He has hit more home runs than anyone. He is widely regarded as the greatest hitter of his generation. His eye at the plate is unmatched and consistently leads the league in on-base-percentage.
Yet, Barry Bonds remains in baseball purgatory without an escape plan in place.
Reportedly St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa was interested in signing Bonds to protect slugger Albert Pujols.
No dice. Cardinals upper management squashed that idea with the swiftness of a Bonds home run swing.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were said to have "discussions" about whether or not to bring Bonds on board.
BOOM!
Every single news outlet in America swarms to the minor league-esque MLB team and wants to know the scoop. Rays manager Joe Maddon looked like a deer in the headlights of an 18-wheeler faced with the media circus that is Barry Lamar Bonds.
Sure, the steroids, HGH, cream, flaxseed oil and any other injectable, snortable, ingestible substance Bonds is associated with plays a big part in why no team is seriously considering signing the one-time first ballot Hall of Famer.
But what comes apart of the package off the field is where teams are having a tough time rationalizing a past his prime power hitter in exchange for 365 days of questions about Bonds and his checkered past.
However, teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles should be taking a long hard look at Bonds. Out of the 30 MLB franchises, those three teams were ranked 28, 27 and 23 respectively in league attendance last year.
What better way to put some butts in the seats than signing such an enormous lightening rod as Bonds? Think some of those games wouldn't be on ESPN?
It would have to be an American League team because the Bonds of today is an ideal designated hitter. He can't play the field. He can't really run. But he can still do things at the plate 90-percent of players could never dream of.
Bonds is the poster-child of everything performing enhancing and has taken the brunt of the criticism and scrutiny tossed in MLB's direction. Those problems are never going to disappear and any team would have to understand Bonds is a figure of epic proportions and will always require special treatment in almost every situation.
So my advice to the small market, small revenue teams out there in the American League is this:
Use him like he's used the game of baseball and its fans for his own personal gain. Make some money and give your fans a reason to come to the ballpark.
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