Tampa Bay Manager Knows Not Of This Barry Bonds You Speak

Your dream of seeing Barry Bonds play in a lopsided pirate ship has been dashed once again. Despite rumors to the contrary, Tampa Bay Devil Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said that the team is not pursuing him. Said manager Joe Maddon: "It was a minor discussion, it was thrown out there a little bit and it's really not gone any further than that. That's all it is right now."

Of course, they also have chatted about Kenny Lofton, Kyle Lohse and most of the other free agents who remain unsigned. As one team official put it Monday, if the Rays weren't discussing all of those options, they wouldn't be doing their jobs. But any suggestion Bonds might join the Rays, fueled by a published report Monday, would be erroneous, according to people familiar with the discussions.

So to recap, the team that signed Jose Canseco and brought you Legends of Wrestling Night thinks that signing Bonds would be too weird.

UPDATE: Tampa Bay blog Rays Index has an interesting ad at the top of its home page ... for Barry Bonds ring tones. Ha.

Rays Say They Aren't Pursuing Barry Bonds [Tampa Tribune] What If ... Barry Bonds And That Tampa Bay Devil Rays [The Sporting Orange] Barry Bonds May Be Leaving Our Shores [Deadspin]