This article has been submitted by Stu Wilkinson.
It’s time. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is over, which means it’s time to get down to business for the teams that consider themselves contenders for a berth in the World Series. As we saw last year with the Colorado Rockies, the goal for teams not named the Boston Red Sox should be making the playoffs. Once you’re playing in October, anything can happen. Of course, absolutely nothing will happen if your team ends up playing the Red Sox. That’s just a juggernaut.
To increase their chances of getting into the playoffs some teams will make big trades on or around the July 31st trading deadline. We’ve already seen Milwaukee deal prospects for C.C. Sabathia and the Cubs do the same for Rich Harden. More swaps involving prospects and established players will be made as the summer wears on. Why on Earth, however, would a baseball bigwig pull the trigger on giving up some blue chip prospects for a rental player when the greatest player of all time is available as a free agent and willing to play for the league minimum? Ladies and gentlemen, you have forgotten Barry Bonds!
Sure, the guy probably cheated more than the Duke Blue Devils. And sure, his agent says that a comeback this year is unlikely. But come on people! You’re telling me that one of the greatest players of all time is sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring right now and a team won’t roll the dice on him? Do baseball teams not want to win the World Series this year? I am legitimately outraged!
Last season Bonds had a .480 OBP. He hit 28 more home runs than the entire Blue Jays organization has hit this season. He’s probably got enough HGH left in his body to fuel next year’s Kentucky Derby winner. He can still play, and he still wants to win a championship to cement his legacy as the greatest baseball player of all-time. How can teams deny that?
I honestly can’t see the season passing without Barry signing with someone. Eventually someone is going to break and bring him on board. Hopefully it’ll be the Yankees because that would be incredible (either Bonds, Griffey, or Jason Bay MUST end up with my Bronx Bombers), but any team will do. Can you imagine a World Series game in the final year of Yankee Stadium with Barry Bonds involved? Barry Bonds wearing pinstripes? I would pay silly money to see that.
How about the Tampa Bay Rays signing Bonds to put them over the top in the race for the AL East? Or the White Sox bringing him on board, allowing him to start his career wearing a gangster Pittsburgh Pirates hat and end it wearing a gangster White Sox hat. The two teams I can’t see Barry going to are the Red Sox (too much good mojo there to bring Barry on board) and the Cubs (don’t know why, I just don’t see it). Other than that there is no reason for him to be sitting out this year’s baseball playoffs. Oh, and don’t tell me you didn’t get excited by those last couple paragraphs.
It’s not even all about wanting to see Bonds make one last run in the postseason. Look, the steroid era is pretty much over. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Roger Clemens, the other three horsemen of baseball’s performance-enhanced apocalypse, have all faded away. Can’t baseball give me one last moment of glory with the one of the game’s most hated figures? Come on, Mike Vick’s never going to be back in the NFL, Mike Tyson will never be a legitimate boxer, and John Daly’s not exactly tearing up the PGA Tour. Barry Bonds is my only hope for a legitimate villain or crazy person to come back and make a run at a championship. This obviously does not count the NBA, where crazy is par for the course.
Today’s baseball players simply don’t bring enough craziness or dickishness to the table to get me pumped up to watch America’s pastime. It’s time for change people. It’s time to make baseball exciting again. If we all band together and stop badmouthing Barry Bonds, perhaps baseball’s bigwigs will stop blackballing him. Perhaps we can stem the flood of hate and put up sandbags of forgiveness. We will turn the tide and help give one of America’s greatest heroes one last chance to redeem himself. Yes we can!
This article has been submitted by Stu Wilkinson.
#1 by TSmith on July 29th, 2008
+1 for the tag: illegal labor relations practices
#2 by Rob Shaw on July 29th, 2008
Bonds looks slightly bigger in his Giants uniform than he does in his Pirates uniform. The Giants halloween colours must really bring out the size of your muscles…maybe thats why guys love halloween so much.
#3 by khandor on July 29th, 2008
As I mentioned in this space when the Toronto released Frank Thomas, this edition of the Blue Jays is but 2 moves away from reaching full contender status …
1) Replacing John Gibbons … for which Cito Gaston was the PERFECT fit;
and,
2) Adding a Left-handed Power Bat … for which Barry Bonds is the best AVAILABLE fit, if the team is serious about challenging for a post-season berth this year.
Interesting times, once again, in Blue Jay land.
2 games above .500 … and climbing.
#4 by Patrick on July 29th, 2008
As well as the Jays have been playing as of late and as much as it pains me to say, Bonds will not get the Jays into the play offs this season. I think they Jays can make a late season run, but I don’t think the addition of Bonds alone will be enough to pass the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.
With that being said however, go Jays.
#5 by Blake Murphy on July 30th, 2008
Bonds may not put the Jays over the top, but there are a handful of teams he could definitely help. The Yankees, pre-Nady, the Rays (even though they contend they need a righty, not a lefty), the surprising Twins, and the Rangers could all use his bat in a big way to help with a playoff push. The fact that he’s not in the league is a huge stain on MLB and Bud Selig.
#6 by khandor on July 31st, 2008
Blake,
I agree that adding Bonds may not “put the Jays over the top” … but what it would, immediately, is elevate them to ‘Legitimate Contender’ status, in concert with the other everyday players in their line-up (when healthy) and their collective pitching staff.
==================
Btw …
FYI,
http://khandorssportsblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/yao-ming-or-andrew-bynum-you-make-the-call/
Hopefully you can participate, and please spread the word to others you respect.
Thanks
#7 by Rahul B on July 31st, 2008
A-freakin’ men!!!!!! It’s about time someone was thinking they way I’m thinking. I’ve been boycotting baseball and have yet to even watch a game this season becasue I will not be subject to Bud Selig’s blackballing and collusion against one player. Hank Aaron doped on amphetamines his entire career and every Bonds basher, including Selig, fat ass Faye Vincent and 3rd rate fashion designer Marc Ecko has been sucking his dick every since! Selig is the one who is putting a black mark on baseball. He’s the one who deserves to go to prison! Not Bonds! Good article!