On Baseball | Wishing he'd just go away

As much as Major League Baseball tries to steer attention toward all that is good in the game, the 2007 season will be dominated by a burdensome story angle: Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record.

Bonds is 22 homers away from breaking the record. Ordinarily, baseball would be promoting a quest like this for all it's worth - celebrating it, honoring the people involved, milking it for every last cent. Not this one, though. Bonds' alleged involvement with steroids and the belief that his run at the record is tainted has most folks in baseball quietly wishing he would limp off into the sunset.

Commissioner Bud Selig is in a particularly uncomfortable situation given that Aaron, one of the game's most respected historical pillars, is a close friend. Deep in his soul, there's no way Selig wants to see Aaron relegated to second in the batting order. Not this way, at least.

While Major League Baseball officials privately rue the day they will have to stand on the field and offer fake smiles and hollow applause after Bonds hits his 756th homer, it would seem that on the surface there is little they can do to stop his pursuit other than to pray he awakens one day soon and decides it's time to go. Fat chance.

Over the last few days, though, there has been news about Bonds that makes you wonder whether there actually is a way baseball can run Bonds off before he passes Aaron.

Bonds reportedly tested positive for amphetamines last season, the first in which they became a banned substance in baseball.

In some ways, this is really an unremarkable event. Amphetamines, pep pills or "greenies" as they are most frequently called, have been in baseball clubhouses for decades, as much a part of the game as pine tar on a bat handle. When the rigors of a 162-game schedule caught up to a player, a little pick-me-up 15 minutes before the first pitch could work wonders.

That didn't make it right, though. In recent years, team doctors expressed concerns over the use of greenies to the commissioner's office, which was able to ride the move to rid the game of steroids and get the players' association to agree to include amphetamines on the list of banned substances.

You can bet the kids' tuition money that a bunch of players rolled the dice and occasionally popped a greenie last season. Some surely got away with it. Others surely were nailed. Under baseball rule, first-time offenders remained anonymous and were subject to more frequent testing and a counseling and education program.

It's just too strange and coincidental that in the first year of testing for amphetamines, only one violating player's name became public and that player happens to be the most controversial in the sport.

Could there be a little conspiracy going on here? Maybe. But who's behind it?

At a Brewers function in Milwaukee on Thursday, Selig told reporters that he had no idea how the information on Bonds became public.

The Giants organization, too, claimed it did not know where the information came from. The Giants were not notified of Bonds' positive test, but the slugger reportedly disclosed it to teammates.

The players' union? Can't imagine it spilling the beans.

Regardless of where the leak originated, the timing of it is noteworthy. Bonds agreed to a one-year, $16 million contract with the Giants (the only team that wanted him) in December, but the deal is still unsigned as the two sides work out language involving how much of Bonds' entourage is allowed in the clubhouse. Could the new information on Bonds scuttle the unfinished deal, leaving Bonds with nowhere to play in '07? Could that have been the intent of the leak, wherever it came from? Or is someone just trying to antagonize Bonds into saying he's had enough and walking away? You have to wonder.

It's just too strange that after the first year baseball has tested for amphetamines, we only know of one player who got caught and that player is someone a lot of people would like to see go away. At a time when Major League Baseball would ordinarily begin hyping a record quest like this, more dirt is coming out.

At age 43, Randy Johnson got another year and $10 million added to his contract as a trade from the Yankees to Arizona was completed last week. Johnson will pitch at least through 2008 and earn $26 million in that time.

Moving Johnson opens the door for the Yankees to sign Roger Clemens, who will turn 45 in August. Clemens will also be pursued by the Astros and Red Sox. Look for him to once again pitch an abbreviated season - about four months at a cost of about $4 million per month.

It pays to stay healthy and productive into your 40s, especially if you're a pitcher. Johnson and Clemens aren't the only fortysomethings to make big financial scores this off-season. Check out some of these signings, which began in October when the Phillies re-upped 44-year-old Jamie Moyer for two years and $10.5 million:

Roberto Hernandez, 42, Indians, one year, $3.5 million.

Greg Maddux, turns 41 in April, Padres, one year, $10 million.

Jose Mesa, turns 41 in May, Tigers, one year, $2.5 million.

Mike Stanton, turns 40 in June, Reds, two years, $2.5 million.

Woody Williams, 40, Astros, two years, $12.5 million.

Tom Glavine, turns 41 in March, Mets, one year, $10.5 million.

Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, 41, Mets, two years, $12 million.

Several position players in their 40s also received notable deals:

Moises Alou, 40, Mets, one year, $8.5 million.

Craig Biggio, 41, Astros, one year, $5 million.

Kenny Lofton, turns 40 in May, Rangers, one year, $6 million.