Barry to add to home run totals!!??

[cboy4]

La Russa interested.

Rays confirm discussion about Bonds; Cards' La Russa interested

:bounce:

The Tampa Bay Rays have recently done what the St. Louis Cardinals did a while back: have internal discussions about the prospect of pursuing Barry Bonds.

The Tampa Bay Rays might be better than expected this year and the addition of Barry Bonds actually makes a lot of sense, writes ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. Blog Insider

Manager Joe Maddon said Monday he knew "little" about what was going on, but acknowledged some thought has been given to the career home run leader.

"A minor discussion was thrown out there a little bit, and it's really not gone any further than that," Maddon said after Monday's workout at the team's spring training facility. "That's all it is right now."

The St. Petersburg Times reported in Monday's editions that team officials have conferred among themselves about Bonds and other veteran unsigned free agents, such as Kenny Lofton and Mike Piazza. Andrew Friedman, Rays vice president of baseball operations, called the report a "non-story."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/news/story?id=3264187

[GOPisEvil]

1. Not happening in St. Louis.

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080224&content_id=2387513&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

JUPITER, Fla. -- Cardinals manager Tony La Russa acknowledged Sunday that he recommended to club brass this offseason that St. Louis sign all-time home run champion Barry Bonds. The suggestion didn't get far.

"What I've said each of the last two years is that when you're looking for somebody dangerous to hit behind Albert , Barry was a guy that I thought," La Russa said.

"And for whatever reason, at the general manager or ownership level, they didn't agree that he would be a guy that they thought we should add. I understand. Organization chart -- they're my bosses. That's exactly what happened."

It was the second year in a row that La Russa explored the possibility of bringing Bonds to St. Louis. This time around, the notion didn't get as far as it did a year ago. During the 2006 Winter Meetings, La Russa discussed the possibility with Bonds but found the slugger not entirely receptive.

[Forkboy]

2. Hey, until anything is proven he should play where he wants.

In other steroid news, I saw tonight on the news that they are going to investigate whether Clemens lied in his testimony.

:popcorn:

[Yavin4]

3. Gammons Says That Bonds Will Go To Japan

Question is, can he add to his HR totals if he's in Japan?

[opiate69]

4. If he can, then..

one would have to admit that the record swings both ways, placing Sadaharu Oh at the top of the list, where I for one believe he belongs.

[cboy4]

5. You know what's ironic? Obviously, Bonds played for the

San Francisco Giants and Oh hit 868 playing for the Yomiuri Giants!!

[Forkboy]

7. Damn straight!

[cboy4]

6. I'd be really surprised if he went to Japan....

I don't think he needs the money, not to mention he couldn't add to his MLB totals.

Maybe he wants to catch Oh???

[hughee99]

8. What is Buster Olney smoking?

Tampa adding Bonds makes no sense at all for the team, and only a little if your hoping to fill some seats. The Devil Rays are a young team in need of some veteran leadership. Adding one "big bat" (diminishing as it is) to their lineup don't even get them to the top of their division, and a player like Bonds isn't exactly known for being a "good clubhouse guy" or a good mentor for young talent. He'll manage to eat up a good bit of Tampa's salary (that would probably be better spent to retain existing talent), his ongoing legal troubles will be a media distraction in the unlikely event that Tampa does put together a good season, and he'll provide little in the way of leadership or guidance to the younger players. That's if he's actually in Tampa and not on the west coast, rehabbing one of his various injuries.