A new indictment came out Tuesday, with all time home run king Barry Bonds indicted on 15 counts regarding his alleged lying to a federal grand jury regarding the use of performance enhancing substances, and that he hampered the government's investigation into the matter.

Bonds had been charged in November with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, but had that tossed in February, when a US District Judge agreed with a defense motion regarding that the indictment was "potentially vague and ambiguous", mainly due to the fact that the indictment covered several lies in one count of the charge.  This was seen as potentially troubling and confusing to the jury, leading to this updated indictment. 

Therefore, Tuesday, a grand jury handed in a superseding indictment, entailing of 14 counts of making false declarations to a jury in 2003 and one count of obstruction of justice.  There was no new information in the indictment and there would be no additional jail time served should Bonds be convicted.

Of course, the premise of the case is whether Bonds lied regarding receiving performance enhancing substances from his trainer Greg Anderson, or not.  He claims that he never received steroids or other substances from Anderson, who in 2005, reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering. 

Anderson then spent nearly fifteen months in prison after refusing to testify before the grand jury in the Bonds case, before being released in November 2007 just hours after the initial indictment of Bonds. 

Bonds was let go by the Giants as a free agent at the end of the 2007 season after fifteen years in a Giants uniform, after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent following three straight 100 RBI seasons, but losses in the NLCS all three years with his subpar postseason performances led to his bolting.  Of course, the Giants flopped miserably as well in the postseason with Bonds, making four playoff appearances, though three ended in the first round. 

Bonds' best postseason performance surprisingly was in the 2002 World Series, when he went 8 for 17 (.471) with four homers, six RBI and thirteen walks. Unfortunately for Bonds, the Giants did not win the World Series as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim prevailed in seven games. 

No team has gone out of their way to sign Bonds so far this season, prompting the union to contemplate whether they should file a collusion grievance against teams for not pursuing him as a free agent. 

One has to wonder if Bonds really has any value to a team anymore.  He is 43, and turns 44 in July.  He has limited upside, and his fan draw is crippled by the fact that he already has broken the home run record.  He is a defensive liability, has no speed left, and is little more than a glorified DH.  That automatically cuts his options in half.  Furthermore, he would demand a big contract, and there are limited teams that would be willing to put out that kind of money for a left handed platoon player. 

Bonds is due in court June 6th, though it is unclear if he will enter a plea at that time, or even if one will be required.  Perhaps an end to this sordid tale is in view, as the sport of baseball has been dragged through the mud far too long regarding this story.  Couple it with the recent developments in the Roger Clemens situation, and suddenly the most dominant pitcher and the most prolific hitter of recent memory are tainting the common individual's perspective of the game that once was treasured and revered.