Last season, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king, batted .276 with 28 home runs and 75 runs scored. Bonds also reached base 48 percent of the time—the best in all of baseball.

This season, however, Bonds is unemployed. The San Francisco Giants, his former team, prefer to play journeymen outfielders Dave Roberts and Rajai Davis. The Washington Nationals, meanwhile, seem to prefer outfielder Elijah Dukes, who has nearly as many lifetime arrests (6) as Major League home runs (10). Stranger still, the New York Mets claim to be content beginning the season with Ryan Church, Angel Pagan and Endy Chavez playing their corner outfield positions. Last season, the Church/Pagan/Chavez combo had 438 more at bats than Bonds, yet combined for eight fewer home runs, not to mention a lower combined batting average.

Bonds recently told the media that he is “working out” and “training,” in hopes of playing for some team this season. With recent notification that prosecutors must revise their perjury indictment against him, Bonds for the moment is free from any legal conflicts. In addition, Bonds is relatively healthy, not to mention just 65 hits shy of the 3,000 milestone.

So what's going on here? Read more, after the jump.

Not by the home run king, but by the prosecutors pursuing him. From ESPN:

Federal prosecutors mistakenly filed court papers Thursday that incorrectly stated that Barry Bonds failed a steroids test in November of 2001 -- one month after breaking the single-season home run mark.

U.S. attorney spokesman Josh Eaton now says that the reference in Thursday's government court filing regarding Bonds testing positive was actually referring to a November 2000 test that was previously disclosed in the indictment of Bonds and had already been reported.

Our source observes, "considering how widely reported this was -- all over the national media, including CNN-style blanket coverage from ESPNews -- during a week when the spotlight is on steroids in baseball already (the Clemens congressional hearings), it had to have been awfully embarrassing for the department."

Based on this post and this one, today is shaping up as Filing F**k-Up Day at ATL.

U.S. filing typo spurs erroneous Bonds drug report [ESPN]

We feel like a real news organization, with West Coast correspondents. From a tipster in the Northern District of California:

I'm writing this as I listen over the court's internal recording system. Barry Bonds just pled not guilty. His attorney entered the plea for him. Posted a $500,000 bond. The government wants him to surrender his passport. Bonds's attorney objects because Bonds needs to travel to Canada to play baseball. Government responds that it's not unreasonable to make Bonds request permission to leave the country each time he needs to go to Toronto. Magistrate Judge James rejects the government's request. She says that because he's not under pre-trial supervision, he doesn't need to surrender his passport. Magistrate Judge James reads to Bonds the terms of his release, and he says he understands them. The court is now in recess.

Update: Back from recess, and back to our tipster:

Now Judge Illston is in the courtroom to take over the Bonds proceedings. She sets the next hearing date for Feb. 7. Bonds does not have to appear at that hearing. Discovery will proceed in the meantime.

There's some sort of "conflict" issue, but counsel isn't speaking into the microphone, so I can't tell what it is. The "conflict" issue might delay some of the discovery. And it may require Bonds to appear on Feb 7.

Defense counsel also says he anticipates moving to "dismiss the indictment for facial defects" at some future time.

Recess again. Sounds like it's all over.

Further Update: "Apparently some of Bonds's attorneys represented witnesses in the grand jury investigation, so there may be some conflict. But they'll probably work that out and waive it or something."

Finally, in case you're curious, an email that was sent out to court personnel about courtroom seating for the Bonds case appears after the jump.