Bonds on return: Maybe next season, maybe by midseason

He returned to the Bay Area on March 16 and had surgery last Thursday to repair cartilage. Conte said last Thursday the second operation put Bonds back at "square one."

Conte said Bonds went through a "normal rehab six days out of surgery" Tuesday, and that his knee looked as expected.

"I expect he'll progress as knee patients go," the trainer said, offering no prediction of when the seven-time NL MVP might be able to play again.

After Bonds' first operation this winter, Conte had said Bonds was expected to be sidelined for six weeks. All the trainer would say after the second surgery was that Bonds was unlikely to be ready for the season opener.

Teammate Moises Alou, who has come back from five surgeries, said Bonds probably was just having a bad day.

"Maybe today he was not very optimistic. I think it was one of those rehab days where you just caught him on one of the bad days," Alou said. "It's not fun when you come to the ballpark, then have to go to the training room to get taped and get treatment.

"It's not as fun as when you are young and wild and doing things, especially when you are the man."

Giants pitcher Jason Christiansen, who had to come back from reconstructive elbow surgery, also understands how facing rehab can be a bit depressing.

"There have been five or six times I've come in and said, 'I don't need this heartache any more.' It's a series of peaks and valleys," Christiansen said. "A week from now, Barry could turn around and say he'll be ready by April 5."

Christiansen realizes there's considerably more focus on Bonds.

"I couldn't imagine what he goes through on a daily basis, reading some of the stuff and hearing what people say about him. It's pretty much a circus," Christiansen said.

Last September, the Giants dropped a provision that would have allowed them to void Bonds' $18 million salary in 2006 if he failed to reach 500 plate appearances this year or 1,500 combined from 2003 to 2005, including at least 400 this year.