What's Giants managemment thinking (re: Bonds)?

by achiappanza on Jan 22, 2007 8:37 AM PST Comment 3 comments

Magowan/Sabean et al have clearly realized that they've lost the undying support of all things Bonds that they once had. While everyone who has wavered has their own reasons, this is my primary line of thought:

"If you're gonna play poker with the guy ("Go ahead, shop around. See who wants you.") then you have to take the chips after you win. How the Hell can you give him $16-20 MM after that? Anything over $10 MM is money better spent elsewhere."

Now if they've been hearing this from a lot of fans, then the Barry Zito signing makes even more sense. They wanted to take away the argument that the Bonds signing ruled out spending significant cash on anyone else. I can't really gripe about that any more.

On the other hand, I'm left with this residual resentment against Bonds for a guy always getting his way. For some reason, the entourage thing didn't really bother me... neither did the Barcalounger, or the grand jury shenanigans. The possibility that he threw Sweeney under the bus bothers me, but there's enough cover thrown up by him and Sweeney that I'll withhold judgment. But overall, I have a new kind of feeling that the Giants don't need to bend over for him any more.

Maybe management is hearing some of this, and they are trying to wiggle out of the contract. Maybe I would feel better if somehow they got it down to a $10 MM contract anyway. But I am thinking that they're hearing stuff like this and trying to respond to it... too bad they've painted themselves into a corner.

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Re: What's Giants managemment thinking (re: Bonds

Magowan (and make no mistake, that's who is calling the shots here, and he's the only one) has painted himself into a corner. He's clearly having second thoughts after the speed test results, but by law, he can't yank the offer because of that. So he's trying to find a way to both cover his ass and show Barry Bonds the door.

He won't find one. He'll mess around another week or two and then sign on the dotted line. If the doesn't, the Bonds drama will actually get worse because of the union grievances and legal actions that would follow.

by Skaldheim on Jan 22, 2007 9:28 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: What's Giants managemment thinking (re: Bonds

My problem with this line of thinking is I believe the Giants management quite likely knew about the test results before they hit the press. In fact, I would be surprised if these confidential tests were secret from any management. I would bet the change of mind is a result of what's behind the leaking of the amphetamine story.

It became clear last year that Magowan was ready to not re-sign Bonds, partly because the baseball establishment didn't want it to happen, and partly because he also just wanted to no longer have to deal with the steroid story himself. By that I don't mean steroid use by Magowan, but rather the Giants management constantly being connected in the press with steroids by the connection to Barry. You know the whole "dealing with the devil" line of crap gets old even for Mr. Safeway.

However, the rest of the league didn't go along with Peter's version of how this plays out. Meaning they outbid him when the Giants tried to sign Soriano, Lee, etc. Plan B (or perhaps plan D) was to sign Barry for one more year, but now the league is really pissed that poor Pete didn't get the message through a wink and a nudge, and as a result they have resorted to the time honored method of the blunt instrument - press leaks, smears, and collusion. Perhaps, Magowan is finally getting the idea that maybe his friends were really, really trying to tell him something when ever he walked into the room they all started talking in glowing terms about when baseball would be free of that "awful Bonds fellow."

Trouble is the league is not only trying to screw Barry, but now, if the pressure Magowan into not signing Bonds, they have screwed the Giants and Giants' fans of any chance to compete this season. My suggestion? Fuck 'em all. Not only sign Barry, but how about winning the World Series? The whole season - from the all-star game, the breaking of the record, to the last out in October, can be one big photo opportunity of forcing Bud to acknowledge Barry. Sounds like fun? We get the first championship season in 53 years and lots of schadenfreude to top it off.

yob

by Sayhey on Jan 22, 2007 7:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs