Barry Bonds

Bonds found very little interest for his services over the winter and predictably re-signed with San Francisco for one more year. He finished last season with his lowest OPS since 1991 but seemed to get healthier as the year wore on. Over the last two months of the season, he returned to hitting like one of the very best players in the game, with a 1.080 OPS. After offseason surgery to remove troublesome bone chips from his elbow and also one more year removed from knee surgery, it's possible Bonds will be a force next year. Just realize he's only likely to play 120-140 games, and the lineup around him is pretty weak.

His value may take a hit as he plays a bit less and exits games, especially for pinch-runners, more often. That costs you runs, and his HR and RBI are already limited by all the walks. A better sim player than straight fantasy at this point, but if healthy he's still one of the top outfielders.

With the maelstrom of negative publicity Bonds can expect to follow him in the wake of the BALCO steroids scandal, his usual focus on the game could be elusive. He will be under continual scrutiny by the baseball world, but negative attention is something Bonds has never run from. It remains to be seen what commissioner Bud Selig will do about the revelations implicating Bonds, but he is a safe bet to hammer the ball as usual, and will likely return as one of the most feared hitters, and valued fantasy commodities, in baseball.

The many walks Bonds draws hurt fantasy leaguers in two ways: his batting average doesn't make the same impact as you'd hope, and he never gets to hit in RBI situations. In other words, he's more valuable in real baseball than in fantasy. Nevertheless, he's a first-round pick who can be relied upon for a .300 average, 40 home runs and 90 RBI.

The most feared hitter of his generation, and among the greatest of all time. He's racked up 6.4 miles - that's right, miles - in walks to first base over the last two seasons. That said, his numbers in 2003 won't be as good as they were in 2002, and it's only a question of whether they drop a little or a lot. Bonds will turn 39 in July, and the clock is ticking; McGwire was already gone by that age, and Mays' last good year (1971) was age 40, as was Aaron's (1974). Also, Jeff Kent won't be back, which means that Giants are unlikely to be as productive around Bonds in 2003 as they were in 2002; if Bonds walked 198 times with Kent just before or just after him, he's bound to crack the 200 mark in 2003 without Kent.