Bonds Doesn’t Show; Giants Not Concerned

One day after contradicting reports that Barry Bonds was either ready to retire after the season or set to play 10 more years, the San Francisco Giants’ slugger did not show up Monday on the voluntary reporting date for position players at Scottsdale, Ariz.

That was no cause for concern, General Manager Brian Sabean said, because Bonds told the team last week through his agent that he would come a day or two later -- still well before the Feb. 28 mandatory reporting date -- because he needed to get some “personal stuff straightened out.”

After three knee operations that limited Bonds to 14 games last year, the Giants are eager to learn what they can expect from the 41-year-old outfielder this season.

“Given the fact that Barry didn’t play practically the entire season last year, we’d like to see him here early,” Manager Felipe Alou said. “But we can’t bring a guy here by force before the first of March.”

Alou said he expected Bonds in camp today and has him listed in the first group of hitters for batting practice.

He said all the reports he had heard on Bonds’ knee have been positive but admitted that it concerned him to hear his star talk about how baseball is no longer fun for him.

“Usually when a guy feels like that, it’s time to think about retirement,” Alou said, adding that he believed Bonds’ outlook would change once he joined the team.

Sabean said the Giants would have no official comment on retirement talk until they speak to Bonds directly and said he had no plans to sit down with his star outfielder. He said it appeared the comments reflected the normal ups and downs of rehab and said he had received positive reports on Bonds’ knee from Dr. Lewis Yocum.

Alou said he would let Bonds decide what the best course of action is this spring to get ready for the season.

“He is his own boss when it comes to that,” Alou said.

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Alex Rodriguez is unhappy with organizers of the World Baseball Classic for the way they handled his decision to play for the United States instead of the Dominican Republic.

The New York Yankee third baseman took issue with reports that he vacillated between playing for the Americans and the Dominicans.

“Just to make it clear, I only spoke once and then I spoke again three months later,” Rodriguez said. “All the garbage in between was Major League Baseball. I didn’t go back and forth. I said once, ‘I wasn’t playing,’ and then at the end I said, ‘So OK, I am playing.’ ”

Rodriguez downplayed comments made by Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, who criticized his WBC decision.

“I already heard what he had to say, he apologized,” Rodriguez said. “The apology has been accepted. We’ve moved on from there. Ozzie and I have always been friendly.”

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The 100 players in salary arbitration will average $2.66 million this year, and Florida’s Dontrelle Willis will get the highest percentage increase, an 11-fold raise to $4.35 million.

The average raise for the players in arbitration was 109%, according to a study by the Associated Press, down from 123% last year and the lowest percentage rise since a 92% hike in 2003.

Just six players went to hearings, double last year’s total. Owners defeated players, 4-2, management’s 10th straight winning season, and lead players 269-200 overall since arbitration began in 1974.