Bonds Will Undergo Minor Elbow Surgery

Barry Bonds will have minor surgery on his left elbow today, and the San Francisco Giant slugger is expected to sit out only a few days of spring training workouts.

The five-time National League most valuable player complained of tenderness to Giant trainer Stan Conte after arriving at camp Tuesday.

Conte said the pain stems from surgery in 1999, when doctors repaired a tear in Bonds’ left triceps and removed a bone spur from the back of his elbow.

Conte compared Bonds’ procedure to removing a thorn from the bottom of his foot.

“I don’t think it’ll cause him any big delays,” Conte said. “This is not a big deal.

“Our concern was that it might get worse as the season went on, then we’d have a problem.”

The 38-year-old Bonds was an early arrival to camp. Position players for the defending NL champions officially report today.

Bonds spoke with reporters for 38 minutes Tuesday morning, never bringing up his elbow problem.

Conte said Bonds approached him after the news conference.

The elbow did not slow Bonds during off-season workouts, Conte said.

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Joe Torre walked onto the field to watch new outfielder Hideki Matsui work out for the first time, and the New York Yankee manager was taken aback.

Legends Field at Tampa, Fla,. was packed with so many reporters that New York’s first full workout of the spring looked like a postseason game.

About 1,500 people were in the seats to watch batting practice.

Japanese television stations went live to the ballpark before the morning workout, which started at 12:30 a.m. in Japan.

NHK, which will broadcast the Feb. 27 exhibition opener live at 3:15 a.m. in Japan, manned a high-definition camera above the center-field fence.

“He’s Michael Jordan over there,” said Yankee first baseman Jason Giambi, who went on a postseason tour of Japan and helped persuade Matsui to sign with the Yankees. “He’s their national treasure.”

For the record, Matsui hit two homers in his last 12 swings.

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Former Angel outfielder Alex Ochoa agreed to a one-year contract with the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese league.

He replaces Kevin Millar, who backed out of a deal with the team to join the Boston Red Sox.

Ochoa reportedly will arrive in Japan as early as this week to officially complete the deal.

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The Toronto Blue Jays reached an agreement with outfielder Shannon Stewart on a one-year contract worth $6.2 million, avoiding arbitration.

Stewart, 28, had asked for $7.5 million and the Blue Jays had offered $5.5 million.

Stewart batted .303 with 10 home runs and 45 runs batted in last season.

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John-Henry Williams, son of Hall of Famer Ted Williams, signed a minor league contract with the Schaumburg Flyers in Illinois.

Williams, 33, played two Class-A games last summer before a broken rib ended his season.