The Contra Costa Times published two editorials today, each calling for a separation of Bonds from the Giants. Neil Hayes poses the question:

How the Giants will handle this is a similar mystery. No franchise has benefited from illegal steroids more than the Giants. Should they release Bonds now in an attempt to separate themselves from their tainted star, or is that hypocritical since president and managing general partner Peter Magowan long ago hitched his fate to a player he must have suspected was cheating?

Gary Peterson answers it:

Magowan has been a facilitator of Bonds' boorish act ever since. No doubt he has heard the whispers of Bonds' steroid use. He surely has witnessed the anecdotal evidence of their impact upon his performance. He undoubtedly is well versed in the dismissive and demeaning manner in which Bonds has treated team employees.

For years Magowan reveled in Bonds' on-field ability. He built a new stadium on Bonds' acne-covered back. He sold tens of millions of dollars worth of tickets to fans wearing No. 25 jerseys. But it has been a deal with the devil. For the past several years, Magowan has allowed his entire organization to be held hostage by his petulant superstar.

Now, with Tuesday's revelations, the man who once saved baseball for San Francisco risks it anew. Oh, not in the this-team-will-never-play-here-again sense, but rather in the it'll-be-years-before-anyone-respects-this-franchise-again sense.

The more you think about it, the more you realize there is only one recourse to the Barry Bonds Problem. The Giants need to divorce themselves of Bonds. As in -- yesterday, if someone can find the keys to the way-back machine.

And while all this venting is good for one's spleen, I really don't think there's anything either MLB or the Giants can do. As far as I can tell, Bonds is alleged to have broken laws, but until he test positive, he hasn't broken any rules. If Major League Baseball or the Giants took punative action against Barry, the union would reinstate him faster than you could blink.

Barry Bonds is every terrible thing you wish to think about him. But if he continues to test clean, there's nothing anyone can do to stop him from playing, short of the government putting him in jail.

Update: Dan LeBatard sums up the counter argument in two lines:

It's OK for us to want to win at all costs.

Its just not OK for people like Barry Bonds.

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