Poor Barry can't find a job

I'm just assuming here (and you know what happens when you assume) that most teams figure Barry would not just turn down a small offer, but hang up the phone and laugh in their face. Wasn't Barry's last contract somewhere in the $14-$15 million range? Even half that, for a 43-year-old outfielder with bad knees and more baggage than O'Hare at Christmas time is too much for all but a handful of teams to even think about. Why would Pittsburgh or Minnesota even waste their time, and Bonds' time, by calling?
Not saying there isn't something fishy going on, but maybe, for the first time in the free agent era, baseball owners got a genuine stroke of common sense.

 

No, Lofton isn't making any such demands. He obviously doesn't have sufficient leverage without any buyers. And, despite the offer figure numbers the Rays whispered, Lofton's folks said the offer wasn't even close to $1 million. I understand he's pretty frustrated with the situation.

 

Oh, so Lofton's people are now denying rumors that hurt their case? Well, that just settles everything.

 

The Pirates should offer him a $5 million contract.

 

Kenny Lofton and Rheal Cormier should always have a roster spot. Till death.

 

I'm trying to figure out if we should be laughing with you or at you on that one.

 

No, that's what I was told the day in mid-March when the offer was made. I'm just attempting to keep the facts straight here.

 

There's no way Barry Bonds wouldn't be worth $5 million to the Pirates. He'd be worth $5 million on the field and $5 million in marketing, advertising, and ticket sales. Put him at first base. Perfect fit for the cheapskate Ogden -- he can have his newspapers write thousands of articles about Bonds and sell a bunch of extra copies of them as well.

 

Well, Bonds could make the Pirates a 73-win team. :

 

There's no way Bonds is worth $5m to any team, unless he is the "one player away" that drives a team into the playoffs. The team would then generate additional revenue from the playoffs, not from Bonds himself.

That is not to say that Bonds could not help the Pirates, or that the Pirates have not spent more money on lesser players. But I'd love to see your breakdown on how Bonds would drive marketing, advertising and ticket sales.

Bonds already broke the HR record, and even during the HR chase advertisers backed away from him. He would be a tired act, one that might sell a few extra tickets for his first few games back. There's no money in signing Bonds (sorry about the pun) and every team knows that.

 

Bonds would easily justify a $5 million salary for almost any team in increased viewership and attendance alone.

 

Pirates average 15,114 fans/game. If they could get 2K more per game at $25/person that's an extra 1.675 mil. Could Bonds on the team draw that many extra fans? San Fran is down 6K per game this year. So what if his HR chase is over. There's more than that in Pittsburgh. It could be the prodigal son returning. And what if they become halfway decent and find themselves in a pennant race?

So maybe not $5 mil. But $3 mil. And even if he doesn't sign, the Pirates can offer it. Put the offer out there. Then Bonds can turn it down and explain how collusion is keeping him out of the game.