Barry Bonds arrived at spring training Wednesday, said he might not decide until next winter whether to play in 2007 and made it clear he wanted to remain with the San Francisco Giants if he did extend his career.

“San Francisco is my home. That’s the love of my life right there,” Bonds said. “The fans there, the people there, everything about it is just great for me. Thinking that there could be a possibility, just hypothetically, to go somewhere else and DH or something like that, I really don’t want to think about that at this time right now. I know I can swing a bat. I take a lot of pride to be on that field and stay in this uniform.”

After missing most of last season following three knee operations, the 41-year-old Bonds needs 48 homers to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755. He took part in a nearly complete workout with the Giants in Scottsdale, Ariz., stretching with his teammates, throwing, shagging flies and hitting in the batting cage before taking three rounds of batting practice against Jason Schmidt and Noah Lowry.

“Last year, I saw him favoring his knees,” Giants manager Felipe Alou said. “I didn’t see him favoring the knee today. I didn’t see it when he was batting. When he was swinging the bat, it was OK with me.”

Bonds gave contradicting interviews this week about whether he wanted to play past this year, the final season of his $90 million, five-year contract.

“I’ve played a long time,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. We’ll tackle that bridge when it happens. I’ll sit back and talk with my family and take a long, long vacation and see how I feel. I could do that and get in the wintertime and say, ‘That’s enough,’ and somewhere in January wake up and say, ‘That’s not enough.”‘

In Tampa, Fla., New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner predicted his team’s five-year World Series drought would end this October.

“We’re going to win it this year,” he said. “We’re going after it.”

Steinbrenner walked into the manager’s office while Joe Torre was talking with reporters. When a reporter asked, “Who is the best owner in the majors?” Torre pointed at Steinbrenner.

“Who’s the best manager in the majors?” Steinbrenner then said, before pointing to Torre.

Steinbrenner then sat down on a sofa and listened to the rest of Torre’s daily media session.

“I can’t do much to teach him anything, but I’m just there so he knows he’s got my support,” Steinbrenner later said.

In Kissimmee, Fla., Chipper Jones was missing something when he reported to spring training – nearly 20 pounds.

Jones said his weight dropped from 228 to 210 while he had stomach flu.

“If I turn sideways, I disappear until I stick my tongue out,” he joked.

Jones’ belt, which fit last season, was hanging loosely when he got dressed before the Atlanta Braves’ first full-squad workout.

“I’m looking to put back on seven or eight pounds,” he said.

In Dunedin, Fla., Toronto said center fielder Vernon Wells probably would miss the first round of the World Baseball Classic because of a left leg injury. Wells, who won his second straight Gold Glove last season, is among 30 players on the U.S. roster for the tournament, scheduled for March 3-20.

“He tweaked his quad a couple of days ago lifting,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.