Monday, June 30, 2008

People Think He's a Moron

This guy... some Atlanta Braves blogger. Evidently, people think he's some kind of jerkoff for suggesting that the Braves should sign Barry Bonds for the rest of the season.

Well he's absolutely correct. The Braves SHOULD sign Barry Bonds. 29 other major league teams should also sign him, because based on his stats as recently as last year, he's a better offensive player than 99% of the guys currently sitting on major league rosters.

More so, the fact that an AL Team hasn't signed him to DH is completely ridiculous. I hate steroids in baseball as much as ANYBODY and as a fan, I can puff myself up and wax poetic about how there's no place in the game of baseball for it, and that these guys should be banned for life and thrown in prison for breaking U.S. Laws relating to the abuse of narcotics and controlled substances.

I can do these things because I'm not the General Manager of a Major League Franchise. If I were a GM, I'd still be free to have my opinions, but I'd also have a job that obligates me to do my best to win baseball games. To be able to look my fans in the eye and say, "Yeah, I'm doing everything that I can, within the constraints of my owner's budget, to try to win games and win a championship."

And when you're the Seattle Mariners, and you've given over 200 at bats to Jose Vidro (.220/.269/.326, 5 HR, 9 2B, 35 RBI) as a DH, how can you honestly say that you're doing your best to win games? The answer is that you can't.

This Braves blogger nails it on the head. Bonds would cost as much as a minor leaguer. No talent has to be given up via trade to get him. He'd probably hit 15 to 20 home runs in half a season, not to mention drawing walks and getting on base at a freakishly high level, enabling the other bats in the lineup to drive in more runs.

And what are the cons?

Bonds hurts team chemistry. - Teams that win have better chemistry than teams that lose. Bonds helps you win a lot more than Matt Diaz.
Bonds is a boogieman. - Which means what exactly? Nothing.
Bonds is a prick. - I'd rather have a prick who can OPS 1.000+ than a nice guy with an OPS+ of 56 in my starting lineup.
Nobody likes Bonds. - His hometown fans will love him. They never stopped cheering for him in San Francisco, because the bottom line is that no matter how much of a cheating fucking asshole a guy is... you never hate him when he's playing well in your team's uniform.

Ask Yankee fans about Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte. As Royals fans about Jose Guillen. Look over the Mitchell Report. Every team has guys who cheated, and every team cheers their players regardless of what they're accused of. Bonds would be no different.

And as for the legal issues, the feds have basically guaranteed that the trial won't start until after the season. So that's a non-issue.

Not investigating adding that kind of offensive weapon to your team is moronic. That's the bottom line.

3 comments:

  1. yeah fuck it let him play. just make sure they keep a good eye on him thats all. they might actually win a few. fuckin assholes.-candass

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  2. Thanks for backing me up. Like I said to clarify my point - Bonds makes sense statistically. He doesn't make sense from a chemistry perspective, and he definitely doesn't make sense from the perspective that Hank Aaron is a Senior VP in the Braves organization. But statistically - from a help win the game perspective - he's a hell of a lot better for the Braves in left field than Brandon Jones or Greg Norton. And he's as cheap or cheaper than either of them.

    Thanks for the link - glad not everyone thinks I'm a moron for bringing it up. I'm not sure where I'd actually come down on it if I had to make the decision, but you better bet I'd be trying to help the Braves make it to the postseason.

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  3. Like I said Colin, I call it like I see it. Barry Bonds as a part-time player last year in San Francisco was worth 6.4 wins above a replacement player. So that's potentially 3 wins over the course of half a season. Might not seem like much, but couldn't that DEFINITELY be the difference between say... 89 wins and a long winter, and 92 wins and the division? Point is that if there's a way to win more games, teams should be jumping on it, especially if it's cheap and doesn't cost prospects.

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