SPRING TRAINING NEWS

Ahhh...those spring training days of fun. No games yet. Everyone is in first, even the Cubs. People are getting loose physically and are loose mentally after some time off. Even Barry Bonds.

In the Giants version of "American Idol", rookies were "asked" to perform some songs and be judged by the panel. Ray Durham was Randy Jackson. Jeff Fassero (wow he's still around?) was Simon. And playing the part of Paula Abdul? Barry Bonds. For real. Bonds got all dolled up and played the part to many laughs from his teammates.

From Harry Schulman's story in the SF Chronicle: "You had to see it to believe it, and even then ... well ... wow. Bonds did not just portray Paula Abdul on the first day of "Giants Idol." He was Paula Abdul. After pitcher prospect Brian Wilson, dressed as Billy Idol, had belted out "White Wedding," Bonds raised his voice two octaves and cooed, "Call me."

"I'm not going to lie to you," reliever Jack Taschner said. "He was mildly attractive. For a minute there I didn't know if I should jump out of my seat and go for a make-out session or run for the hills."

Of course, cameras for Bonds' new reality show were rolling, so that might have had something to do with his jovial turn. Then again, if he doesn't want to play nice he won't. He's certainly established that.

In other baseball news, the Giants re-signed Randy Winn to a 3-yr. contract extension worth $23.25 million that will take him through 2009. I was shocked to see that he will only be 32 this year. I thought he was upper 30's--seems like he has been around forever. I was also shocked to see he belted 20 homers last year, finishing the year with 306/360/499. He's also a solid center fielder. Still, something tells me that he would have signed for less and by 2009 it will be a bad signing.