Bonds likens situation to being "fired"

[patrickgpe]

Bonds "fired"

 

i know its easy to attack barry, but when you are no longer under contract and your contract is not renewed you have not been fired. I could see why the Giants would want to move on from the Bonds circus. Maybe he will realize that signing with an al team and playing DH would be a good thing for him.

[Thurston Fluff]

In a sense he was fired. He wanted to stay and the Giants told him they didn't want him to stay. To me that's the equivelant of being fired. I don't think a 43 year old athlete should be surprised he's fired though. In sports that is the norm not the exception. The thing I think Barry never quite understood is the concept of you reap what you sow. If he had been a model employee who did everything for the team and was a great ambassador, like for example Biggio, the treatment might be a little better. Barry is a pompus, self centered, hard to get along with, sometimes embarrasing, person who got every perk he wanted written into his contract. It shouldn't surprise him now that he's no longer a great player that the Giants are treating him pretty much the way he's treated everyone else.

[patrickgpe]

with quotes like this who wouldn't want him back:

 

Bonds also said that if he were running the franchise, the Giants would have won a World Series by now. They fell five outs short in 2002, and one thing the slugger is still missing on his remarkable resume is a championship ring.

when you call out your gm and say you could be a better one, you are not coming back..

[TooLiveBrew]

Bonds is a self-serving egomaniac. He loves nothing but himself. He deserves whatever situation he has now created. Bonds apparently was fired because the media injured his knees. (or any other way that this can be anyone but Barry's fault).

[fondybrewfan]

If he were the GM of the Giants they would have won the world series because flaxseed oil would have been mandatory for all players and there would be a sudden surge in "Swollen Head Syndrome"

[Thurston Fluff]

I'm sure Bonds as a GM would have been loved and admired by all those arouond him. Players, scouts, trainers and office personell would have been breaking down the door to work for someone like him. He might know talent but that wouldn't be the problem. The problem would be the talent knew him.

[JimH5]

He WAS fired. How else can you describe what happened to him? He intends on playing next year, and the Giants don't want him back.

 

This isn't even a Torre-like situation, where they offered him a contract.

 

He may be everything that people say he is, but he accurately described his employment status with the Giants.

[SheetsCyYoung04]

Bonds also said that if he were running the franchise, the Giants would have won a World Series by now. They fell five outs short in 2002, and one thing the slugger is still missing on his remarkable resume is a championship ring. when you call out your gm and say you could be a better one, you are not coming back..

To be fair, the Giants moves since they won the World Series include signing Dave Roberts and Barry Zito, trading for AJ Pierzynski, and even the Villanueva trade. Its hard not to criticize.

 

[Thurston Fluff]

To be fair, the Giants moves since they won the World Series include signing Dave Roberts and Barry Zito, trading for AJ Pierzynski, and even the Villanueva trade. Its hard not to criticize.

 

One of the moves they deserve critisizm for is signing a 42 year old player with bad knees, poor defensive skills who is unable to play every day to a huge contract no other team would have come close to giving him.

[SheetsCyYoung04]

To be fair, the Giants moves since they won the World Series include signing Dave Roberts and Barry Zito, trading for AJ Pierzynski, and even the Villanueva trade. Its hard not to criticize.

 

One of the moves they deserve critisizm for is signing a 42 year old player with bad knees, poor defensive skills who is unable to play every day to a huge contract no other team would have come close to giving him.

You forgot the part about "who still hits at an all-star level and gets on base almost half the time he is at the plate and also fills the stands for a mediocre team because of some recordthingy."

 

[patrickgpe]

jim i know we are splitting hairs here, but i believe you can't be fired unless you are under contract, alteast in the sports realm. I know myself i have no contract with my employer and can be dropped at any moment and that is being fired. If i were him i wouldn't be upset because he can now pick a good al team, since i don't see the giants doing much in the near future, and doesn't have to play the field.

[Thurston Fluff]

You forgot the part about "who still hits at an all-star level and gets on base almost half the time he is at the plate and also fills the stands for a mediocre team because of some recordthingy."

Allstars can hit at that level over the course of 500ish ab's in virtually all the games. Bonds has significantly less than 400 abs the last three years. He has less than 500 the last 9 and only 3 of those were more than 400. He's also been in 130 or fewer games the last three years. The fact that he filled the stands is irrelevant to the point. It was a mistake to sign a part time player to that size of a contract if they were going to go for a WS this year. That money could have been spent on things that would have gone further to that end than it did to a liablility in the field and incapable of more than 350ish ab's. That isn't even taking into consideration the distractions h is act brought to the team.

[JimH5]

patrick, I guess I get what you're saying, but if he wants to come back to the Giants, and he still has skills to play major league baseball, and if they don't have a hot prospect waiting to bump him from his position, and if the only reason they're not offering him a contract is because they don't want to offer him a contract, then I would say that's akin to a firing.

 

I suppose that being released while under contract would be a "worse" way of being slapped down by your boss, but this is still a firing.

 

It would be as if you were a consultant or on a temporary assignment hired to work on a project, and your term was up, and they didn't bring you back to continue to work on the project, even if the project continued and they had to backfill your position. That's pretty much like being fired from your assignment. No?

[mothershipconnection]

I'm sure they would have kept him if he made it clear he'd take a contract way below market value. It's just that they weren't gonna give him nearly what he'd want or could receive elsewhere.

[craigharmann]

Baseball is a business. His contract was up and it wasn't renewed. He wasn't fired. The Giants made a business decision and time will tell if it was the right one or the wrong one.

[fondybrewfan]

You forgot the part about "who still hits at an all-star level and gets on base almost half the time he is at the plate and also fills the stands for a mediocre team because of some recordthingy."

 

Allstars can hit at that level over the course of 500ish ab's in virtually all the games. Bonds has significantly less than 400 abs the last three years. He has less than 500 the last 9 and only 3 of those were more than 400. He's also been in 130 or fewer games the last three years. The fact that he filled the stands is irrelevant to the point.

2007 AB's - 340

2007 BB's - 132

 

Using AB's to show your argument that Bonds is nothing more than a part time player is flawed. He had 472 plate appearances this year, that is hardly part time, not full time either. If you consider an average of 4.2 PA's per game thats about 651 PA's per year (Assuming 155 games played almost no one plays the full 162 anymore) then he is playing about 75% of the time. I sure as heck would want Bonds on my team even if he only played 75% of the time. By far the worst contract for an old timer was Roger Clemens. Barry Bonds was cheap compared to what the Yanks paid for an got from Roger Clemens.

 

He did only play in 126 games this year, but when you consider only once in his career did he play in less than 100 games (2005) I think the Giants weren't exactly taking a huge gamble resigning the guy last year. The rewards from all the attention and revenue from the home run record chase far surpassed the risks associated with letting him walk. Now that the home run chase is over and their is no money to be made from it anymore, it makes sense for the Giants to let him go.

[patrickgpe]

jim, thats why its close, and i definately see where you are coming from. Its not as bad as if you were just given your outright released. If the brewers don't pick up Jenkins option, would you say he got fired from the brewers, i wouldn't. I guess the bigger point of this thread of was the pure arrogance and that he can't accept his skills are not the same as they were 10, 5, or even 2 years ago.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

You forgot the part about "who still hits at an all-star level

 

If anything, this is an understatement. By OPS+ (170), Bonds was the very best hitter in the NL this season, though he just missed out on qualifying for BR's leaderboard:

 

Adjusted OPS+

Jones-ATL	166
Pujols-STL	157
Fielder-MIL	156
Wright-NYM	150
Cabrera-FLA	150

[Thurston Fluff]

Using AB's to show your argument that Bonds is nothing more than a part time player is flawed. He had 472 plate appearances this year, that is hardly part time, not full time either. If you consider an average of 4.2 PA's per game thats about 651 PA's per year (Assuming 155 games played almost no one plays the full 162 anymore) then he is playing about 75% of the time.

 

Point taken. 130 games max in the last three years is still valid though. It certainly wasn't going to get better as he got older so I still think for the purpose of getting to the WS, which was the context of that point, the money he got could have been spent more wisely.

 

I sure as heck would want Bonds on my team even if he only played 75% of the time.

 

That would depend entirely on how much it cost. Especially considering what else could have been had for the same money that could have helped far more than 1 part time player. Even if that part time player is a great hitter.

 

By far the worst contract for an old timer was Roger Clemens. Barry Bonds was cheap compared to what the Yanks paid for an got from Roger Clemens.

 

Which team made the playoffs? even if it was worse trying to say there are worse contracts than Bonds doesn't make his contract better.