Tuesday, March 22, 2005

 

The "B" in "MLB" Must Be "Bonds"

Huh? What? Oh yeah, my BLOG!

Let's talk about Barry Bonds. Everyone else is. In fact, I think it's fair to say that Bonds has received more coverage than the other 749 major league baseball players combined. (I can say this because McGwire is retired. Did you hear that he's retired? You might have missed that, unless you saw his testimony.)

Bonds the person is in deep shit. The steroids controversy has crested like a tsunami. It's wrecking his reputation, his legacy, his credibility, and possibly his freedom. If his alleged ex-mistress' testimony before the grand jury is true, Bonds is looking at a perjury and tax evasion rap.

That's right. Worst case scenario--Barry Bonds is going to prison. There's a lot of legal hash to be made before that, but I wouldn't want to be him right now.

Bonds the player may be done for the season, if you believe his little pity party yesterday. The way knees go, there's no reason to disbelieve him. He might miss months; he might miss weeks; he might never be able to play again, except as a DH.

That's right. Worst case scenario? Bonds has already played his last game as a Giant, and we won't know it for months. Like Robb Nen, multiple surgeries might not fix things. We just don't know yet, but we've seen it happen before.

If Bonds' fortunes are really that grim, then frankly the Giants are screwed. Sabean's entire strategy in the offseason was to build for one more year of Bonds as Superman. A lineup of average hitters plus Superman equals a shot at a World Series. The same lineup without Bonds means a mediocre club, at best. If the rest of the lineup stays healthy, that is.

The downside to the Giants' season is huge. We could be in for a Diamondbacks or Mariners style collapse. It's not hard to imagine--Barry misses the whole year, Alou plays down to his road numbers from last year. Snow loses that deathgrip on adequacy, Vizquel can't handle the National League pitching, Alfonzo has a whole year of suckitude, and Pedro Feliz doesn't live up to Sabean's hopes and dreams. The pitching staff resembles the first half of 2004 more than September 2004.

But.

If Bonds comes back in May, and is Superman again?

It could still be a glorious, glorious year.

All I know is this--if I were a betting man, I would stay far, far away from the action on this team.

Jefferson 4:19 PM

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