Bonds and Collusion

[lovethegame]

let's see, a 43 year old player under indictment isn't drawing interest at the 10 mil level
PS Sosa at half of that is persona non grata as is Piazza
Lying to the Feds drawing an indictment is clearly an issue

[Wade8813]

Yeah, that's kinda funny. There was debate on these forums about whether a team would want him for any amount of money, much less $10 mil.

[stejay]

I don't know. I know that there are a lot of teams who would have Bonds for maybe just one season.

[Old Sweater]

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=74462&page=2

Fehr Says Union Will Investigate Why No Bonds Offers as It Examines Free-agent Market



Tampa Bay acknowledged last month that it had internal discussions about the prospect of pursuing Bonds. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa had interest in Bonds but Cardinals management decided against opening talks.



"I hope that the recommendations Sen. Mitchell made in that regard will be honored," Fehr said. "Obviously, the commissioner showed great respect, and I believe it's fair to say deference, to Sen. Mitchell's recommendations, and this is one of those."

No players have been called in for investigatory interviews since Cleveland pitcher Paul Byrd spoke with baseball lawyers Dec. 17. In addition, hearing dates have not been scheduled for Kansas City outfielder Jose Guillen, who appealed the 15-day suspension Selig imposed in early December.


http://sports.myway.com/news/03182008/v6333.html

Barry Bonds Still Wants to Play This Year


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Mar 19, 4:37 PM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) -Unsigned and thus far unwanted, Barry Bonds still wants to play this year.
"I'm not going to retire. I don't think that's going to happen," he told MLB.com Tuesday. "I'm working out. I'm training. If my phone rings, it rings. If it don't, it don't. I have a cell phone. I have a Blackberry. They work. If something comes up, I'm sure they'll let me know. I'll come back in July if I have to. It depends on the circumstances."

Baseball's home-run king was indicted in November on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice stemming from 2003 grand-jury testimony in which he denied knowingly using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He pleaded innocent.

"I want to win a championship or else I want to keep trying to win a championship until there's nothing left inside me," Bonds said. "I can still play."

http://sports.myway.com/news/03192008/v9685.html

[Dodgerfan1]

"St. Louis manager Tony La Russa had interest in Bonds but Cardinals management decided against opening talks."

Yes, we all know that LaRussa has no qualms about playing guys like that. **Cough!** Canseco.... **Cough!** McGwire...

[digglahhh]

Kinda doesn't make sense that owners, as a group, a group who knowingly acquired, paid, and played steroid users in the past would decide, all of a sudden, to grow a conscience (or feign one) in order to collude against past likely users.

Further, there have been plenty of players with steroid suspicion who have been signed and traded since the steroids backlash, so the basis of the theoretical bias has to be deeper than steroid use.

Bonds is under indictment, and commands eight figures to DH - not surprising the interest isn't huge (although he could certainly help a team that could afford him, assuming he stays out of jail for the season).

Sosa is done. I wouldn't be interested in him either.

Also, what did Piazza do that puts him in this group? Regardless, he's done too.

We might as well be talking about how Lenny Dykstra is being black-balled...

[Old Sweater]

"St. Louis manager Tony La Russa had interest in Bonds but Cardinals management decided against opening talks."

Yes, we all know that LaRussa has no qualms about playing guys like that. **Cough!** Canseco.... **Cough!** McGwire...

Canseco would have ho shot at playing for LaRussa under the same circumstances the Bonds has going.<IMO>McGwire could though. Same for Clemens.

[sturg1dj]

the thing about collusion is

1) the owners have done it before, been caught and paid a fine

2) having it in the collective bargaining agreement was originally the owners' idea to save them the grief of the potential dual holdout/negotiation that happened with Koufax and Drysdale


3) like I said before there are many teams who could use Bonds including at least 3 contenders and 2 large market teams.....the Yankees and Angels. The Yankees DH is Johnny Damon and the Angels is Garret Anderson....don't tell me 10 mil is not a good deal for someone who will give you over 1.000 OPS!


like Fehr said too Bonds has had no offers...so we don't even know what his price is!

[ipitch]

Sosa is done. I wouldn't be interested in him either.

You would think someone would want him. 92 RBIs in 114 games in 2007. That equates to 130 RBIs for a full season.

[sturg1dj]

if Bonds and the union truly think that collusion is going on maybe Bonds should go the Andre Dawson route and through the media give a number that is lower than what is expected. Say Bonds through the media says he would sign a 1 year 5 mil contract. At that point if nobody signs him then you def know something is up.

[digglahhh]

You would think someone would want him. 92 RBIs in 114 games in 2007. That equates to 130 RBIs for a full season.

Right place, right time. The market can keep his .311 OBP unless he's going to play for absolute peanuts AND I have no young players I'm interested getting a good look at.

There are situations in which Sosa could help. Hell, my Mets could use a RH bat coming off the bench who could play a corner OF spot in a real pinch.

But,
He's not worth a real salary.
He's not worth a starting line-up spot
He's not worth blocking the development of a promising youngster.

All told, the fact that he is without a contract is not a "WTF? event." That doesn't mean that I don't think there's a spot for him somewhere in the game, just that it's not some sort of injustice that he doesn't have one.

[bigtime39]

NEI...not enough information!
What clauses can you write into a contract to cover possible indictment, trial and possible imprisonment? Will anybody insure such a contract, if it can be written?
I can think of a couple of AL teams that might take the Bonds risk at a number south of $2MM. I can't think of any team ready to take that risk at $10MM...at least not as of today.

[digglahhh]

3) like I said before there are many teams who could use Bonds including at least 3 contenders and 2 large market teams.....the Yankees and Angels. The Yankees DH is Johnny Damon and the Angels is Garret Anderson....don't tell me 10 mil is not a good deal for someone who will give you over 1.000 OPS!

The Angels are the team people always expect will spend some big money, but they never do. They have a reputation as free spenders, but their actions don't really bear it out.

"...You beer money, I'm all year money.
I'm papi, you ain't gotta count it's all there money
...You got show doe, little to no doe
Sell a buncha records and you still owe doe
I got 996 plus fo' mo' doe,
You crazy, you fugazi, I'm loco with doe, pop-o"

- Jay-Z "Imaginary Playa" (1997)


The Yanks have all the 10+M per year players not guaranteed starting spots any one team needs. Bonds would indeed be an upgrade over Damon or Giambi at DH, but Damon makes like 13M and Giambi close to $20M. It's a lot to ask, even of the Yankees, to relegate players making that kinda coin to the bench to bring in another past-prime slugger who can't play the field at the cost of 10M plus luxury taxes, no matter how good Bonds can still be.

[sturg1dj]

NEI...not enough information!
What clauses can you write into a contract to cover possible indictment, trial and possible imprisonment? Will anybody insure such a contract, if it can be written?
I can think of a couple of AL teams that might take the Bonds risk at a number south of $2MM. I can't think of any team ready to take that risk at $10MM...at least not as of today.

well that is all moot now isn't it since nobody has made him an offer....right?

we don't know what he would do...and at the same time would it hurt a team to open negotiations with him? If they cannot get a good deal then they don't make one. The fact he has received no offers is what is puzzling.

[Old Sweater]

Sosa/RISP/.333ba/.387obp/.593slg/ .980ops

I'd have to say Sosa is worth as much as Luis Gonzalez was last year.(7mil)