Power Pros Forum

In light of all the DH struggles, there's been increased speculation about signing this slugger.

What do you think of him as a player? Signability? Contract mass? Would you want him on your favorite team? There's no doubt he would be a huge offensive asset to any team. The only concerns are personality (and all the stuff), health, contract, and position.

Being a Yankee, I would not mind seeing him on the team. Sure there's all the baggage, but I think it's a little too much, and I have some sympathy for him. He made one mistake and the media spun it out of control, and then he wouldn't talk about all the bad, unfair, press he was getting, which caused more to pile on, and it snowballed from there.

He could very well become a top 10 hitter in the league. For the Yankees, and a few other teams, money would not be an issue. Personally, I think the New York management would work well for him, as they seem to know how to handle headcases, although the loss of Torre and addition of Hank may change that a bit. Plus, being on the same team as Giambi, they might become friends - ah who am I kidding? My biggest concern is position. Where would he play? Maybe he could learn some 1B? Trade someone else? The Yankees have enough lefties, though. Left Field is taken by the most consistent Yankee hitter thus far, Matsui. Giambi is immovable.

I don't know that any team is going to take a chance on him at this point. His field skills are minimal, so he would have to play DH most likely. Sure he could help some teams out, but he wants to play for a contender, and I cannot think of any contending teams in the AL that have the need and the payroll to handle him. I'd say if... when, Giambi gets hurt again that Bonds may be an option.

I'd say the best fit is with the Tigers, unfortunately. The could rotate him with Sheffield to keep them both fresh. They need his patience, and especially (the exact opposite of the Yankees) the left-handed bat in a right-infested lineup.

I dunno man, I don't see Sheff and Barry getting along too well in that club house. They need the help though, and Detroit would be an option. Detroit needs to do something soon. It has to be sad looking up at KC in the ALC.

Only 4 teams in baseball are worse than Detroit right now.

I posted rather extensively about this issue on espn.com a couple of weeks ago Bonds really can't play LF anymore, so he's an AL DH option only at this point.

Bonds doesn't work with Detroit because of his relationship (or lack thereof) with Sheffield. Don't forget, they had a very public falling out back when the BALCO stuff was breaking, and Sheffield basically blamed Bonds and Anderson for his involvement in steroids and the BALCO mess.

The Yankees use the DH spot as kind of a rotating day off position for Giambi, Damon, Matsui, and at times others. They really don't have room for Bonds unless they're willing to just cut Giambi and eat his contract (not likely).

Look at the other contenders - Anaheim? DH is split between Vlad Guerrero and Garrett Anderson. No spot for Bonds. Boston? Big Papi, and even if you could argue he could play LF in Fenway you've still got Manny out there. Oakland? He doesn't fit their financial model. Cleveland? Only if they're willing to cut Hafner, which could actually be a possibility.

I don't think it makes sense for any non-contender to sign him, he's too short term and if you aren't competing anyway you're better off giving those at-bats to younger guys that you're trying to develop. I wish Texas would trade Milton Bradley for that same reason. They need to just commit to a full rebuilding project instead of doing it halfway and never getting anywhere.

Actually, if any non-contender team did have the money, they could benefit from his signing. Despite the unpopularity, his hitting prowess and all of his baggage, causes attention, and therefore, ticket sales. In addition, there's always a chance he performs quite well and squashes some doubts, parlaying it into a type B or even type A free agent ranking, which could give his old team some draft picks. Just a thought.

I light of all of his "issues" I don't think anyone would take him. Because of the fact that anything can happen with the whole lying in court and the senate. But who knows nothing has really happend with Clemens yet.

Any team that signs Barry Bonds at this point would be bringing a lot of negative publicity to themselves, and all the teams know it.

Bonds would sell tickets wherever he went. Despite all of the negativity, I think he would be a great asset to just about any team. The boy can flat out crush a baseball. (steroids or not)

In his defense, he was hitting home runs back when he was a skinny dude, and when the steroid era came to be, he was just keeping up with everyone else (to a certain extent). You don't think pitchers were (still are) taking steroids? What about all the guys who took tons of steroids and still couldn't hit a lot of home runs? You can't ignore his talent.

You can be the strongest guy in the world, but if you don't know how to swing the bat, you're not going to hit homers. Although I still can't disagree with a * next to his name.

Being a Pirates fan, he was here for the early part of his career. Half of the fans would go crazy and half would be against it. But, the Pirates already do score lots of runs and I think the baggage would be too much to handle.

Some AL team ought to sign him to a minor league contract and bring him up in case of injuries. Rumors say he'll play for a low salary.

I honestly thought he was done, but I guess he could possibly have a year or two left in him.

It's kind of a catch-22. When I posted my opinion back in May, I felt like it was too early for teams to take on that firestorm. But now that it is mid-August, the questions would be how effective Bonds would be after that long of a layoff? I know earlier his agent was saying he'd only need about 10 days of facing live pitching to be ready, but I wonder if that is still the case now. If he could be ready and effective by September 1 or so, I think it would make sense for Tampa to at least give him a tryout. They *might* have Longoria back by then, but they definitely won't have Crawford back. They could use the proverbial "shot in the arm."

He doesn't fit the team culture well, but Minnesota would be a good place for him in terms of need. He'd be an upgrade over Jason Kubel at DH, and the Twinkies could use some offensive help as they battle Chicago for the division.

I would expect Bonds to be rusty. But he's been facing great pitchers his whole life, and I bet it would all come back pretty quick. He needs to get back soon though!