Mets GM plays along with Bonds banter

PHILADELPHIA — After more than 15 minutes of grilling on Ryan Church, concussions, migraines and any number of brain-related issues, general manager Omar Minaya actually seemed relieved Monday when someone asked him about pursuing Barry Bonds.

Finally, Minaya thought to himself, a softball question about how I might sign a disgraced home-run king awaiting trial involving the alleged abuse of performance-enhancing drugs. Anyone got his agent's phone number?

No, Minaya hasn't called Jeff Borris, the slugger's rep at the Beverly Hills Sports Council, and currently has no plans to do so. When contacted Monday, Borris sent word through a spokesman flatly stating, "the Mets have no interest in Barry Bonds."

That didn't stop Minaya, however, from playing along on the subject of Bonds, whose name came up given the shaky status of his two injured outfielders, Church and Moises Alou. Bonds is not ready to retire on No. 762, even if teams are treating him as if he is radioactive, and Minaya spoke like he could have a lead-lined locker ready for him at Shea.

When asked directly if he would consider Bonds, Minaya smiled and said, "I would say that I'm going to focus on our guys and our guys hopefully will be OK."

The one sure way to stop such speculation is for Minaya to respond there is "zero-point-zero-zero" chance of the Mets acquiring Bonds. And until the GM does precisely that, Bonds will cast a shadow over Shea, like the giant Shrek balloon from the Macy's parade.

The talk even trickled into the manager's office, where a reporter posed the question to Jerry Manuel about making room for Bonds and his Barcalounger.

"Oooooooh, y'all are good," Manuel said. "Y'all are damn good. Oooh, Barry Bonds. That would be interesting. That would make your jobs easy. You'd have something every day to do."

After praising Bonds for a few seconds, and talking about his dad, Manuel was asked if he could still play the outfield. "I don't know," the manager said, smiling. "Next question."

Right now, Bonds is pretty much a tabloid bogeyman for the Mets, who see him more as a fit for a team in the American League, where he can DH. Talking with one team executive Monday, the physical demands of the everyday leftfielder's job is the biggest roadblock. Bonds will be 44 in two weeks, and even though he's reportedly been working out in Los Angeles, how much of a July spring training would he require to get in baseball shape?

Of course, Bonds also is a public-relations nightmare, and that introductory news conference at Shea would dwarf the scene outside Lenny Kravitz's Paris condo these days. For all of those reasons, the Mets are hesitant to dip their toe into the Bonds pool, and Minaya is hoping they won't be desperate for outfield help by the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. They looked fine last night in thumping the Phillies, 10-7, to win three of four at Citizens Bank Park.

"I think the clock is ticking," Minaya said, "because the fact of the matter is that once you get beyond the 31st, it gets much more difficult to address the needs. I feel pretty good that I think (Church and Alou) would be OK as we get to the back end of this month and hopefully they'll be able to help us out the whole season. If that changes, then you have to start re-evaluating and look at the market a little more aggressive than we have been looking at it."

Minaya received some good news Monday on Church, who returned to New York late Sunday to be checked out for a migraine headache. After suffering two concussions this year only 11 weeks apart, a recurrence of those symptoms is always a concern.

But Church visited a concussion specialist Monday and an MRI of his head and neck came back negative, which the Mets interpreted as a positive sign.

The best-case scenario is that Church returns in a couple of days, is somehow able to limit his migraines — which are impossible to predict — and also avoids another concussion this season. That's a lot of ifs.

Then there's Alou, who initially was supposed to play in the Phillies' series but won't show up for a rehab game until later this week. Minaya came clean on Alou Monday when he said the 42-year-old outfielder was still feeling sore in the "same area," meaning his strained left calf.

So the Mets' two corner outfielders, as well as No. 5 and 6 hitters, are stuck somewhere between probable and questionable for the remainder of the season.

Until both get on the field at the same time — maybe this weekend? — Minaya won't know for sure if he needs to trade for someone such as the Rockies' Matt Holliday or the Mariners' Raul Ibanez.

"You have to be careful in thinking that if you add something for the sake of adding something, it affects what you're doing right now," Manuel said. "It's kind of a ticklish situation. If you go out and get Holliday, or somebody like that, I can take that. I think I can find him a spot."

Given the uncertainty of the Mets' outfield, Manuel may be asked to do just that in a couple of weeks.