The long-delayed contracts of Barry Bonds and J.D. Drew have a lot of ways for the Giants and Red Sox to terminate the contract.
For Drew, there are out clauses dealing with Drew's health, specifically, if Drew is on the DL for 35 days or more in 2009 and unable to play the outfield again. Similar language covers the Red Sox for 2010 and 2011.
For Bonds, there are out clauses for the Giants for much different reasons. Most notably, there are provisions that would allow the Giants to terminate the contract early if Bonds were indicted. The language in the contract states that Bonds would not file a grievance if the Giants changed the contract from being guaranteed to being nonguaranteed and then releasing him in the event of an indictment.
If/when Bonds hits 756, maybe Henry Aaron can meet Bonds with a quote. How about "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes; you'd know what a drag it is to see you."?
Why would the MLBPA go along with these contracts? Bonds is a wierd case, but the Drew thing seems like a serious assault on the fundamental rule that baseball contracts are guaranteed, even in the case of never-play-again injury.
We can call it the Dreifort Rule, unless your yankee readers are wondering if it needs to be the Pavano Rule.
"Broken lines, broken strings,
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain't no use jiving
Ain't no use joking
Everything is broken."
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We can call it the Dreifort Rule, unless your yankee readers are wondering if it needs to be the Pavano Rule.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2748744
it didn't allow them to terminate, but did allow them to buy out on grounds of injury.
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain't no use jiving
Ain't no use joking
Everything is broken."
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.