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Sunday, February 19, 2006

Götterdämmerung: Bonds, Brown Announce Retirements

Former Dodger Kevin Brown has decided to retire, because of his back.
"Kevin didn't have me pursue any teams because he wanted to see how his health was," Scott Boras, Brown's agent, told [a reporter from the New York Times]. "He decided after the painful process last year he was not going to play. His arm is still remarkably good, but it's about his back."
His last game was a July 23 loss to the Angels, in the last year of a seven-year, $105 million contract he signed with the Dodgers in 1997. But lest you think I imply that Brownie was anything close to a Hall of Famer (had he fewer injury years, that might have been the case), the fellow I have in mind most to match the title of this entry is none other than Barry Bonds, who in a USA Today interview says he will retire at the end of the season.
"I'm not playing baseball anymore after this," Bonds told USA TODAY in a wide-ranging telephone interview near his home in Beverly Park, Calif. "The game (isn't) fun anymore. I'm tired of all of the crap going on. I want to play this year out, hopefully win, and once the season is over, go home and be with my family. Maybe then everybody can just forget about me."

...

"I can't even tell how you may pain pills I am on or how many sleeping pills I'm taking," Bonds said. "I don't have a choice. I can't even run that much anymore. How can I run? I don't have any cartilage in that knee. I'm bone on bone.

"But I can still hit. I can rake. I can hit a baseball."

He can, that.

Comments:
The soundbite "Ahh, blow it out" that Jim Healy used to play on his radio show would best describe my reaction to Bonds' comment.
 
So how much of an effect would this have on Bonds being the Angels' DH in '07? Damn that would have been hot too. Vlad/Bonds back-to-back. wooweee
 
Eh, not so much.
 
No cartilage? Bone on bone? Sounds like somebody needs knee replacement surgery. Could Bonds get a knee replacement and come back as a DH? Medical experts? Can anyone comment on this?
 
He could probably get Synvisc injections, but it's questionable how much he wants to be in the majors anymore given (a) the knowledge of his inevitable decline and has no desire to be a tragic figure (he no doubt has listened first-hand to Willie Mays' sad last seasons with the Mets), (b) is in a fair amount of pain on a regular basis, (c) doesn't like being asked about steroids all the time, and (d) is kind of a surly jerk at a personal level.
 

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