The San Francisco Giants announced today that they would not bring back Barry Bonds next year for his 16th season with the club.  Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record in August, but has been sidelined with injury for much of the season.

Bonds responded to the news on his website, saying that his time in the MLB is not over and he will continue to try and win a World Series ring.

The Giants paid Bonds $19.3 million, including bonuses, to bring back Bonds this year.  However, besides Bonds’ record-breaking homerun, there has been little reason to watch the club, who is 20 games behind in the NL West.

Now, I don’t know a lot about baseball, but it seems like Bonds is a huge draw for fans, and without him it will be pretty painful to watch the Giants.  But with all his injuries, the Giants probably figured it wouldn’t be worth to endure another year with Bonds, and money spent on his contract would be better spent elsewhere.

If Barry does come back, it will definitely be odd to see him in another uniform.  If he really wants a ring, he would go to the Yankees or Red Sox, right?  But I imagine it will be pretty hard for Barry to build a following in another city, since he is widely hated outside of SF.

And now what do I do with my Bond’s jersey?

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