D'Backs Won't Close the Door on Bonds

The D'Backs placed Eric Byrnes on the disabled list with sore hamstrings back in May, and after playing in a handful of games in late June, he's back on the sidelines. He's set for an MRI later this week, but even if the results don't point to surgery, D'Backs GM Josh Byrnes admitted that it's looking like the outfielder might be done for the year.

How will the D'Backs fill the hole in their outfield? As if on cue, reporters were quick to ask about Barry Bonds, whom Josh Byrnes refused to deny was a possibility:

"He and maybe a couple of others are sort of sitting out there," Byrnes said. "I think it's a bit of assessing any player's readiness, then knocking somebody out of the lineup, dollars, etc.

"I don't want to talk about him specifically but, believe me, we've considered a lot of options. There is sort of no one obvious option right now, but there are a lot of considerations."

Sure, the D'Backs could fish for options on the trade market, but that'd obviously require giving something up. If Bonds does return this year, it's going to be with a desperate contender -- and considering the D'Backs are sitting exactly at .500 with the Dodgers just a game behind them in the NL West, there probably aren't many teams more desperate than them.

I don't even need to begin to tell you the kind of negative PR that Bonds would bring to the team, but he'd also bring an amazing spark to the lineup. Over the last three years, Bonds hit .333/.591/.593 in 27 at-bats (with 16 walks) at Chase Field.