Source: Marlins considering Bonds as hitting coach
Would potentially share position with Menechino
MIAMI -- Barry Bonds, MLB's all-time home run leader, is under consideration by the Marlins to share coaching duties with Frank Menechino, according to a source.
Nothing is official, but Bonds, who has expressed interest in coaching, may get his opportunity with a young Marlins core that includes one of the game's most feared sluggers, Giancarlo Stanton.
CBSSports.com first reported Miami's interest in Bonds, who through the years developed a friendship with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.
Bonds has no previous professional coaching experience, although he has been a special Spring Training instructor with the Giants.
New Marlins manager Don Mattingly has not yet finished assembling his coaching staff. The team has already stated infield/first-base coach Perry Hill, third-base coach Lenny Harris and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius are returning. All were under contract for 2016.
Menechino, the hitting coach the past two years, also is expected back. Indications are Bonds and Menechino would share hitting coach duties if Bonds comes aboard. The club will not have an assistant hitting coach.
Juan Nieves, the former Red Sox pitching coach, is expected to be Miami's new pitching coach. And Tim Wallach, Mattingly's bench coach in Los Angeles with the Dodgers, also is lined up to assume the same position with the Marlins.
If finalized, Bonds would be a full-time coach with a wealth of knowledge as well as a controversial past.
The 51-year-old broke in with the Pirates in 1986, and in 1993, he signed with the Giants. He retired in 2007 as MLB's all-time home run king with 762, but the seven-time MVP's legacy is complicated by his link to performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2007, Bonds was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice during the federal government's BALCO investigation. The perjury charges were dropped, but he was convicted of obstruction of justice. The conviction was upheld by an appellate court in 2013, but another hearing in 2015 reversed the decision.
Bonds isn't the only former All-Star with his image clouded by suspicions of PED use seeking to re-enter the game. Mark McGwire was Mattingly's hitting coach in Los Angeles, and he recently became the Padres' bench coach. Roger Clemens is a special assistant with the Astros, and Gary Sheffield is an analyst with TBS.