Bonds a misfit? Not with Rays (and stick it, Yankees, Red Sox)

Look at their track record:

• The Rays have no money -- Forbes magazine puts their value at $290 million, well below the Yankees ($1.3 billion) and Red Sox ($816 million) -- but the few times they've gambled on prospects, they crapped out. In 1996, high school free agents Matt White and Bobby Seay received bonuses totaling $13.2 million ... and they won a total of one game for the Rays.

• Splurges on veteran pitchers haven't worked, either. The Rays gave Juan Guzman a two-year, $12.5 million deal in 2000 and he gave them five outs, hurting his shoulder in his debut and never pitching again. That debacle came two years after the Rays gave Wilson Alvarez $35 million and got 17 wins over his five injury-riddled seasons.

• Cruelest of all has been the draft. The Rays took Josh Hamilton first overall in 1999, but it's the Rangers who are reaping the rewards of his MVP-type season after injuries and drugs ruined his tenure with the Rays. They drafted Delmon Young first overall in 2003 but unloaded him after his disgruntled act highlighted by a 50-game suspension for flipping his bat at a Triple A umpire.

Another first-rounder, five-tool OF Rocco Baldelli (6th overall in 2000), has had his promising career gutted by injuries. A legally troubled third-rounder, Elijah Dukes (2002), is a budding superstar ... in Washington. Upton, the No. 2 overall pick in 2002, is becoming a pain in the ass. Oh, and the Rays' first pick in the 1997 expansion draft, Tony Saunders of the Marlins, suffered a gruesome broken arm while throwing a pitch in 1999.

All teams have problems, but unlike their AL East competition, the Rays can't throw money at theirs. The Yankees added to their $210 million payroll in July by obtaining Xavier Nady, Ivan Rodriguez, Richie Sexson (briefly) and Damaso Marte. The $136 million Red Sox plugged holes by acquiring Jason Bay and Paul Byrd -- essentially buying Byrd for $2 million from Cleveland -- and paying the Dodgers $7 million to take Manny Ramirez off their hands.

Tampa Bay, with its $43 million payroll, can only throw nickels and dimes. But Barry Bonds would be cheap, and he'd be good. Would he be a serpent? Possibly. But the AL East isn't the Garden of Eden. It's a snake pit.

Go get him, Tampa Bay. Go get Barry Bonds.

Maybe getting Bonds isn't the most honorable thing to do. But neither is buying a playoff spot every year.