SHOULD THE CARDS SIGN BARRY BONDS?

This is a topic being tossed around cyberspace, and with no games being played today, what else do we have to talk about? Bonds remains a man without a team, and his agent says it is collusion. In talking with every major league team, he says that the managers would take Bonds, but the GMs and owners won't touch Barry. I don't think it is collusion, and really, I can't blame the owners. Owners are rich, rich, rich guys who hang out with other rich, rich, rich guys. They don't want to be the guy in the room that signed Bonds.

But let's be clear about one thing sports fans, somebody is going to sign Barry Lamar Bonds before this season is over. You can take it to the bank.

Because owners are also competitive people, and above all else, they are capitalists! For some team, right there in the middle of the pack, that may be one or two moves away from being a serious playoff contender, or even better, a player away from a World Championship.... you see where I'm going with this... Bonds can still play. Bonds will put people in the seats, he'll sell jerseys, and don't give me this "he cheated the game." Every team in baseball has a guy that cheated or was alleged to have cheated. With so many guys in the last 20 years doing it, the game isn't going to be cleaned up for a few more years. Dont believe me? Where would our beloved Cards be without Rick Ankiel (HGH) or Troy Glaus (Mitchell Report)? So get off your soapbox!

In deciding if we should sign Bonds, the question should be simply "can he help the Cardinals make the playoffs and compete for a World Championship?" The answer is an obvious yes. Sure, we could go after Matt Holliday of the Colorado Rockies instead. We could trade 3-4 of our best prospects, and Holliday would be a great addition to our lineup. But why do that, when Bonds is going to cost us a prorated version of the league minimum (which Bonds says he'll sign for) of $390,000? We would be getting one of the best hitters in the history of baseball and be giving up nothing for him!!! Consider Bonds career stats:

.298 average, .444 OBP, .607 slugging, 1.051 OPS... need I say more? Think about this lineup:

1 - Miles, 2B
2 - Ludwick, RF
3 - Pujols, 1B
4 - Bonds, LF
5 - Glaus, 3B
6 - Ankiel, CF
7 - Molina, C
8 - Pitcher
9 - Izturis, SS

Bench - Schumaker & Barton OF, Kennedy & Ryan IF, Larue C.

Ludwick gets a ton of pitches to look at in front of those two sluggers, and I GUARANTEE that Pujols would hit 25+ the rest of the way getting more fastballs to look at and challenge for a triple crown (if he could rack up enough RBIs between now and then). Bonds will give you a .280 average, .450+ OBP, and an OPS of .900+. How do you pitch to that lineup in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning with the L, R, L, R setup? That is a tough lineup!

So I think the question should be, WHY NOT sign Barry Bonds? He is going to help some team down the stretch. Why not the Cardinals?