Barry Bonds not offered arbitration

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor


RONALD BLUM

Associated Press

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
 
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