A little over a week ago, Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times wrote what a bad idea it would if the Rays signed the currently unemployed Barry Lamar Bonds. Tim Marchman of the New York Sun shares the same sediment about the Mets inking Bonds to a deal.
The most obvious answer, of course, is that Bonds is 43, under federal indictment for lying about steroids, and the most notorious baseball villain since Pete Rose, if not Ty Cobb. Skeptics claim, in addition, that the Mets would forfeit their moral credibility and create a distracting circus if they hauled him in to take Alou’s spot in Shea Stadium. Neither of these arguments are very convincing…
The far better answer is that the Mets don’t really need him, which is a simple thing to show. According to most projections, the Mets’ best lineup, including Alou, should score about 5.1 runs a game. Pencil in someone like Marlon Anderson or Detroit reserve Marcus Thames, in whom Omar Minaya is rumored to be interested, and that number drops all the way to 5.0. Pencil in Bonds for a line of .250 BA/.450 OBA/.550 SLG, and it might rise to 5.3, depending on where he bats in the lineup.That sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t.
If Bonds winds up anywhere, it should be the AL. He can barely run anymore and his defense has disintegrated. For a team unfazed by the whole chemistry thing, Bonds can still hit like a mother though.
