Can Bonds and Giants get along?

Barry Bonds got the big payday he believes he deserves -- even at age 42, with two cranky knees and a surgically repaired elbow. The San Francisco Giants got their way on several issues in the slugger’s free-agent contract.

That is, if Bonds signs the deal at last. The constant drama that seems to surround this club and its superstar lasted all winter long.

Everything seemed in place Monday night, when the team announced it had completed Bonds’ one-year contract worth $15.8 million. Then the sides spent the week squabbling over language and interpretation of specific provisions. The Giants drafted a new version and Bonds still refused to make it official.

The big question now is whether they can put their differences aside and accomplish what both really want this season: Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record in a Giants uniform and the team returning to the playoffs after a three-year absence.

“I think they’re going to have a whole lot more to be excited about than just Barry chasing records,” said former Giants catcher Mike Matheny. “Barry may be the best baseball player I’ve ever seen, without a doubt.... He can change a game. He can change a team and he can change an entire city.”

For good and bad.

There will be further speculation about whether Bonds’ pursuit of the record was fueled by steroids, fallout from Bonds’ reported failed amphetamines test last season and a possible indictment on perjury charges.

Bonds said he will go through this all over again a year from now whether or not he breaks Hammerin’ Hank’s mark, saying, “I think I’ll be around until I’m 100, or at least try to.”

His trainers are optimistic the record will fall, even if they no longer can have a dugout view of the slugger’s milestones.

As part of the new contract, Harvey Shields and Greg Oliver are no longer on the Giants’ payroll and won’t be allowed in the clubhouse, where they had their own lockers and used to hang out with Bonds before games.

Bonds says that’s no big deal.

“Most of the time the workouts were done away from the ballpark anyway,” Oliver said in a phone interview. “It doesn’t bother me, either.”

Bonds has hinted he might pay for both men -- Oliver prefers to be identified as a performance specialist rather than a trainer -- to join him on road trips.

Bonds was able to work out more this off-season than the previous year and the Giants hope that will lead to more playing time than in 2006, increasing the chance he will hit the 22 home runs he needs to pass Aaron.

After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs and drew 115 walks in 130 games last year.

“Barry’s going to be in the best shape he’s been in a while, so I’m excited,” Oliver said. “The doctors wanted him to lose some weight. He’s strong and he’s very lean right now. I expect big things. His legs are strong and he has leaned out well.”

In Bonds’ contract, there also is language dealing with his behavior and assurances for the team if he is indicted. A federal grand jury is investigating whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case that he hadn’t knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds long has denied knowingly using steroids.

Still, the Giants and Bonds couldn’t even agree on the wording in the deal after it apparently already was done. Bonds agreed to a contract containing a provision giving the team the right to void the deal if he is indicted, but the slugger’s agent, Jeff Borris, says the provision is unenforceable under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.

Owner Peter Magowan and Bonds met Monday, the same day Bonds took his physical, to clear the air and start fresh. A day after the season ended, Magowan had said Bonds would no longer be the centerpiece of the franchise even if Bonds came back.