SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds was diagnosed with inflammation in his left elbow, a best-case scenario, said Giants head trainer Stan Conte on Sunday.

The finding was reached after Bonds underwent an MRI late Saturday and was examined by Dr. Ken Akizuki, the Giants' orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels' orthopedic specialist, who oversaw Bonds' recovery from last year's three surgeries on his right knee.

"It feels much better today," Bonds told MLB.com on Sunday. "Maybe there's a few bone chips in it. That's my guess, but I don't know. I can play through that. No problem. I only need one arm to swing the bat anyway."

The lefty-swinging left fielder, who is about to embark on an historic run at the all-time home run record, said he probably wouldn't play again in a Cactus League game this spring, but would most likely be back in the lineup on Thursday night in San Francisco when the Giants play the Angels at AT&T Park.

Bonds was scratched from Saturday's lineup against the Chicago White Sox when he was scheduled to DH and bat cleanup at Scottsdale Stadium against the defending World Series champions. The Giants ultimately won, 19-7.

Bonds felt a jolt in the elbow while taking a swing during batting practice. He was given treatment and told to go home. Bonds was immediately placed on anti-inflammatory medicine, Conte said.

"It just happened yesterday out of the blue," Bonds said. "I swung and it was like -- pow! It just blew up. But it's not swollen today."

Bonds was in left field on Friday and played seven innings during a 6-4 Giants victory over the Colorado Rockies. He went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk. On Sunday, he remained in street clothes and arrived early at the clubhouse. By mid-morning, he was taken for another consultation with Akizuki and Yocum. Conte said the examination was uneventful.

"[The doctors] were very happy with what they saw," Conte said later in the day through a team spokesman.

The Giants lost, 6-5, to the San Diego Padres in Peoria on Sunday, but Bonds hadn't been scheduled beforehand to make the trip.

Conte said Bonds should be available for all baseball activities on Monday, when San Francisco plays its final home game of the spring against the Kansas City Royals.

"We're still going to be very cautious," Conte said. "But everything looks very good. If it continues like this, it will just be a small glitch on the screen."

About Bonds playing, Conte added: "We're going to be ultra-conservative. We have 162 games to go. I think if he does what we expect him to do this year, nobody is going to look back and say, 'He missed a Spring Training game.'"

Bonds said he probably would return to the Bay Area on Tuesday and work out at AT&T Park on Wednesday. The Giants play the Rockies on Tuesday in Tucson and break camp after their game against Oakland on Wednesday in Phoenix.

They play the Angels on Thursday night and then three games against the A's before opening the season a week from Monday in San Diego. The Friday night and Sunday afternoon games are in San Francisco, while the Saturday afternoon game is in Oakland.

Even before the elbow problem, Bonds was scheduled to only play on Thursday night and Saturday.

"They don't want me to do anything right now," Bonds said about his upcoming schedule. "They told me, 'You've got enough problems with your legs. Just go upstairs [to the training room] and do your work.' That's fine with me. The only thing is I have to keep myself in shape and keep myself in that sort of baseball mode. Once you're in the groove, you don't want to lose it. And right now I've really been consistent, playing right.

"I've been working with [center fielder] Steve Finley and we've been communicating so well in the outfield. You don't want to lose that when things are going good. Hopefully, those things won't get messed up."

Bonds has spent the spring rebuilding strength in the right knee.

Thus far, Bonds has played in seven spring games and is batting .625 with 10 hits, four homers, seven runs scored and nine RBIs in just 16 at-bats.

At 41, he goes into the season with 708 homers, six behind Babe Ruth's 714 and 47 behind Hank Aaron's 755.

Bonds has had problems with his elbow before. Early in the 1999 season, Bonds had surgery to remove a bone spur and repair a damaged triceps tendon. He missed 60 games that season, far and away the most of his 20-year career until he sat out 148 games in 2005 because of the multiple knee surgeries, including the first 142 of the season.

Conte, though, said there was probably no correlation between the current elbow discomfort and the 1999 surgery.

"This morning he is much, much, much improved," Conte said. "In fact, he could probably play today if this was the regular season. This is the best case we could hope for, especially when he came in today felling so good."