BONDS AND HIS 15.8!

In a sports world that has overpaid players with overpaid contracts in overpaid environments, baseball has its latest example. Amidst the steroid controversy comes the most ridiculous contract yet. Homerun king and ultimate slugger, Barry Bonds has his new deal and it leaves me ultimately questioning the San Francisco Giants for paying this man ridiculous amounts of money in the first place.

Sure, Bonds is what he is. He’s now entering his 15^th season at 42 years of age with a whopping 734 career homerun total in pursuit of Hank Aaron’s prestigious homerun mark of 755 blasts. He’s won 2 batting titles, 8 Gold Gloves and has been an All-Star an incredible 13 times. Even still, my first question after seeing that Bonds signed a healthy 15.8 million dollar deal for the upcoming 2007 season is…What does he have left in his tank that would justify paying him THAT MUCH? Barry is only 21 dongs away from glory and realistically he’ll probably do that this season even if he has another one of those “play every now and then and slump” type of years. But is he worth it? Stats don’t lie and according to stats alone he very well might be…4 years ago. But this isn’t 4 years ago. It’s 2007. It’s that time in Bond’s career where he has to consider stepping down from the game and watching talented youngsters take over. That also being said, with the homerun record within his grasp…Why should he?

 

It’s pretty obvious as to why San Fran signed Barry again as opposed to any other team. Barry is respected in San Francisco. He is cheered in the Bay Area where as anywhere else he might not be. That also being said, why should you have the kind of distractions on your team that Bonds can bring? There was talk about Bonds possibly moving to the American League to become a DH whereas obviously in the National League he’d have to play leftfield. That in itself has now become more of a liability then anything else. The simple truth is that San Francisco is about the only place this man can still play and be hailed. According to Bonds, “If you’re lucky enough not to have any injuries or nagging problems, you’re going to have a good season but I can’t predict what’s going to happen. I’m just going to go out there and pray to God that everything holds up.” Yeah but will it? Now that baseball is supposedly cracking down on the steroid controversy, will it surround him so much in these final year/s of his career to really do enough damage to him and his team that we don’t see Aaron’s record broken? And what if we do? Will Bonds be looked upon as the true homerun king or will the steroid scandal continue to shatter the record they said simply couldn’t be broken? It’s nothing that a little bit of clear and the cream won’t fix right?

The Giants themselves just got finished signing ex-A’s pitcher – Barry Zito to the richest pitcher’s contract in the history of the game (126 million). So now they stretch their pockets even deeper to sign the infamous Bonds? Well, he certainly still puts fear into opposition pitchers who aren’t as frightened to come hard at him any longer but still get weary of doing it every now and then.

Earlier this month it was reported that Bonds said a substance he took from teammate Mark Sweeney’s locker led him to fail a test last season for amphetamines. Bonds later apologized to Sweeney and said the Giants’ first baseman had nothing to do with the matter but your thoughts on the matter are already out, Barry. Blaming another player for your own drug use? Gee, what a refreshing thought. NOT! This is the kind of thing that a team just doesn’t shake off, nor will Mark Sweeney. Instead, Sweeney will always be remembered as the loser who contributed to the downfall of Bonds instead of his own baseball career which is truly a shame. How can incidents like this one not shake up an already shook up team from dealing with Bonds and his problems? Obviously, Bonds already wasn’t the most liked player in the San Fran dugout and word is he keeps to himself instead of being a team guy. Well, when you say things like this, it takes special treatment of a special superstar to even consider re-signing him again. Obviously, the Giants are more concerned about the balance in their lineup with the feared Barry Bonds in it then their own team unity.

The contract itself was loaded with stipulations for a change and I think in the Giants’ case that’s a good thing. With A federal grand jury investigating whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in his steroid distribution case that he hadn’t knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs still looming, contractual decisions had to be made on what to pay Bonds should he get indicted. Apparently, Bonds’ trainers - Harvey Shields and Greg Oliver – will no longer be on the Giants’ payroll and that means no special treatment around the clubhouse for Bonds and his people any longer. There won’t be any trainers’ lockers situated next to Bonds’ any longer. There won’t be any other restricted area in any big league ballpark either and the Giants were clear in saying that if these trainers were to make road trips with Bonds, it would come out of their personal pockets or Bonds’. The Giants were smart to lay those restrictions down, but again, to me, 734 homeruns or not, Bonds certainly is not worth 15.8 million dollars for next season.

 

He’s still feared. He can still crush a ball. He’s still BARRY BONDS! The trouble is he’s no longer the same Barry Bonds. Obviously, the Giants don’t care. Barry is San Fran and San Fran is Barry, at least for another season. Do we cheer him? Do we want to see Aaron’s record broken by him? Will the steroid scandal still be in the front of people’s minds when he does break it? Who cares? As of right now Aaron still owns the record and the fact of the matter is at 15.8 for next season, the infamous legend is FAR OVERPAID!

 

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