Posted by John Brattain on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 4:54 pm

Now what?

I was looking forward to doing a post-mortem with Jack Marshall when the decision in the Bonds collusion arbitration case came down however a wrench has been thrown into the works. MLB/MLBPA agreed to postpone the grievance until after the trial so what happens now that the trial has been delayed?

Let’s face it, absent Greg Anderson’s testimony or the unlikely overturning of Judge Susan Ilston’s decision to exclude evidence that was illegally obtained; if it does go to trial Bonds’ has an excellent chance of skating plus the government runs the risk of having its dirty laundry brought out into the public purview plus Jeff Novitzky–a hero in the minds of many–would end up looking as bad as Bonds once the defense got through with him.

If the other agents working initially on the BALCO case are called to testify by the defense, Novitzky will end up being mentioned in the same breath–not with Elliot Ness–but Mark Fuhrman, another lawman whose comments aided a different African American superstar of professional sports in a courtroom…O.J. Simpson.

According to these ones “Jeff has never held back what he felt about Bonds” stating that “Novitzky hated Bonds”; “[Novitzky] envisioned congressional hearings, book deals and TV” and that BALCO “…was turned into a publicity stunt” to forward Novitzky’s career and his vendetta against the slugger. According to another agent, Novitzky stated regarding Bonds “He’s such an [anus] to the press, I’d sure like to prove [that he used steroids].”

Toss in the fact that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) opened an investigation of Novitzky (that was nothing short of a godsend to BALCO founder Victor Conte) and the Bonds’ defense team has nothing short of a cornucopia of dirt on the agent.

Even if the government wins the battle and gets a conviction on any one of the counts (believe me, they’re willing to settle for that and declare victory) they could lose the war since their actions in pursuing the case will demonstrate that they are the ones that endanger the public well being and not the defendant.

After all, if you cherish your constitutional rights, Jeff Novitzky is the guy you need to keep an eye on–not Barry Lamar Bonds. Bonds might call you a nasty name or ignore you completely were you to approach him but he isn’t likely to break down your door without a warrant, seize your goods and later lie about what they did while inside or harass folks you care about.

The odds of seeing Bonds led away in shackles is a longshot at best.

One has to wonder why the government is pursuing this when it appears their objectives have been met regarding Bonds; I don’t think there is anyone that believes that he didn’t use anabolic steroids at some point in his career, his legacy has been irreversibly tarnished, his chances for the Hall of Fame is in jeopardy, he is out of baseball and will not return–in short: Barry Lamar Bonds has been disgraced.

To continue to pursue this would be to expose the low dealings of the government and Novitzky to the general public–many of whom still believe they’re doing the work of God in all this; they may get a conviction on one of counts but ultimately may end up looking like the real villains when all is said and done.

As of right now–they are at their best point in time: Bonds is wearing the black hat and the government can simply drop the case spinning it by saying they have bigger fish to fry and John Q. Public will feel that Bonds “got off” on a technicality but the Oedipus complexing offspring of unmarried parents was guilty of everything up to and including betraying Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver.

So why the delays?

Surely a man as intelligent as Novitzky has to realize that a trial will not serve his career or reputation well and the feds have to be suspecting that they might actually do the impossible and turn Bonds into a sympathetic character–especially if all the facts become public knowledge.

Even if they get Anderson to testify, the defense will most certainly detail chapter and verse the goon tactics used by the federal government to get his cooperation. When all is said and done (assuming their best case scenario and BLB is fitted with an orange jumpsuit) even the most ardent Bonds-basher may wonder if the right person was put behind bars.

Any fair minded person weighing the sins of Barry Lamar Bonds against those of the people pursuing him would be able to discern who are the truly dangerous folks and menace to their personal well being.

Therefore (pauses to don the tinfoil hat) are the two events somehow related? An indefinite postponement of the trial would seem to create an almost indefinite postponement of the collusion hearing. If the feds drop the case, the arbitration could proceed almost immediately and if MLB knows their guilty as sin they would have no illusion about how it would play out.

However, if they string it out a year or two, which would in turn delay the grievance which in turn would put Bonds at an age where there would be zero chance he could be given a major league job. It would certainly serve Novitzky’s vendetta well–he could crow to his friends that it was he that got Public Enemy No. 1 out of baseball thereby protecting impressionable children. Certainly the feds want to make sure Bonds is no longer part of the national pastime and if they cannot put him behind bars, they can take steps to ensure that he is barred from ever “contaminating” the game ever again.

While hard time would definitely cause Bonds’ anguish–could it be that the feds would consider inflicting the end of his career a nice consolation prize? After all, the bottom line in all this is making sure that the surly ballplayer learns some manners and if you’re going to be spoken of as one of the game’s greats then you have to make nice with the white power structure in society and the media.

I guess time will tell.

Best Regards

John