Barry Bonds' probably lost his last chance to sign with a team this season when the Rays did not return a text message sent by the home run king's agent, FOXSports reported Sunday.

Jeff Borris said Rays general manager Andrew Friedman did not respond to a text message he sent this week to see if the team might be interested in Bonds.

"With (Carl) Crawford and (Evan) Longoria going down simultaneously, I thought I'd make one last vain attempt to reach out to Tampa Bay, and to no avail," Borris told FOXSports.

"That's because Major League Baseball has been successful in their pursuit in blackballing Barry out of the game."

The Rays say they talked about Bonds during spring training, but there was never strong interest, FOXSports said.

"I'm not sure what Jeff Borris is trying to accomplish by saying he sent me a text message," Friedman said. "But our longstanding practice is not to comment on anything speculative."

Bonds' criminal attorneys also have asked the baseball players union not file a grievance, according to FOXSports. Bonds, 44, will go on trial for allegedly lying to a grand jury about knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. He has has pleaded not guilty to 15 felony counts for perjury and obstruction of justice. The trial is scheduled to begin March 2, 2009.

Bonds hit .276 last year with 28 home runs, 66 RBIs and a major league-high 132 walks. He was the prime focus of the All-Star game last July when it was held at the Giants' waterfront ballpark, and he broke Hank Aaron's home run record of 755 the next month.

He also led the majors last season with a .480 on-base percentage and finished with 762 career home runs.

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