BARRY BONDS will be ready to play in 10 days, Mets & Diamondbacks possibly interested!

If a team signs Barry Bonds now, his agent said he could be in its lineup by the end of the month.

"Give him 10 days to hit off live pitching, and he'll be ready," agent Jeff Borris told USA Today.

Borris told the newspaper that Bonds continues to work out. He would be available to play this season because his trial date for perjury and obstruction of justice isn't until March 9, 2009.

However, Borris told USA Today that he's not currently talking to any clubs about Bonds, who turns 44 this month.

"I am not talking to any club about Barry Bonds," Borris said, "because they all made it very clear to me they are not interested in him. Every club.

"I can't believe he doesn't have a job. No one has offered even the minimum salary. He made the All-Star team last year, and there's no reason to believe he wouldn't have a repeat performance in 2008, except for the conspiracy against him."

Richie Sexson CUT by Seattle Mariners for being in LONG SLUMP

The sunken Seattle Mariners finally released slugger Richie Sexson after a slump that lasted for most of two seasons and made him a target of constant booing from frustrated fans.

The team also on Thursday placed Opening Day starter Erik Bedard on the 15-day disabled list.

Since signing his four-year, $50 million contract with Seattle in December 2004, Richie Sexson has 497 strikeouts in 2,102 plate appearances.

Most strikeouts, AL hitters, since '05*

Player	Strikeouts	Plate app.
Grady Sizemore	507	2,609
Richie Sexson	497	2,102
Jhonny Peralta	496	2,199
Brandon Inge	463	2,043
Nick Swisher	463	2,215
*Entering Thursday's games.

The Mariners would have loved to have been able to trade the .218-hitting Sexson, but his $14 million salary this season made that nearly impossible. So now Seattle is eating the rest of that money in what may be the first of multiple moves to rid the last-place team of underperforming veteran players.

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