Bonds is making good progress and returning this season is possible. There is no reason why he won't be on the team in 2006.

We're in a very strong position [in the Championship]. And there's no reason why we can't progress. It's a good division, very competitive, and anyone from the top six can win it. This is a big club and deserves success.

If we're making progress, there's no reason to have a hard deadline. If we're not, Melvin feels very strongly that he doesn't want this to linger past Opening Day.

Absolutely not. If you look at Brian's record as a GM, it's filled with superlative performances. He had an excellent scouting career, and his 9-year-body of work here is a record of consistent achievement. That's the way we view him.

He'll be our GM well into the foreseeable future, as long as he wants to continue for us. We're signed on with him, and we certainly hope and believe he is signed on with us.

It's basically a relief for the Bay Area Committee to know that whatever non-relevant factors that contributed to the selection of a bid city will no longer be part of the bid. I truly think that the process will be dramatically cleaned up and it'll benefit all bid cities.