There’s a report on espn.com about Barry Bonds’ inability to find a job this year and how his agent is beside himself over the fact and implying that collusion between the owners is to blame (he doesn’t bring up the word although the article discusses it). As most baseball fans know, team owners were slapped pretty hard some years back for colluding with each other to keep player salaries down and to try to direct them to and from certain teams.

The agent’s argument is that not only is Barry Bonds a highly productive hitter and a reasonably able outfielder, but he comes cheap by offering to play for the major league minimum. He also happens to be the most prolific home run hitter of all time. What he doesn’t mention is that Bonds is 44 years old, is as big of a cock to the people not on his payroll as he is to those who are, is facing federal perjury charges that he’ll be going to trial on next spring, has the specter of steroids hovering over his head like a black cloud, and will have an army of reporters descend upon whichever team he would sign to play for.

I am not a Bonds fan, and the last team I’d want to see him on at this point is my team. The Orioles already went down this road by bringing Sammy Sosa in and it didn’t work out all that well. But I’m willing to admit that while I don’t think collusion is at the heart of Bonds’ inability to find work, it could appear that way. I just believe that the teams that could use him to win looked at the pros and cons and found the cons outweighed the pros of emplying him and the teams that could use him for the novelty decided they didn’t want to bring the Barry Bonds circus to town in exchange for a few more butts in the seats.

Then there’s this quote near the end of the article:

“I feel bad for Barry. I think he’s deserving of better. He gave his heart and soul to this game, and I think he deserves to go out on his own terms. And obviously that’s not what’s happening.”

This is bullshit. Barry Bonds was extremely well compensated for his services over his career and pretty much treated everyone in and around the game like they were dog shit. Until he plays for a major league baseball team that he owns he definitely does not “deserve” to go out on his own terms. He got everything he was promised by the game. Bonds is nothing more now than an aged professional with declining productivity and a lot of baggage who isn’t worth the hassle for employers in his chosen profession. It might be tough but that’s the reality Barry Bonds has to deal with, just like every other employee does when he gets too old and too expensive (both literally and figuratively) to keep around any longer.