11, 2008 07:45 PM

Buster Olney pointed out at his blog on ESPNInsider that the Mets would actually be a good candidate to sign Bonds to cover the time that Moises Alou will be out, and as an extra outfielder/pinch hitter after Alou comes back. His reasons are well thought out:

--Bonds is a better hitter than anyone on the Mets right now;

--Bonds won't have to play full time for very long, assuming Alou makes it back;

--Bonds would be replacing Alou in the outfield, meaning the defensive drop-off wouldn't really be significant;

--the Mets, having signed two known steroid cheats, clearly don't have any moral qualms about tainted or allegedly tainted players.

Hard to argue with all of that, really. The only objection would be if Bonds made unreasonable demands regarding salary or perks.

Posted by: M. Scott Eiland at March 11, 2008 10:00 PM

If Bonds doesn't sign, I'm planning on taking the year off from baseball. Already cancelled my mlb.tv. Annual family (6 person, one series) baseball trip is gone as well for now. Watching Barry Bonds hit is as good as it gets in the regular season, especially if you understand the pitcher-hitter chess game.

Would be major league baseball's loss, as they would no longer be "major league" if they don't have the best hitter. No, Alex Rodriguez is not the best hitter. Nor is Pujols.

Have no idea what he's asking for, but a problem may be that he's asking for what he would be worth if he had the same performance level and a neutral name. The other possibility is that owners are too busy playing politics to put the best team they can on the field. GMs may be too scared to take any job risk because they will be crushed in the press on the 1 in 4 chance Bonds isn't very good or is hurt and wouldn't get any credit unless the team won the World Series, maybe not even then.

Posted by: Joseph at March 11, 2008 10:41 PM

The only one of those teams that's near contending is Seattle - and Bonds isn't going to sign for much less than he made last year and since you have to sacrifice your team for him to get him to play I don't see Tampa Bay, Twinks signing him. I think more likely is if Hafner, Thomas, Sheffield, Giambi/Matsui, Burrell, DelGado/Alou are hurt or aren't producing and their team is init that one of them goes for him. Maybe Seattle or Oakland but I just don't see it.

Posted by: Bandit at March 12, 2008 08:42 AM
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