Back in spring training, I couldn't help but jump on the Barry Bonds bandwagon when Moises Alou was suddenly lost to hernia surgery. With Carlos Delgado complaining of a degenerative hip condition, and Alou in limbo, I thought courting Bonds made sense, and some of the Mets even agreed with me.
Now, more than three months later, that appears to be a dead end. Alou, now on his third DL stint, is as shaky as ever and Church's concussion/migraine situation seems like it will haunt both him and the Mets all season. Still, I've calmed down with my Bonds hysteria, even when GM Omar Minaya refused to officially squash the speculation before last night's 10-9 win over the Phillies.
Bonds is pretty much a pariah now, and if a team hasn't taken that leap yet, I can't see it happening. Even the Bonds' camp declined to talk about the Mets or the possibility of coming to New York yesterday, which I found strange given the lack of interest in his client.
As for the Mets, they did just fine without Alou or Church last night, before the bullpen caved in. I know Pedro only made it 5 1/3 innings, but there was a definite improvement last night. His breaking pitches were much sharper and his changeup is getting closer to the what we've come to expect from him. Maybe now that Wagner is away from the Phillies, he'll look more like an All-Star and less like Armando [Benitez].
Comments (4)
They don't need Bonds, but they still need a leftfielder.
And a secondbaseman -- Easley isn't healthy enough for his career year to last all season.
And a firstbaseman ...
And another reliable starter ...
And about three more relievers...
In other words, they're about 7 players short of making the playoffs.
This team doesn't need another 40+ year old player David. That is dumb. Anyone over 35 is not needed actually.
With his slider and penchant for walking people, Wagner looked more like vintage John Franco last night.
At least you guys didn't completely try and create a story on Bonds this time like you did before the season when they had you and Matthews both write the silliness that it was being considered, even though it never was.