Barry Bonds returns to baseball, with the Marlins – SFGate

Barry Bonds will return to the ball field in 2016 as the Miami Marlins’ batting coach, putting to rest talk he’ll be hired by the Giants.

“This is the only opportunity that was presented to me. I’m excited to be here with the Marlins,” Bonds said on a conference call after Friday’s announcement. “I just want to let everyone in San Francisco know that I love them a lot. This is my home. This is where I’m from.

“But this is the opportunity that came up for me.”

Bonds, who spent a week with Giants hitters in their 2014 training camp, had discussed expanded employment possibilities with his old team the past several years, but nothing materialized.

Bonds said Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria contacted him in the past month or two, and the home run king agreed to the gig once new manager Don Mattingly gave his blessing. Bonds will be the team’s lead hitting instructor, and Frank Menechino will be his assistant.

“Barry is a Giant in our minds, and he’ll always be a Giant,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said. “That’s how we view it. We plan to keep in close contact with him. We feel a real kinship with him. We wish him well with the Marlins. Hopefully, it will go well.”

Baer wouldn’t categorize his talks with Bonds, who didn’t ask to be the Giants’ hitting coach. Hensley Meulens has been hitting coach throughout the championship era, and when Joe Lefebvre stepped down as the assistant in April, the Giants promoted Steve Decker. There was no talk of Bonds joining the staff.

The Giants spoke with Bonds about an advisory role or acting as an ambassador who’d engage in functions with the community, sponsors and ticket holders, similar to roles held by Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Will Clark and others. Bonds also could have been a special instructor in spring training and the minors.

During discussions with the Giants, it’s believed Bonds sought a more visible presence and more acknowledgment at AT&T Park. Talks initially were slowed by Bonds’ felony conviction in the BALCO steroids case for obstructing justice, which was overturned in the spring.

“I’m not upset,” Bonds said of not returning to the Giants.

Bonds, who hit 586 of his 762 homers with the Giants, seemed at home working independently with Alex Rodriguez, Dexter Fowler and other big-leaguers, and figured it was time to expand. For now, his hobby, biking, is on hold.

“I can only ride my bike so much. I love that sport,” he said. “But baseball’s who I am. This is what I was raised to do. This is what God put me on Earth to do. This is what God blessed me to do.”

Asked about the commitment required of a big-league coach, Bonds said he plans to be “in the trenches” with his hitters and that taking the job is a tribute to his father, who was a hitting coach, including with the Giants.

“It’s easy to walk in for a day and say, ‘OK, hi, I’m Barry Bonds, and I’ve done this” and get their attention for a minute,” Bonds said. “But what can you fix in a day? What can you fix in two days? But me being there day in and day out, I think I bring a lot to the table for them.

“That’s the only way I’m going to find out. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if I’m going to be good at this or not. I’m not making promises. One thing is, I will be dedicated to it. I will be there for them, and I will be the best I can for them, but I need to be in the trenches with them to make it happen.”

Chronicle staff writer Henry Schulman contributed to this report.