Giants’ Owner Torn About Bonds Deal

Peter Magowan defended the Giants’ decision to give up the right to void the final year of Barry Bonds’ contract, though the San Francisco owner has mixed feelings about the move now.

Bonds, 41, hasn’t played after having three operations on his right knee since Jan. 31, and it’s unclear whether he will return at all this year.

“If we’d known he wasn’t going to play a game this year, would we have done it? Obviously not,” Magowan said Tuesday in San Francisco.

Had the Giants not guaranteed the fifth year of Bonds’ $90-million contract last September, they could have voided the 2006 season if he didn’t reach 400 plate appearances this season.

But Bonds was dominant and the team guaranteed him $18 million for 2006. If Bonds isn’t able to play every day in 2006, Magowan said he would consider increasing payroll from the team’s $85 million this year.

“We want to compete and get to the World Series again,” he said. “We’ll do what we have to do to give ourselves the best chance to do that.”

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Pittsburgh Pirate second baseman Jose Castillo will sit out the rest of the season because of a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee but won’t require surgery that might have limited him early next season.

Castillo, 24, was hurt Monday night when St. Louis infielder Hector Luna’s hard slide took him out as he was turning a double play in the third inning. The Pirates did not accuse Luna of being overly aggressive.

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Major League Baseball hopes to select a new owner for the Washington Nationals by Labor Day and transfer control of the team by Oct. 1, said Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer.

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Six years after Latin American players were shut out from the All-Century Team, baseball began a promotion to select a “Latino Legends Team.” Baseball will conduct fan balloting from Aug. 29 through Oct. 10 and announce the winners before Game 4 of the World Series.

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Left-hander Mike Hampton was put on the 15-day disabled list by the Atlanta Braves because of a back injury. It is the fourth trip to the DL this season for Hampton, the second because of back problems.... The Boston Red Sox activated outfielder Trot Nixon, who had been on the DL since July 27 because of a left abdominal strain.