Report: Bonds Flunked Drug Test

[RandolphScott]

Instead of sitting on a message board all day, you could go join a team.

 

 

[Herc]

why would mark sweeney have greenies anyway, it's not like he has to worry about a grueling 162 game schedule

[LorfTVP]

why would mark sweeney have greenies anyway, it's not like he has to worry about a grueling 162 game schedule

 

He has a career high of 135 games in a season and has topped 100 games five times in twelve seasons. Plus he's just not a very good player. Eh.

[Herc]

heh, im surprised he's done 135 games, he was on my team for a long time and he never seemed to get off the bench much

[gateb]

Instead of sitting on a message board all day, you could go join a team.

Uh, I play baseball

[RandolphScott]

Uh, I play baseball

 

So, go play today

[gateb]

So, go play today

It's raining.

 

I play football when it's raining.

[LorfTVP]

It's raining.

 

I play football when it's raining.

 

I like it when it's raining because it reflects my mood.

 

**cuts self**

[fringe]

heh, im surprised he's done 135 games, he was on my team for a long time and he never seemed to get off the bench much

if you had the likes of lance niekro and shea hillebrand playing in front of him, sweeney would have grabbed less pine.

[fringe]

Seriously, are the Giants really gonna go through with it and finalize a contract with this guy? Don't they have any shame? The guy continues cheating when everybody knows he's a cheater. Do they really care that he breaks the record in a Giant uniform? To me, that's more of an embarrassment to the organization than anything else.

Perhaps they may not:

 

Unsigned Bonds Awaits Further Review

 

 

The Giants and Barry Bonds agreed to a $16 million contract before reports emerged last week that Bonds had tested positive for amphetamines.

 

 

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By MURRAY CHASS

Published: January 17, 2007

 

Six weeks after they agreed to terms on new contracts, Barry Bonds and J. D. Drew remain unsigned. Bonds hasn’t signed with the Giants; Drew hasn’t signed with the Red Sox. That prompts a thought. If both contracts were to fall through, the Red Sox could sign Bonds to play left field and move Manny Ramírez back to his original position in right.

The absence of a contract for the two is highly unusual. Free agents and clubs rarely take this long to complete contracts.

 

Theo Epstein, the Boston general manager, and Scott Boras, Drew’s agent, have made light of the time it has taken them to complete the five-year, $70 million contract. Epstein was on vacation; Boras was attending to other free-agent clients, they said. Except general managers are known to negotiate contracts and trades by telephone while on vacation, and Boras is capable of completing one deal with his left ear while he negotiates another with his right.

 

Drew’s questionable right shoulder has obviously created a problem for the Red Sox, and they are seeking ways to reduce their risk.

 

Bonds’s $16 million contract created more issues for the Giants, but by the end of last week Bonds had backed off many of his stands and was prepared to accept the Giants’ positions. The Giants, however, suddenly slowed the talks, and a resolution has not been reached.

 

A lawyer on the Bonds side said yesterday that they suspect the Giants, reacting to negative news media views in the Bay Area, are exploring ways of getting out of the contract. When an official on the management side with knowledge of the talks was asked yesterday if the deal could blow up, he said, “It’s possible.”

 

Brian Sabean, the Giants’ general manager, did not return a telephone call yesterday seeking comment on the contract circumstances. His secretary, told what the call was about, said she did not think Sabean would comment.

 

Given the chance to comment, Jeff Borris, Bonds’s agent, didn’t. “I can’t really comment on that situation right now,” he said when asked about the contract talks. Could the deal blow up? “I can’t comment on that,” he said.

 

•

 

The Giants did not offer Bonds a contract lightly. They agonized over their decision and even looked for alternatives before making the offer to Bonds, their left fielder for 14 years. He was not necessarily their first choice.

 

They sought a free agent, Alfonso Soriano or Carlos Lee, and they pursued trades for Ramírez and Adam Dunn. Failing at each turn, they went back to Bonds.

 

But before offering him a contract, they asked their baseball people for an evaluation of the 42-year-old Bonds as a hitter and a left fielder, and they spoke with some of the team’s veteran players to find out if having Bonds on the team would be a distraction, or be destructive in any way. The response they got was if they would be a better team with him than without him, they should sign him.

 

Those conversations occurred before news emerged last week that Bonds had tested positive for amphetamines and that Bonds said the reason was a substance he took from the locker of a teammate, Mark Sweeney.

 

The Giants haven’t reacted publicly to that incident, and it’s not known if they will use it in an attempt to get out of the contract. If they do, the players union would certainly challenge their action in a grievance. According to the lawyer on Bonds’s side and the official on the management side, the Giants had not raised the incident as an issue.

 

The two sides had plenty of other issues to resolve, but contrary to published reports, the lawyer said, they did not include anything about the Giants’ desire to alter the guarantee language in the contract based on any legal problems that may envelop Bonds from the Balco investigation.

 

One of the thorniest issues was Bonds’s entourage. The Giants erred five years ago by including a provision in Bonds’s five-year, $90 million contract that allowed his personal trainer and assorted other associates access to the Giants’ clubhouse. Bonds wanted to continue that arrangement, but the Giants adamantly opposed it.

 

To get around Commissioner Bud Selig’s rule banning such people from the clubhouse, Bonds proposed that the Giants hire the members of his entourage so they would be club employees and legally allowed in the clubhouse. The Giants had no intention of agreeing to that idea, and even if they had, Selig would have seen through the subterfuge and voided the contracts.

 

Bonds, however, gave up his effort to retain his entourage rights and will be naked in the clubhouse this year, if the contract is completed. Bonds made or was prepared to make other concessions as well. The two sides seemed to be a document away from completing their agreement, but they remain in disagreement.

 

•

 

The remaining issue could be who needs whom more. At this juncture, the Giants would not have a replacement for Bonds as their cleanup hitter and left fielder, but they could still seek one in a trade.

 

Without the Giants, would Bonds have any way of hitting the 22 home runs he needs to break Hank Aaron’s career record? Would another team offer him a contract? If any other teams had been interested in Bonds, they have probably moved past that point.

 

Selig and other baseball officials might welcome a breakdown in the talks between the Giants and Borris, but they can do nothing to facilitate it. Selig cannot call Peter Magowan, the Giants’ managing partner, and urge him not to complete the contract. That call would violate the labor agreement’s rules against collusion.

 

Another collusion case would be far worse than a Bonds home run record.

[Herc]

i dont knwo if i buy it. if they were looking for an excuse to not sign bonds they would've offered him a lot less than 16 mil when no one else wantd him

[fringe]

There was a great deal of negative fan feedback from the Sweeney thing. I think Barry may have alienated some of the faithful. That's why the Giants are standing firm on some points, they probably wouldn't mind if he doesn't sign now but they can't pull the offer back based on a 'first' offense.

[Herc]

i dont see why they can't pull it back, it's not signed and not all terms have been agreed on, even before the test results were leaked

[fringe]

i thought the same but apparently the players union would file a greivance if they pulled it back now, saying it was due to what should have been priveleged info.

[Herc]

can't they pull it back because they can't agree on the 'no entourage' rule and whatever else was they were in disagreement over?

[fringe]

i'm efforting to get clarification on that from my sources in the giants organization. but it think he agreed to no entourage except for Turtle and Drama.

[Herc]

i could see them fighting over who gets to sit in bonds' recliner during the games

[mickeef2]

I've gotta believe Bonds isn't going to be a Giant next year. I think they feel like they've gone out of their way to make the guy happy and comfortable, and he's really embarrassed the organization. This latest incident was the final straw.

[fringe]

I've gotta believe Bonds isn't going to be a Giant next year. I think they feel like they've gone out of their way to make the guy happy and comfortable, and he's really embarrassed the organization. This latest incident was the final straw.

next year, no. but this year:

The Giants and Bonds finally agreed to a one-year contract, sources confirmed, and it'll be official once he takes and passes a physical, which was being administered today by the Giants' medical department. The financial terms, agreed to on Dec. 7, remain the same -- a $15.8 million base salary with performance clauses that could push it to $20 million.

 

A Tuesday announcement is being considered.

 

It took nearly two months to complete the final language, which will protect the Giants in case Bonds misses time for his involvement in the BALCO steroids case -- Bonds is being investigated for perjury after telling a grand jury he didn't knowingly take performance-enhancing drugs.

 

The language also prohibits Bonds' personal trainers from entering the clubhouse, meaning long-time aide Harvey Shields and Greg Oliver won't be shadowing Bonds before, during or after games at the ballpark.

 

As a result, Bonds, 42, no longer has much of a demand for four lockers in the clubhouse. In fact, Barry Zito, who signed with the Giants for seven years and $126 million, has requested his locker be next to Bonds'.

 

It's an obvious attempt by Zito to reach out to Bonds, who didn't often go out of the way to communicate with teammates while he had an entourage with whom to socialize.

 

Bonds is expected to retain Shields and Oliver as his personal trainers -- but off the premises.

 

Shields was in charge of stretching and massaging Bonds, and Oliver oversaw more on-field work with the left fielder. They were never favorites of the Giants' medical staff, which didn't appreciate their presence without the usually required schooling and certification.

 

In their absence, Bonds would report only to new head trainer Dave Groeschner and his staff. Groeschner was promoted after Stan Conte's resignation following 15 years with the club including seven as the head trainer. Conte now is the Dodgers' head trainer.

 

A hang-up in negotiations came when the New York Daily News reported Jan. 11 that Bonds failed an amphetamine test last year and suggested it was because of a substance taken from teammate Mark Sweeney's locker.

 

In baseball circles, dragging a teammate into such a mess is considered more damning than a flunked amphetamine test, and it gave the Giants another reason to sever ties with Bonds. But Sweeney's insistence that he doesn't have a problem with Bonds -- especially after Bonds issued a statement of apology -- prompted the Giants to resume negotiations.

 

But once the story broke, the Giants had the hammer in negotiations and were further committed to making sure the final language was to their liking.

 

Bonds is 22 homers from breaking Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.

sfgate.com

[LorfTVP]

Blunatic, what exactly is your opinion on Mr. Bonds?

 

And I'm not gonna lie, I never hope for injuries, because that's just wrong, but I honestly hope that something, anything will happen to prevent Barry Bonds from reaching Aaron, whether it be injuries or legal issues. I've got to think that the government is gathering information to strike before Bonds reaches the record because they don't want him to either.

[fringe]

Blunatic, what exactly is your opinion on Mr. Bonds?

 

And I'm not gonna lie, I never hope for injuries, because that's just wrong, but I honestly hope that something, anything will happen to prevent Barry Bonds from reaching Aaron, whether it be injuries or legal issues. I've got to think that the government is gathering information to strike before Bonds reaches the record because they don't want him to either.

1. It has indeed been a privelege to watch him play baseball and especially swing the bat. No one else comes close to the impact he, as one player has on the game.

 

2. I would not cross the street to shake his hand (and i have had the opportunity). He is as arrogant as they come and he will be a lonely man when his career is over.

 

3. I do think he is taking a bullet for a lot of players and that is why very few have the nerve to speak against him. Cast no stones if thy house is glass.

 

4. The only record that counts to Giants fans is when we are going to break our futility record and win a world series. i'm sure YOU can appreciate THAT.

[mickeef2]

next year, no. but this year:

 

Oh well. I guess there's no limit to how much they'll allow him to embarrass them, after all. I mean, you can't tell me as a Giant fan you wanna see this guy in the uniform anymore.

[LorfTVP]

1. It has indeed been a privelege to watch him play baseball and especially swing the bat. No one else comes close to the impact he, as one player has on the game.

 

2. I would not cross the street to shake his hand (and i have had the opportunity). He is as arrogant as they come and he will be a lonely man when his career is over.

 

3. I do think he is taking a bullet for a lot of players and that is why very few have the nerve to speak against him. Cast no stones if thy house is glass.

 

4. The only record that counts to Giants fans is when we are going to break our futility record and win a world series. i'm sure YOU can appreciate THAT.

 

He was really good at one point before the cloud formed above him. It's no one's fault but his own though with his attitude playing a big role. This should be an interesting storyline throughout the season.

[fringe]

..