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Bonds unsure of future with Giants
Updated: Wednesday February 21, 2001 2:09 AM
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Barry Bonds wants to know if he has a future with the San Francisco Giants. General manager Brian Sabean says it's too soon to tell. The three-time MVP opened spring training on Tuesday by asking the Giants either to begin negotiations on a contract extension or to consider a trade. His agent, Scott Boras, called the Giants later in the day in hopes of beginning just such a process. Bonds will make $10.3 million this season is eligible for free agency after the season. He wants to stay in San Francisco and would like an answer from the Giants before the regular season begins. "If there's dead silence, then I've got an answer," the 36-year-old outfielder said. "At this point in my career, after all I've done for this organization, I should just be told whether I'm going to be back here or not. If I am going to be here, then let's talk about it and let's get it done. (San Francisco) is my first choice, but I just want to work, regardless." Sabean said things aren't that simple. The Giants "unequivocally" want to keep Bonds, Sabean said, and they wouldn't consider trading him during the season unless they were hopelessly out of the pennant race -- but working out any deal before spring training ends would be difficult for several reasons. "We would probably be better served getting it done at the end of the year, and if it doesn't get done, then we have to deal with that," Sabean said. "I think the most important part is that both parties want to be here and to come to an agreement." Bonds, 36, hit .306 with a career-best 49 homers and 106 RBIs last season. The nine-time All-Star ranks 17th on the majors' home run list with 494. Bonds worked out at Scottsdale Stadium on Tuesday, the Giants' reporting day for position players. Counting this year, the team has given him $74.45 million. True to his iconoclastic form, Bonds refused to comment on the Giants' prospects for success this season, but he had plenty to say about his contract status.
"If they do not want to do this, at least let me know," Bonds said. "I'm a man and I can deal with it. At least let me know so I can tell my family." Bonds said he would listen to offers that were less than what he might make elsewhere -- but if the Giants plan to let him go, he also would waive his no-trade clause for the right destination. "I'll go where I want to go," Bonds said. "Pretty much anywhere, really, where I have a chance to win." Bonds said he has no bitterness or anger toward the Giants. He has been around the organization since childhood, when his father, Bobby, was an outfielder for the Giants. He signed with San Francisco as a free agent before the 1993 season after seven years in Pittsburgh. Though he would be attractive midseason bait to a team making a playoff push -- New York newspapers already have speculated on Bonds wearing a Mets uniform by August -- Sabean emphatically said the Giants wouldn't trade Bonds unless they were in "horrific" circumstances. "We're trying to win the division and get back in the playoffs," Sabean said. "We're not a second-division team that has to worry about value return. We've have to fall flat on our face and be completely out of the race at the trading deadline." Sabean, who put together the team that finished last season with baseball's best record, was understandably testy when he heard of his star outfielder's demands. Sabean and Bonds haven't spoken since last season Sabean said the prices in baseball's talent market fluctuate so quickly and frequently that it's nearly impossible to figure Bonds' fair market value until the offseason. "Until I know what (all the variables) are in years and in dollars, we're just not going to get in the middle of something we can't finish," Sabean said. "He's here to help us win. We recognize his value there."
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