Bonds Ready To Zero In, But First Hits On Media In A Wide-Ranging Interview, Giants Slugger Discusses Ugly Divorce, Loss Of Strawberry

After a tumultuous off-season, San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds set the record straight Friday.

He was upset about reports that speculated he would cross picket lines during the players’ strike and said his highly publicized divorce case wouldn’t affect his play.

“I left home last April and it didn’t affect me, did it?” Bonds said Friday morning before the team’s first full-scale workout at Indian School Park.

Bonds covered a wide range of topics, from his personal life to the loss of drug-troubled slugger Darryl Strawberry, in a 35-minute interview with reporters.

Bonds reported at a trim 206 pounds, which he said was his weight when he won three National League most valuable player awards. He reported at 215 last spring training.

“You don’t worry about guys like Barry,” manager Dusty Baker said after watching Bonds work out for the first time since August.

Bonds didn’t appear weary from the time spent in court with Sun, his ex-wife.

“She wants all my money, that’s all,” he said. “I don’t worry about her. I take care of my kids. I love my babies. I don’t worry about her.

“She doesn’t want to settle (out of court).”

Bonds, 30, wasted little time in reprimanding reporters who speculated he would defy the union’s orders during the players’ strike.

“The assumptions of what I’m doing and the assuming of what I’m saying, that’s worse than anything,” Bonds said.

“My mom said, ‘You’ve been quiet, you’ve been minding your own business, doing your own thing, and they have to find something.’ I said, ‘Mom, if I show up to the ballpark in pink underwear, I bet they don’t write that.”’

As for the merits of the strike, Bonds said: “I don’t know if it wasn’t worth it, but you have to stand up for what you believe is right. We’re no different than any other union in this world. We’re just more publicized. Nobody wins.”

Bonds wasn’t so revealing when asked about the money influenced pitching overhaul in the offseason that resembles cost cuts made during his six-year tenure in Pittsburgh.

“I got to be honest with you, I really haven’t kept up,” Bonds said with a smirk. “Do you know who’s here? I haven’t the faintest idea. All I know is I play left field and don’t do that other stuff. I don’t run the team.”

Bonds expressed some concern about the batting order, especially since the loss of Strawberry in February to a drug suspension.

“I was upset at first,” Bonds said, “but what can you do? Nothing I can do. I can’t be his baby sitter. I hear he might have an opportunity to come back. We all like him. He’s a good dude. He didn’t harm anyone but himself.”

Bonds hit .388 with 14 home runs and 28 RBIs in 27 games with Strawberry hitting two spots behind him. Bonds finished the season hitting .312 with 37 homers and 81 RBIs in 112 games.

The loss of Strawberry leaves the Giants without a proven third power hitter to back up Bonds and Matt Williams.

“I’ve got to find out who’s hitting behind Matty,” Bonds said. “I came here to protect him.

“… I like lurking in the middle (at the fifth spot). Because as long as I’m in the middle, the pitcher can never relax.”

In addition to meeting his prescribed weight, Bonds declared his right elbow healthy after offseason surgery to remove bone spurs, although he still plans to wear a protective elbow brace while batting.

Bonds doesn’t plan to extend himself in the shortened spring training and said he needed only 10 days to get ready for the regular season.

“April 26 is the day you’ll see me hustle,” he said. “You’ll never see me do anything out of the ordinary until that day comes. I don’t plan on exerting myself, trying to commit suicide in three weeks. I just need to hit, keep my mind right, and once I’m focused in, come game time, then it’s game time.”