Thirdly, Bonds is past his prime and approaching his mid-40s, as he turns 44 years old this month. And despite his amazing productivity last year at age 43—he had 28 HRs in 126 games and an astounding major league best .480 OBP in 2007—he can’t be expected to put up big numbers now at this age (except maybe walks), especially with more than half the season gone. Age is also a reason it’s no lock Bonds would play the last two-plus months of the season full-time and stay perfectly healthy. Sure, being a DH on an American League team (Red Sox, Tampa Bay, etc.) cuts down chances of getting hurt, but there’s no telling how those old joints and knees of his will hold up running the bases. And if such a setback should occur, you know the older one is, the more time it take the body to physically recover (without cheating, of course).

Fourth reason: Though some wouldn’t mind, I don’t think a majority of Sox players as a group would want Bonds, with the legal baggage and self-centeredness he carries to the clubhouse. The Sox don’t need another isolated superstar (like former Sox great Nomar Garciaparra). They’ve got other options, which I’ll get to later. Overall, Bonds is just a hard personality to accept and deal with as a teammate. Ask the Giants and Jeff Kent, who feuded with Bonds at least 7 times in SF over many years. Besides, it’s hard to see Big Papi and Jason Varitek, two of the game’s most highly respected players in the league, associating themselves with one of the most controversial figures in modern sports. I don’t think they want to win that badly.

Reason five: A majority of Sox fans wouldn’t and in fact, do not support the idea of the acquisition, if the highly passionate Internet and local radio reaction is any indication. And with a market as large as the Red Sox have, an upset and divided fan base—many of whom would bring “asterisk” and other anti-Bonds signs and chants to Fenway again, like they did in June of 2007—during the heart of a pennant race is the last thing the Sox ownership wants.

On the other hand, some of those fans may say all is forgiven if Bonds comes here and hits game-winning homers in Ortiz’s absence and helps the Sox make the playoffs and win it all again. They may justify switching feelings about him by claiming Bonds must be “clean” now, so why root against him? And to that I say not only is your view in the minority, but forgiving and forgetting what a man of bad character and morals has done, to baseball records and his own once-incredible career—not to mention his family via the alleged infidelity with former mistress Kimberly Bell, who felt “threatened” by him, as written in Game of Shadows—is impossible to do, at least for me.