Mar 20, 2008

Bonds still hoping to play this year

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - Unsigned and thus far unwanted, Barry Bonds still hopes to play this year.

"I'm not going to retire. I don't think that's going to happen," he told MLB.com on Tuesday. "I'm working out. I'm training. If my phone rings, it rings. If it don't, it don't. I have a cell phone. I have a Blackberry. They work. If something comes up, I'm sure they'll let me know. I'll come back in July if I have to. It depends on the circumstances."

Baseball's home run king was indicted in November on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice stemming from 2003 grand-jury testimony in which he denied knowingly using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He pleaded innocent.

"I want to win a championship or else I want to keep trying to win a championship until there's nothing left inside me," Bonds said. "I can still play."

The slugger did get one offer Wednesday, to work in media relations for a minor league team. The Lake Elsinore Storm, a Class-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, released a tongue-in-cheek statement announcing that the club has offered Bonds "a cushy Media Relations position (with slight pay cut from $19.3 million), full use of baseball facilities and of course expanded cubicle space with barcalounger and plasma TV."

"We just think the way he has handled the media with such grace over the years that he would be a perfect fit in our media relations department," Storm GM Chris Jones said.