Interesting Theory...

David Neilsen of Giants Cove has an interesting hypothesis on a reason why Bonds could be hurt, or under his theory, be "hurt". It's one I've heard tossed around a couple or three times (my Pops being one person who has hurled it my direction). David doesn't seem to be touting his theory as fact, or even that he believes in it, but it is food for thought. Check out the March 22nd entry, then my following comment will make sense:

(start)Actually, if Bonds uses this {situation} to bow out, or happens to bow out for any other reason, it will be as condemning a blow as a confession. Most are already ready to believe anything bad about Bonds -- this would be as good as an admission of steroid use. If he happens to care about his legacy, etc., then he must realize that he has to put up one more "Bonds" season, one more 1.300 OPS season. That will quiet (but not banish) the criticism, because even skeptics will largely admit it'd be highly unlikely that Bonds is still using at this point. So, if Barry puts up another monster season, the seeds of doubt may be planted in his critics' minds.

The only problem with that theory is this -- the man is old, old for baseball already, and things that happen to 40+ year old men trying to play sports are always lurking. Skill regression, regardless of steroid use, is always right on Bonds' doorstep, not to mention that injuries are going to simply be more difficult to come back from (again, even with steroid use). Any steroid use Bonds may have had could help to fight age off, but it could never beat it.(end comment)

(sigh) It is really, really hard to stay off of this subject, as there is always new material floating about on the subject. I use the word "new", and not "fresh", because for the most part the "new" stuff is all some form of regurgitation of theories and opinions that have been read and heard 100 times by now. However, sometimes there are new wrinkles, new angles to perk the interest again, and all of a sudden I find myself talking about it for another week. The only place where someone seems to consistently come up with not only new, but fresh material on and around this subject is John Perricone over at Only Baseball Matters, but John seems to have made it a point to be more educated about things pertaining to this than 99% of the rest of the world. Much easier, I'm told, to come up with fresh and interesting new ideas about a beaten up subject when you know what you're talking about. Good thing for us that John does.

NOTE: I'm going to go ahead and link up Giants Cove on the sidebar -- I only read a bit when I stopped by, but it seemed to be well written and interesting. Good enough for me.