While this season comes to a close, there is much speculation regarding the future of several current Twins…. Will Santana be traded? Will the Twins resign Hunter? One question that is just starting to surface…. Will Barry Bonds land in Minnesota?
Barry has publically stated that he wants to play for 1 or 2 more years. While everyone in baseball knows that Barry is past his prime playing days, the popular consensus is that he can still see and more importantly hit the ball. Since his days in left field are likely over, it only make sense that he makes his way out of the friendly confines of AT&T ballpark and to the roster of an American League team in need.
Usually a guy like Barry would likely be snapped up by one of the big market teams like the Yankees, Red Sox or White Sox. This situation is somewhat different though. All of those teams have their DH and are not looking to pay for a guy who will ride the bench. After reviewing the current AL rosters it appears that the following teams are NOT in need of Barry’s services:
Red Sox: Big Papi
Yankees: Giambi
White Sox: Thome
Tigers: Sheff
Indians: Hafner
Angels: This is typically platooned by Garrett Anderson and Vlad
Orioles: The DH is also platooned by Aufrey Huff and Kevin Millar
Athletics: Frank Thomas
That leaves the following squads with immediate DH needs:
Royals, Mariners, Devil Rays, Rangers, Blue Jays and our beloved Twins
In my opinion, the Royals would never make a move… They are happy living at the bottom of the AL Central. The Blue Jays could make a move considering that they are in a constant battle to overcome the evil empires of Boston and New York. The Devil Rays are horrible and would not bring in a guy like Bonds (because even Barry wouldn’t bring in ticket sales to that God forsaken stadium).
That leaves the Mariners, Rangers and Twins as contenders.
As I see it, this is a three team race. The Twins might have a slight advantage in that they are still considered “playoff contenders”. With better situational hitting, next year they could be back in the mix in the AL Central.
So…. What would the fans of Minneapolis and St. Paul think about Bonds? I’m not sure. Personally, I would love to see him play DH and hit his 20 Homeruns and 80 RBIs. The second reason i’d love to see him would be because of what he would do to the rest of the lineup. Put Cuddy in the clean up spot and Bonds at fifth… All of a sudden Cuddy will see GREAT pitches. Think of this lineup:
Bartlett
Mauer
Morneau
Cuddy
Bonds
Hunter (i’m praying that they find a way)
Left Fielder
Third Baseman
Castilla
I’d take that.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Worst Story Ever // Sep 28, 2007 at 8:36 pm
At least Christensen knows what he is talking about. Frank Thomas plays for the Blue Jays making the Oakland A’s the favorite for Bonds. No DH, still in the Bay Area. Know your facts
2 Billy WTF // Sep 28, 2007 at 8:39 pm
There is now way Bonds ends up in MN. Lets focus on paying Hunter and Santana. Then Morneau and others befoe giving money to an old man.
3 Alexi Casilla // Sep 28, 2007 at 8:44 pm
My name is Casilla, not Castilla!
4 Ben the Professor // Oct 1, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Beane, I like where your head’s at with the Barry Bonds thing. Justin will forgive you eventually for being a dick at the end of your rebuttal about the Yankees. His alter ego’s Alexi Cassilla, Billy WTF and Worst Story Ever won’t show up again, I promise. I have, as you know, always been a Bonds pimp. It is true that the A’s don’t have a DH and they are in the Bay area, but the last I checked the A’s and the Giants are intra-state rivals. Maybe Bonds would be better off with a fresh start in a new city rather than go to the A’s and alienate himself from the only fans that still love him, Giants fans. Also, the A’s have an abysmal payroll, like us, so they don’t have the advantage in signing Bonds that the likes of the RedSox and the Yankees have. Lastly, it is, afterall, Bonds’ choice of where he goes; maybe he’d prefer to pepper the baggie for two years rather than play in the pitcher-friendly McAfee Stadium in Oakland. Just my thoughts.
5 Drew // Oct 2, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Sorry about the mistakes… Even with my mixup of facts, the Twins still are the likely candidate for Bonds. After all, the A’s DO currently have a DH. His name is Piazza. He currently makes 8.5 million/year
6 Justin // Oct 2, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Actually, the A’s do not have a DH as of Sunday. Piazza’s one year deal is up. I just find it hard to believe that the Twins are the “likely” candidate for Bonds. I think we are barely contenders, and that’s just by process of elimination, but to say “likey” is a strong statement.. Just a few days ago we were wondering how we would be able to keep Hunter and possibly Santana. I don’t think you have good reasons for teams such as the Mariners, Angels and Rangers not contending for Bonds. Mariners are just as much playoff contenders as us, the Rangers will spend money and I’m sure the Angels wouldn’t mind having Anderson and Vlad in the outfield and having Bonds DH. Even the Yankess could be a candiadte. Giambi only has a year left on his deal, and it would be an upgrade with Bonds. If the Twins sign Bonds I would be all about it, but at what cost? Possibly having him for one year and no Hunter.
7 Ben The Professor // Oct 3, 2007 at 10:33 am
Just to mediate the situation a little, I would put the Twins’ chances to land Bonds at 1000 to 1. I came to this number through two factors. Those of us with backgrounds in probability know that you multiply odds when two things have to happen. I put our odds of Bonds choosing to go MN at 20 to 1. There are around 10 interested teams and he’d probably prefer half of them over us. HOWEVER, this isn’t just about Bonds choosing us, “we” also need to choose him. I put our odds of choosing to sign an interested Barry Bonds at 50-1. Let’s be honest, Bonds is going to command what we’ve NEVER had - superstar money. We’ve never had a superstar in the history of our team. Oliva, Carew, Killabrew, Puckett, Hunter, etc. were all All-Star players, and MN icons, but they weren’t SUPERSTARS. People outside of MN, even in 91 probably would have ranked Puckett as somewhere between the 10th and 15th best player in the league at that time. Complicating this situation is that we are still “trying” to sign Hunter - so much so that we are considering trading Cy Young himself to free up the money to do so. Therefore, since we are 20-1 to have Bonds choose us and 50-1 to have the money to sign him, our odds of landing Bonds are 1000-1, in my opinion. Not good… Although if we did sign my childhood icon I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for a week. Let’s do it.
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