MrAndMrsFish Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 NEW YORK -- Tom Glavine is staying with the Mets, and Ray Durham with the Giants. Barry Bonds seems ready to leave San Francisco. Twenty-five free agents were offered salary arbitration by their former teams before Friday's midnight deadline, a group that included Oakland's Barry Zito and San Francisco's Jason Schmidt, the top available starting pitchers. The Giants declined arbitration with Bonds, coming off a $90 million, five-year contract. "San Francisco's decision not to offer Barry arbitration speaks volumes of their true intentions to have him back in a Giants uniform for the 2007 season," said Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris. "It has been well documented that the Giants were trying to sign Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Gary Matthews and Juan Pierre. And they have been working diligently in trying to trade for Manny Ramirez. The Giants' actions demonstrate that Barry obviously is not a priority to them." In the past, the deadline was Dec. 7 and players not offered arbitration couldn't re-sign with their former teams until May 1. But under baseball's new labor contract, agreed to during the World Series, the deadline lost much of its importance. Now, free agents can return to their former teams at any time. By not offering arbitration, all a club loses is the right to receive amateur draft picks if a highly ranked player signs with another team. Free agents who were offered arbitration have until Dec. 7 to accept. Houston declined to offer arbitration to all five of its former players who are free agents, a group that includes Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. San Diego offered arbitration to six players: pitchers Alan Embree, Chan Ho Park and David Wells; first baseman Ryan Klesko; outfielder Dave Roberts and second baseman Todd Walker. Other free agents who received arbitration offers were starting pitchers Miguel Batista (Arizona), Ted Lilly (Toronto), Gil Meche (Seattle), Vicente Padilla (Texas), and Mark Mulder and Jeff Suppan (St. Louis); relievers Keith Foulke (Boston), Scott Schoeneweis (Cincinnati), Ron Villone (New York Yankees) and Guillermo Mota and Roberto Hernandez (New York Mets); infielders Rich Aurilia (Cincinnati), Tony Graffanino (Milwaukee) and Julio Lugo (Los Angeles Dodgers); and outfielder Jose Guillen (Washington). Texas offered arbitration to Lee, an outfielder whose $100 million, six-year contract with Houston hasn't been finalized, and Philadelphia offered arbitration to outfielder David Dellucci, who has an $11.5 million, three-year preliminary agreement with Cleveland. Also, free-agent utility infielder Geoff Blum and the San Diego Padres agreed to a $900,000, one-year contract. Left fielder Scott Podsednik agreed to a $2.9 million, one-year contract with the Chicago White Sox that avoided arbitration. And Hernandez was close to an agreement with Cleveland. Glavine agreed to a $10.5 million, one-year contract with New York and opted against a possible return to the Atlanta Braves. Now the Mets can relax as they talk to Zito and discuss possible trades this offseason. "With Tommy now on board, I think we still will look at ways to improve the starting rotation," general manager Omar Minaya said. Ten wins shy of 300 after going 15-7 with a 3.82 ERA this year, Glavine helped the Mets win their first division title since 1988. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner then went 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in three postseason starts as New York advanced to Game 7 of the NL championship series before losing to St. Louis. Glavine, a left-hander who will be 41 next season, lives in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, and his family commuted to New York on weekends during the school year to join him. He thought long about whether he wanted to return to the Braves, his team from 1987-2002, or stay with the Mets, who signed him before the 2003 season. He told the Mets he would make his decision before the winter meetings, which begin Monday in Florida. "I wrestled with it. I think that everybody who knows me knows how important my family is to me and knows how much strain it is on my family for me to be in New York," he said. "After four years, it's grown on me. I like the city. I like the fans. I love the organization. They treated me with the utmost respect and that pull to come back to New York was a very strong pull. In the end, it's where we felt like we needed to be, and where we wanted to be." Durham agreed to a two-year contract worth between $14 million and $15 million. The 35-year-old second baseman, switch-hitter and two-time All-Star, is coming off his best season in years. He batted .293 with career highs of 26 home runs and 93 RBIs for the Giants with a .538 slugging percentage in 498 at-bats. He signed a three-year deal with the club before the 2003 season but has dealt with several leg injuries since his arrival. LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 :mischief2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 I honestly don't really know if I want him back with the Giants. I would love nothing more than to see him surpass Aaron in a Giants uniform, but he's not the Bonds of old. Having him hit cleanup doesn't hold the same weight as it used to. Last season, he ended up hitting under .280 with 26 homeruns and 77 rbi's... Not bad numbers, but you'd expect more from a team's big bopper. The other thing I'm looking forward to is the Giants just being the "San Francisco Giants" again. For so long, it's been "Barry and the Giants"... I'm a huge fan of his and appreciate everything he has done for this organization, but I don't know if him returning would be in the best interest of the team. Having said this, I still think he'll come back on a one year contract. So, yes, I do anticipate seeing #25 in LF next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlins2003 Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 This may or may not play into the Ramp scenario (that he comes here in an offer ala the Pudge Rodriguez one), but if he eventually leaves the Giants, and is healthy (his knees scare the sh*t out of me) I just hope he stays as far away from the NL East as possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 This may or may not play into the Ramp scenario (that he comes here in an offer ala the Pudge Rodriguez one), but if he eventually leaves the Giants, and is healthy (his knees scare the sh*t out of me) I just hope he stays as far away from the NL East as possible I will say this... He sucked the first half of the season in 2006. But the second half, he was great.. He even showed those knees off in the OF. I just hope the second half was a sign of things to come in 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Visions of Barry doing warm up tosses with Baldelli just makes me want to go feed the geese. Not sure whether I'll get a L jersey or an XL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishfan79 Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 If he played here the Marlins would at least get time on ESPN Nightly lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramp Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 is feeding the geese a good thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramp Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 is feeding the geese a good thing? :| sorry, never heard that one before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accord Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Loria, you want fans to show up, well here's your chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVPosey Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 wherever Bonds goes next year, that's who I'm rooting for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accord Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 wherever Bonds goes next year, that's who I'm rooting for Let's. go. Marlins. *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 is feeding the geese a good thing? Lets just say that Barry in LF and Rocco in CF would be super in my book. Then we can introduce Hammer to first base and I think AA and Cody would be excellent role players off the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramp Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 *feeds the geese, the goats and that damn mule* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyggyMarlin Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Hypothetically, if the Marlins decided to pony up for Bonds, would Loria make much more $$$ back in return not only in filling seats as Bonds chases Aaron, but also in advertising, merchandising, and broadcasting deals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 wherever Bonds goes next year, that's who I'm rooting for Come on, dude.. Are you a Barry fan, or a Giants fan? I would hate seeing Barry in another uniform, but he just isn't the same. There's no telling whether those knees of his can hold up for another year. And if he gets hurt, what's our backup plan? I guess that would be Todd Linden's shot right there.. But I would imagine Bochy would juggle Mark Sweeney and Linden out there.... Either way, you replace the big bopper with an unproven rookie or your best pinch hitter. I would have no problem bringing Barry back so long as the following happens.... 1. Pedro Feliz is not resigned 2. They give the 3b job to Rich Aurilia 3. They sign (or trade for) a legitimate power hitting first baseman Otherwise, we have an infield of Feliz, Vizquel, Durham, and Aurilia. And an outfield of Bonds, Roberts, and Winn. Without Bonds bat in that lineup, there's really nobody else that scares you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Hypothetically, if the Marlins decided to pony up for Bonds, would Loria make much more $$$ back in return not only in filling seats as Bonds chases Aaron, but also in advertising, merchandising, and broadcasting deals? He'd clean up at the gate, he'd clean up on the road cut of the gate, he'd clean up on merchandising. Considering he could give Bonds his contract from last season and still come in under $40 million for the entire team salary, which is less than he'd be getting from MLB to field a competitive team, and yeah, he'd be rolling in it. I'm not going to use this as a soap-box, but if Bonds chasing 756 in a Marlins uni doesn't get 40,000 every night at Pro Player, the Marlins should be contracted on the spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Punisher Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I tend to agree, BArry would bring fans back, but I don't want him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbob1313 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 The Marlins signing Barry Bonds makes so much sense it's almost stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Barry Bonds-OF- Giants Dec. 4 - 7:30 pm et Giants GM Brian Sabean said Monday that he wants Barry Bonds back and will meet with agent Jeff Borris on Wednesday. "I don't know where the story line came from that we didn't want him back," Sabean said. "We've had a long-standing conversation and offer out there that we've adjusted a number of times. Because we were pursuing other players didn't mean we weren't interested in Barry. We're trying to put the best team on the field and sign other people also. I guess it was misconstrued the other way." Despite Borris' claims, there appears to be little interest in Bonds elsewhere. If the Giants want him back, it's likely the two sides will work something else. I knew they'd cave in. Oh well... I'm sure something will get worked out before the weekend. Not sure it's the best move, but if Barry's gonna break Aaron's record, it'd better be in a Giants uniform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I'm not saying that it's not true that the Giants still have interest in him, but they sure went about it in a very funny manner, and Barry's a touchy guy. This comment could be more positioning by the Giants to drive the price up for other west coast teams that have interests (Padres, A's) than anything else. I don't think it's a secret that if he's going, the Giants want him as far away as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Yeah.. That's possible. I don't know.. It'll definitely be interesting to see how it plays out. Cause if Bonds doesn't come back, Sabean has tasked himself with finding someone to replace him in the 4 hole of that lineup. If he comes back, all the Giant faithful will be crossing our fingers every day that he stays healthy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 He's apparently met with 3 non-Giants teams today. :mischief2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeefan21 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Here's your Bonds Update: "Bonds and his representatives left without a contract, but with word Bonds had met in person with a St. Louis Cardinals official the day before. They continue to negotiate with the San Francisco Giants, who appear to be Bonds' preferred organization." http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-m...lgns#bondscards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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