Barry Bonds’ $15.8 Million Agreement not to Agree

Well, on a slow sports news day like today, there’s always Barry Bonds. . . .

Last week, Major League Baseball’s commissioner rejected a one-year, $15,8 million agreement between Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants.  Although nobody is yet coming forth with details, anonymous sources indicate that the commissioner rejected the contract because of a personal-appearance provision, which is impermissible under an agreement between the commissioner and the players’ union. 

Now, there is another stumbling block: language permitting the Giants to void the agreement if Bonds should be indicted in the on-going federal investigation into steroid use by major league ballplayers.  While it had been  reported previously that Bonds was refusing to sign the agreement unless the language was expunged, it now appears that Bonds has signed  or will sign but is claiming that the language is unenforceable.  Bonds’ agent is reported to believe that the language in question is inconsistent with the players’ collective bargaining agreement and therefore “meaningless.”

[Jeremy Telman]