Barry Bonds to serve as Giants special adviser

Barry Bonds is returning to the team with which he had his greatest success as a slugger, joining the San Francisco Giants as a special adviser, the team announced Monday.

Bonds will assist Giants CEO Larry Baer and join the team at spring training beginning Wednesday.

"We are delighted to welcome Barry back home to the Giants," Baer said in a statement. "As one of the greatest players of all time, Barry's contributions to our organization are legendary. He joins Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and other distinguished alumni who help advise the club and we look forward to working with him again."

Bonds set Major League Baseball records for home runs in a season (73 in 2001) and career homers (762) as part of his 15-year tenure in San Francisco.

But Bonds' candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame has been detoured by suspicion of performance-enhancing drug use. Bonds finished with 53.8 percent of the vote in January, which was up from 44.3 percent last year. Players need 75 percent of the vote from theBaseball Writers' Association of America to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

"I am excited to be back home with the Giants and join the team in an official capacity," Bonds said in a statement. "San Francisco has always been my home and the Giants will always be my family. I look forward to spending time with the team, young players in the system as well as the Bay Area community."

Bonds was a seven-time National League MVP in his 22-year career, earning the honor twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates and five times as a member of the Giants.

He had spent the 2016 season as a hitting coach for the Marlins before being fired as Miami couldn't turn the majors' fourth-best batting average (.263) into enough runs, ranking 27th in that category.