Marlon Byrd Is OK, Spanky Is OK, Barry Bonds Not OK

Mike LaValliere was asked by 93.7 The Fan host Gregg Giannotti what he would think  if Barry Bonds was stopping by to speak with the Pirates players.  We shouldn’t really give a shi* what Spanky thinks, but it was rather confusing.

"“You know what, I’m here to do a job, and it involves the catchers. Should Neal Huntington, and Clint Hurdle, and the powers to be think that’s best for the organization, then I’m going to have to say the same thing- it’s best for the organization. He’s not here. So let’s just say they’ve already had their say.”"

Barry Bonds wants a job in baseball.  It sounds like there isn’t a chance in hell of Bonds ever working with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  It also sounded like Mike LaValliere won’t lose sleep over it.  [ Spanky on 93.7 The Fan ] If it’s about what Bonds did in the past, well that sucks.

Marlon Byrd did some bad things in his past and we didn’t see anyone boycotting baseball games last season when the Pittsburgh Pirates picked him up.  Pirates President Frank Coonelly and GM Neal Huntington raved about Byrd’s performance. Man, Barry Bonds must have been a massive dick for teams to not even consider that he would have a message that players would want to hear.

The Pirates are consistently inviting outside speakers in to speak with their players. Jeff Banister talked about being pumped up recently after having listened to a morning speaker.  Earlier in camp Steve Shenbaum came in to speak to the players, here is the link to his interesting message. But I wonder how Spanky’s message is being received. Originally Spanky was invited by Lloyd McLendon to Pirates camp way back in 2001. Speaking of massive dick….

"“He (LaValliere) talked about getting to learn each pitcher, that each one has their own personality, it was a good talk.”"

We understand that Spanky has many good words of wisdom for the Pirates catchers.  But we think special instructors are brought in more for their presence rather than their message.  Bonds would do both right? If you think Bonds doesn’t want back in the game you are very wrong.  The only problem is that zero teams seem interested.   The slugger made it crystal clear in an MLB.com interview last year.

"What do I do now? I picked a career that only lasted half my life."

Bonds will help out the Giants for a few days next week, and perhaps that will help garner some attention in his job hunt.   Until then Spanky will keep doing his thing, including if you listen to the interview–getting the credit card from the teams secretary while Bonds will continue riding his bike with his hot girlfriend. Seems like a waste.