After spending 15 years in San Francisco, the most recent of which saw Barry Bonds break the all-time home run record, the San Francisco Giants have announced that Bonds will not be returning to the Giants next season. In response to this announcement Bonds has said that he plans to continue his quest for a World Series ring.
Given Bonds age and deteriorating health it seems obvious that he would move to an AL team where he might have a chance to stick around for 2 or 3 more years as a DH. This transition will undoubtedly spark endless off-season debate as to where Bonds may end up going. Given the Angels are a contending team they will certainly be mentioned in talks concerning Bonds final location. It wouldn't be the first time analysts have talked about Barry coming to Anaheim, and I'm sure Anaheim would be high on Barry's list of potential suitors.
As an Angel fan, I hope the Angels want nothing to do with Barry. I trust Bill Stoneman to do the right thing. He has been a great GM making the right decisions on big name players thus far. As our team stands now there is no room for Barry. We already have more outfielders and DHs than there is space for. Between Vlad Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Garry Mathews and Juan Rivera alone there is no room for Bonds. Then don't forget to throw in the young talent of guys like Reggie Willits, Nathan Haynes or Tommy Murphy and we don't need another OF/DH guy. Sure we could use another power bat in our line up, but Bonds is getting old and won't be able to play everyday. It is not worth sacrificing a potential young start to get Bonds in as a DH for 100 games. Bonds would also hinder Scioscia's ability to use the DH spot as a rest day for some of our primary offensive contributors like Vlad.
Bonds will only be useful as a part time DH and therefore will have to accept far less money, but I doubt he is returning at all for the money. The only thing missing on his baseball resume is the elusive World Series ring and I'm sure that's what he's after. Since the home run record is broken Bonds won't have the same turnstile value he held this season, so finding a spot on a contending team could be difficult. Bonds has done spectacular things in San Francisco and I wish him luck wherever he ends up next season, I just hope that place is not Anaheim.
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