The list is impressive in terms of the wheeling and dealing done by Major League Baseball clubs before last week's July 31st deadline. One of the best catchers ever to play the game, one of the game's greatest overall hitters with over 500 career homers, and a member of the 600-homer club were all part of the festivities as teams positioned themselves for the stretch run.
 
Ivan Rodriguez, the great catcher who has helped the last two teams he has played for in Florida (the 2003 World Series Champions), and Detroit advance to the World Series, is now a New York Yankee.

Ken Griffey, Jr., who were it not for injuries that have sidelined him for two full seasons worth of games, would have broken Hank Aaron's all-time record first, went to the Chicago White Sox, while this era's greatest right-hand hitter, Manny Ramirez, is now an L.A. Dodger.

With a list like that it is indeed easy to call this year's July trading session one of the most memorable ever, but the question begs: where's Barry?

It really is no mystery why all-time home run king Barry Bonds was not picked up by any major league teams during the trading frenzy last week, or at the start of the season. Let's face it, the BALCO ordeal turned him into a hands-off commodity, plain and simple.

There are those in the game, like the commissioner and a handful of owners, who will not admit Bonds is bad for the game, but as they strive towards putting the steroid scandal behind MLB, Barry clearly is not part of the plan.
Dozens of reporters smothering Bonds in a locker room after a game with constant questioning on the BALCO matter could be critical to slowing down MLB's efforts to regain and sustain the magic fans all over the nation have felt with regards to baseball, beginning with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's historic 1998 run at Roger Maris single-season homerun record of 61 set in 1961.
 
This theory may or may not be true, but there are squads out there, specifically in the American League with the designated hitter rule, like the weak-hitting Oakland A's, who could have stood to acquire a player like Bonds before the deadline simply because of what he could provide to the lineup.
To be fair, his mere presence is always potentially a distraction because of Barry's stature as a great player, even with his age (he is now 44), and the saucy way he chooses to deal with the media. So these two facts alone could wreak havoc on a young club like Oakland's.
 
That aside, Oakland was a mere four games behind Anaheim at the All-Star break and they have simply crashed and burned since the second half began, as they currently sport a 2-12 post All-Star game record. In addition, they have fallen a whopping 15.5 games behind the Angels.

So, the distraction, if they were at all serious about the pennant chase, might have been worth it. Keep in mind that the great ones always bring issues with them and this is what in part makes them great. Reggie Jackson came to New York and took the Yankees to the stratosphere in the '70s, and let's not forget Kevin Garnett.

I was at a 2007 draft party in Oakland and the Golden State Warriors were up for their first-round pick (who would be Marco Belinelli from Italy). The party hosts had placed a microphone below the stage for fans to come up and ask questions, so when I had the opportunity I raised the question of why, after 14 years of futility, the Warriors did not get ultra-aggressive and go after a marquee player like Kevin Garnett. Sure they would give up prospects and maybe two starters, but after years of nothing one must try something.

Well, Danny Ainge agreed with me when he picked up Garnett before the 2007-08 campaign. Ainge snagged Ray Allen to team up with Paul Pierce as well, but the fact is he felt his team needed a swift change and he had to act quickly.
The rest is history since we know what Garnett accomplished as a player and what the Boston Celtics did as a team, so what's the deal with no team adding Barry and giving themselves a chance to major league baseball's 2008 version of the NBA champion Celtics? 

The word “collusion” has been tossed around freely, and I believe that tossing to be justified. We don't like to think there's that pink elephant in the room and he may not be because he's hanging around the baseball diamond. Time has shown over and over that players of exceptional skill, like Latrell Sprewell's acquisition by the New York Knicks despite having assaulted his head coach while a Golden St. Warrior, will always tempt owners to take a chance, but this time no such dice with Bonds. 

Who has he ticked off so much that teams won't even accept his offer of not only playing for the major league minimum but also donating his miniscule salary to charity? Barry sounds like a man who, despite what has happened, wants to play and play badly for nothing.

In short, owners are in baseball to make money and to win championships to make more money, so this is an even larger mystery as to why Bonds is locked out of the game. Barry, baggage and all, could provide a great chance for owners to reach their goals because fans will pack stadiums and freeze in the beer lines to watch a Bonds at-bat and the way opposing pitchers handle a lineup including Bonds will change drastically.

Although it is highly unlikely, the powers (the commissioner and the owners) that run the game, surely not the Angels in their own right, should not pass judgment on the tarnished superstar. In fact, they could all stand to look in the mirror and give this guy a shot.