Deuce's Blog: Bonds Returns to the Giants
By Dave "Deuce" Mason
Barry Bonds returned to the Giants on Monday where he'll spend the next seven days as a spring training instructor.
Is it a big deal? It shouldn't be. Former players make visits to spring training every year but this one's a little different with Bonds.
Bonds wants back into baseball but the question is: Would it be the right move for the Giants to bring him back on a full-time basis?
On the baseball side the answer is a resounding yes. What player wouldn't want to tap into Bonds' knowledge of the game?
Who wouldn't want to talk to the man who had an unbelievable eye for hitting, and who was a great base stealer and defensive player in his younger days?
But it's not that simple. You have to wonder if Bonds can accept his role as a coach, and understand that he's not "the man" he was in San Francisco for so many years.
Gone are the days of Bonds taking up three lockers in the clubhouse with his recliner. Gone are the days he'd get a hotel suite on every road trip.
He has to understand that Giants are no longer his franchise.
Bonds on Monday said he's changed since his playing days. "You have this guy over here that's crazy, and then this guy over here that's not who's not…I'm more in the middle now," Bonds said.
"I can still be crazy but I'm a lot calmer," Bonds said with laugh.
Bonds took joy in talking about the Giants, and what it means to be back but didn't offer much on topics like the hall of fame, steroids and Alex Rodriguez.
Does Bonds believe he's a hall of famer?
"Without a doubt," Bonds said Monday during his press conference but he offered no advice for the writers who are having a difficult time voting steroid-era players into baseball's hall of fame
"I think you guys are all adults, I have no advice for you."
Bonds doesn't have advice for reporters, and that's OK. He seems to want to save that advice for Giants players, and that's all that matters.
You can listen to Deuce and Jason Ross from 12-3 p.m. on KHTK Sports 1140. Follow him on Twitter: @DeuceMason
