Thin Line Between Hopeful and Delusional

From "He'll be there: Bonds likely to be part of All-Star game festivities" at SI.com:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Even if Barry Bonds is not an All-Star this season, Giants owner Peter Magowan expects the slugger to take part in festivities for baseball's summer classic in his home ballpark.

Magowan hopes that Bonds' godfather, Hall of Famer Willie Mays, will be a big part of the July event in San Francisco. Yet Magowan would rather No. 25 is in uniform and playing for the NL roster and World Series-winning manager Tony La Russa.

"If Willie is going to get honored, as I think he will, Barry will have some role to play there," Magowan said Friday during a wide-ranging interview in the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium. "But what I hope instead will happen is he is chosen to be on the All-Star team, and I feel he will be. I feel he will have earned his spot both by what he's done in the game and by what he will have done this year."

...In the case that Bonds isn't voted into his 14th All-Star game, Magowan said the Giants will incorporate their 42-year-old left fielder and cleanup hitter. Everyone around the Giants is happy to see that Bonds is completely healthy and in great shape this spring training.

Magowan Seeks Giants Fans' Forgiveness (Yeah, Sure)

Can you imagine Frank McCourt sending an apology letter to Dodger season ticket holders? Even if you get past the concept that he would actually have to string a couple of complete sentences together (a fanciful notion indeed), the thought that he would apologize for, say, raising ticket prices 50% in two years, or greenlighting any possible trade with Tampa Bay, or screwing over all the people who forked out cash for the ill-fated Think Blue Rewards Club, is pretty unlikely.

But up north, that's exactly what Giants owner Peter Magowan did, as he recently sent out a letter to Giants season ticket holders, both apologizing and attempting to explain the singing of Barry Bonds for the 2007 season (a $16M-20M deal). Reports SI.com:

In the letter, which was confirmed by SI.com, Magowan wrote of the decision to re-sign Bonds: "This decision was not taken lightly and we spent significant time evaluating all of the elements and circumstances surrounding the negotiations before we made a final determination to move forward."

Magowan then referred to the Jan. 12 New York Daily News report that Bonds had tested positive for amphetamines and expressed concern about the report's contention that Bonds suggested teammate Mark Sweeney was involved.

Magowan wrote, "We consider any action by one player to unfairly damage the reputation of another player to be a serious matter. Based on the information that we have at hand in this matter and in discussions with both players, all of the facts have not been accurately portrayed. After evaluating the situation and its potential impact on clubhouse chemistry, we came to the conclusion that the Giants' players will be able to function as a team committed to supporting each other and dedicated to doing everything they can to succeed on the playing field."

Magowan explained the controversial signing in terms of long-range objectives and stressed that it's only a one-year deal. He wrote, "Additionally, we felt that with these assurances, signing Barry to a one-year contract helped us pursue a long-term strategy toward getting the club back on track. With his presence in our lineup and only a one-year contractual commitment, we were able to avoid the temptation to trade away some of our valuable young pitching talent and were able to free up long-range funds to acquire a front line pitcher. These decisions enabled us to sign Barry Zito, retain our promising and highly sought-after young pitchers and fill our need for a power hitter in the middle of our lineup. We believe that this combination of moves provides the Giants with a better chance of winning in 2007 and in the years ahead."

It isn't known whether the letter had any impact on Bonds' mood. But MLB people are still holding out hope Magowan has to write a new letter explaining why the deal is no longer.

I don't think Magowan has to worry about Bonds' mood, as the human balloon couldn't possibly get more surly. But I don't buy for a second that Magowan signed this deal reluctantly. After 14 seasons with the Giants, it's hard to claim ignorance. To paraphrase Denny Green, he is what you think he is.

Can't wait to see that "team chemistry" that Bonds has always been so great at cultivating.

Bonds' SF Fan Base Inversely Proportional to Head Size

Today's New York Times had an article on Barry Bonds' eroding fan base in San Francisco, the only city left that would take him. This week, the Giants had their annual Fan Fest event--and Bonds was unsurprisingly absent, leaving both Giants fans without an autograph.

The front office has gotten the message. As he signed baseballs during the event, Peter Magowan, the team’s managing general partner, said he was aware that Bonds was facing a growing number of critics in the only major league city where he had been popular in recent seasons.

“I think it changed since the end of last season,” Magowan said. “There are more against him than there have been in the past.”

Despite reports that Bonds tested positive for amphetamines last season and claimed a teammate as the source, Magowan said that ticket sales for 2007 were unaffected.

Who needs a Bonds autograph when you can get a Magowan signature? Magowan enters the 2007 season only 755 home runs behind Aaron.

Meanwhile, leave it to a ninth-grader to encapsulate the feelings of San Francisco fans on Bonds:

Conor Armor, a ninth-grader from Santa Cruz, expressed the conflicting views of many in the Bay Area when he said: “Barry doesn’t have a whole lot of morals. But I still love to watch him.”

Do the deal, Sabean!

Bidding Against Oneself for Barry Bonds

Peter Magowan, owner of the Giants, had this classic quote when asked by reporters how he could have given Barry Bonds a $16-20M contract when no other teams were interested. Magowan had this to say to the San Francisco Comical:

"Barry is worth more here than he is elsewhere," Magowan said, because he is popular here and the home-run record he is chasing will mean more to San Francisco fans.

"The people who say we were bidding against ourselves and there was nobody else interested -- that's complete bull. At some price, there would have been some people interested.

"We were roundly criticized for offering money to a player where there were no other bidders. It's more complicated than that. You have to think about what gives the guy enough money to reflect his status and what he's accomplished, and that you do want him as a player, and not look at every nickel and dime what he costs," Magowan said.

"You want to give the player enough money that you don't humiliate him."

So let's paraphrase, shall we? Magowan was going to pay Bonds whatever the hell he wanted. At some price, other teams might have been interested--but at the price paid, no one was even close. But to Magowan, this was the equivalent of a gold watch for years of service. A $20M gold watch.

It is kind and noble of Magowan to save Bonds, with frail ego and low self-esteem, from any contract humiliation. As for other humiliation, Bonds can get that at all road games.

Colletti vs. Sabean, Round 2

It’s always good to keep tabs on the competition. In the case of the Dodgers, said competition is obviously the hated Giants. So let’s see how the lineups for 2007 compare (new players in italics):

Position	Dodgers	Giants
1B	Garciaparra	Aurilia
2B	Kent	Durham
SS	Furcal	Vizquel
3B	Betemit	Feliz
LF	Gonzalez	Bonds
CF	Pierre	Roberts
RF	Ethier	Winn
C	Martin	Molina
SP	Lowe, Schmidt, Penny, Wolf, Billingsley	Cain, Morris, Lowry, Hennessey, Sanchez
RP	Broxton, Kuo, Tomko, etc.	Kline, Worrell, Correia
CP	Saito	Benitez

Position by position, it does look like the Dodgers beat the Giants almost all the way down the line. But I’d expect this given our relative performances last season, in which the Giants went 76-85 and ended up 11.5 games out of first place.

Say what you will about Ned Colletti’s moves this season, both safe (Schmidt) and risky (Pierre), when you compare his moves with those of his counterpart Brian Sabean of the Giants, Colletti looks brilliant—or at least ready to make some moves to try and improve the ballclub, which is admirable (and will be even more admirable with that power-bat-to-be-named-later). All of the Giants’ new players (Aurilia, Roberts, Molina) are pretty old and/or team retreads—which is, I suppose, consistent with the rest of Brian Sabean’s re-signings of last year’s team (Bonds, Feliz, Durham, and Kline). But it is odd that, coming off an under-performing season, Sabean hasn’t shaken it up a little more.

To be fair, it may not be all Sabean’s fault. Rumors have it that his hands may have been tied—owner Peter Magowan wants to keep a $85M payroll, of which Bonds (whom Magowan wanted back) is allocated ~$20M. Magowan even begrudged his own lineup in a recent quote: “I think the lineup is better than OK….I think the pitching has a lot of potential, but let’s face facts, it also has a lot of uncertainty, as does the closer situation. Last year I felt in some ways we were one of the favorites, and I know this year we won't be.”

If you want to improve, you gotta spend money—and as for the incremental difference, as Frank McCourt knows, you can always stick it to the fans. But, even having been one of those fans who has been stuck (twice in two years, I might add), I have to say that I’d rather be a Dodger fan in 2007.

Oh yeah, and we have a deep farm system, too.