Monday, March 10, 2008

The Bonds Debate

Over at Amazin' Avenue Eric Simon gives us an account as to why we should sign Barry Bonds to strengthen our lineup.

I'm here to respectfully disagree. While I agree that he is one heckuva player and should go out on his own terms, I don't think he is the right fit for us right now. Don't worry, I have reasons that are strictly baseball related.
  1. He is another aging player who will probably miss significant time. If we bring in Barry and he goes down in the first week of April, we are in the same situation we are in now. While anybody we bring in (or don't, I'm looking at you Angel Pagan) could potentially get injured, it is more likely an older guy like Bonds will get hurt.
  2. We haven't had the best success bringing in aging stars. From Willie Mays to Mo Vaughn and Robbie Alomar this just isn't our thing. And we wouldn't want to fall back into that pattern and be the Washington Redskins of the MLB.
  3. Bonds doesn't hit well at Shea. Barry's career statistics at Shea are .265 BA with 13 homers and 60 RBI. This is over 115 games there in his career. Also, is OPS is .800, compared to a 1.051 career OPS. I don't think he can change his luck in his 23rd season.
  4. He doesn't play first base. The benefit of bringing in a guy like Xaiver Nady (I know its a stretch) is that he can also fill in at first if Delgado misses time (and if you ask some Mets fans, he can fill in in left and at 1st at the same time).
  5. Barry is left-handed. So are Ryan Church, Endy Chavez, and Marlon Anderson. We need some right-handed pop to add balance to the lineup. Barry doesn't fit the bill.

When you throw in his baggage and the potential problems he could cause, bringing in Barry could have a devastating effect on our team this year. I'm sure Omar and Willie are well aware of this too.

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