04/30/2006 7:41 PM ET
Giants owner: Bonds could play in '07
Slugger won't decide status for next season until August
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
Barry Bonds said his right knee felt good playing in sunny weather Sunday.
(Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO -- A month of the season is gone, and Peter Magowan, the Giants'
managing general partner, is convinced that Barry Bonds still has a lot of
baseball left in him.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if, no matter what happens, this isn't his
last year," Magowan told MLB.com on Sunday before the Giants dropped an 8-2
decision to the Arizona Diamondbacks, finishing April with a 13-11 record.
Bonds' seventh-inning double was the 1,357th extra-base hit of his 21-year
career, moving him past Babe Ruth into third on that all-time list behind Stan
Musial (1,377) and Hank Aaron (1,477). Whether those kinds of heroics
continue with the Giants in 2007 will rely on a number of factors, Magowan
said.
"How did the team do?" he said. "What does the team need? What's his health
like? How much would he prefer just to be a designated hitter? In which case
he wouldn't do us any good. And it's way too early to answer any of these
questions. There's no way we can say right now what would be best for
everybody concerned."
Bonds said again Sunday that he isn't discounting any of the possibilities.
The immediate quest is second place on Major League Baseball's all-time home
run list. After opening the season with no homers for almost the first three
weeks, Bonds hit three in his club's last eight games and at 711 is only three
behind Ruth's 714 and 44 short of Hank Aaron's leading 755.
Once past Ruth, Bonds can begin the pursuit of Aaron. But he's aware that the
chase could stretch into another season.
"I'm not going to make that decision until August," Bonds said Sunday about
playing in 2007. "I can't give credence to any of it until that point. If I do
decide to come back, then everything will be on the table."
The homers haven't been coming in bunches, but offensively Bonds made some
adjustments at the plate and finished the month with a flourish. He's at a
season-high .277 (13-for-47) with the three homers, five doubles, 10 runs
batted in, 12 runs scored and 26 walks (12 of them intentional). His slugging
percentage is .574, and his .547 on-base percentage leads the National League.
Playing on a right knee that was surgically repaired three times last year and
with a left elbow that is filled with bone chips, Bonds has been on base in
all 17 of the games he's started, plus walked and homered in his three pinch-
hit appearances.
On Sunday, during one of the first warm and sunny baseball days of the spring
in San Francisco, Bonds even got caught in a rundown between third and home on
Mark Sweeney's seventh-inning grounder. The 38,266 in the stands and everyone
in the Giants dugout held their collective breath until Bonds was tagged out
near the plate.
Bonds, who has complained about knee soreness in the cold weather, laughed
about the play afterwards.
"It was great [Sunday]," Bonds said. "It was nice in the warm weather, and [my
knee] felt good. I couldn't believe it. I got caught in that rundown and took
off. I just couldn't stop once I started."
The month for Bonds has been anything except uneventful.
The Giants returned from Spring Training camp for an exhibition game against
the Angels on March 30 and then were beset by rain up and down the West Coast
for the next 17 days. Three regular-season games were rained out, including a
pair back-to-back at home, and Bonds couldn't get untracked.
Meanwhile, off the field, Major League Baseball began an investigation into
its steroid era, and a federal grand jury reportedly began hearing testimony
whether Bonds told the truth about the matter under oath two years ago.
In San Diego, a fan tossed an oversized syringe on the field near the end of
the season opener, and two weeks later, another fan was arrested for hurling a
toothpaste-like tube at Bonds in Chase Field.
By that time, Bonds had developed swelling in the knee after playing six
consecutive days and had to sit out two straight games in that same four-game
series at Phoenix. At times, he's looked like a member of the over-the-hill
gang playing in a schoolyard league. But the lefty-swinging Bonds then began
shifting his power to the opposite field where, voila, he's hit his three
homers, plus Sunday's double.
"I'm adjusting to them," Bonds said about his approach at the plate. "I can
handle the ball inside no matter what. They're throwing the ball outside and
I'm just going with it. A lot of slow stuff, too."
By reputation, though, the masses figured that Bonds would be beyond the Babe
by now. Last year, he hit five homers in his first 36 at-bats after missing
all of Spring Training and the first five months of the season because of the
damaged knee. That, in fact, turned out to be an illusion.
"I think he would've been by it by now," manager Felipe Alou said. "Maybe a
week ago. It'll have to wait about another week to 10 days. If he plays 20
games in May, he'll be close to 720."
That would place him 35 behind Aaron heading into June. Still possible for the
last four months of this season, but not probable, Magowan said.
"Sure, he's still got a chance [of catching Aaron this year], but it's a
limited chance," Magowan said. "He'll be limited in his at-bats by not playing
day games after night games and all the walks he gets. Oddsmakers would say
the chances are running against him, but the man has proven that the
oddsmakers have been wrong on him a lot in his career.
"So he has the possibility of doing it. I hope he does do it. And I hope he
does it here."
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject
to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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