AS SPRING BEGINS, QUESTIONS ABOUND.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Ten questions that must be answered during the spring baseball season opening this week in Arizona and Florida - not including questions pertaining to the BALCO steroids case, off-limits because of restrictions inherent in any ongoing legal matter:

1. How is the BALCO steroids case likely to affect Barry Bonds this year?

You can't ask that.

1. Oops, forgot. I'll rephrase. Did Barry Bonds intend to sound as flat- out guilty as he did at the press conference the other day in Scottsdale, or did it just come naturally, like his 34-inch neck?

He urges everybody to forget the past and ``go forward.'' He argues alcohol and tobacco are bigger problems than steroids. He questions whether steroid use is really cheating. He wonders if it helps a baseball player that much anyway. He rips the media that have reported his links to steroids. He suggests he's the target of bad press because he's black. He says he's worried about the after effects of knee surgery on his performance.

Doesn't all of this sound like a guy who has used steroids and wants to switch the blame to the messengers, minimize the stigma of performance- aiding drugs, and set up an excuse in case his home-run totals shrivel this season?

Who's his speechwriter, anyway?

2. Do all of these teams know what they're doing when they depend so heavily on players in the 40-year-old range?

Steve Finley, 40 (Angels), Jeff Kent, 37 (Dodgers), Randy Johnson, 41 (Yankees), David Wells, 41 (Boston), Moises Alou, 38 (San Francisco), Troy Percival, 35 (Detroit), Roberto Alomar, 37 (Tampa Bay), Al Leiter, 39 (Philadelphia), Vinny Castilla, 37 (Washington) - all were signed this winter by teams either that have figured out the players are not about to break down, that have so big a budget they can afford to make mistakes, or that are desperate.

3. Should we feel better that the Dodgers' hopes revolve around Hee Seop Choi, who is 26 and thus theoretically coming into his prime?

The Dodgers' projected batting order doesn't look so bad from the top down: 1. Cesar Izturis, 2. Jayson Werth, 3. Milton Bradley, 4. Jeff Kent, 5. J.D. Drew. ... But it is worrisome from the bottom up: 9. Pitcher, 8. David Ross, 7. Jose Valentin, 6. Hee Seop Choi, 5. J.D. Drew. ... They need Choi to hit a lot better than his .234 career average so opponents will have to pitch to Drew and so Valentin will have runners to drive in with his homers. Otherwise, it's half a lineup.

4. Embroiled as he is in the BALCO steroids case, has Barry Bonds -

Uh-uh.

4. Oops, forgot again. I'll switch topics. Will Los Angeles embrace the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?

Personally, I plan to be loyal to the Angels, whether L.A.'s Vladimir Guerrero is powering them to victory or Anaheim's unreliable rotation is blowing game after game, whether L.A third baseman Dallas McPherson tears up the league or Anaheim's committee of designated hitters drags the club down, whether L.A. wins the pennant or Anaheim finishes in the cellar.

Others may take a wait-and-see attitude.

5. Can the Boston Red Sox avoid preseason bad luck and break the wild-card jinx?

Five wild-card playoff teams have caught lightning in October and won a pennant or World Series. Those teams' average division finish the following season has been third, and none won so much as a postseason series. By contrast, of the 13 division champions that won a pennant or World Series since 1995, 11 finished the following season in first place, and seven won the World Series.

Remember, if you were a wild-card team, somebody was better than you for 162 games.

6. Will Adrian Beltre be set for a fast start for the Seattle Mariners like the one that made him the Dodgers' offensive leader last season, or will he encourage fears that he's a one-year wonder?

7. Can Alex Rodriguez live down his baseline glove-slap?

The embarrassing incident has uncorked some serious criticism. And a seeming immunity to controversy was one reason he was deemed to be worth $250 million.

8. Has this BALCO steroids case -

Stop.

8. Which are a bigger threat, the San Francisco Giants (whose average everyday player is 35) to the Dodgers, or the Oakland Athletics (whose pitching rotation averages 24) to the Angels?

Spring-training clues will be if the Giants eat their prunes and the A's drink their milk.

9. Will the Expos-turned-Nationals, comfortable in the knowledge they'll be in Washington for a while, resolve to move aggressively in pursuit of an agenda of change?

And will they claim to have a mandate?

10. Can the Dodgers catch the ball?

More than anything, that's what to watch for when the Dodgers' game against the Atlanta Braves next Friday is televised on ESPN. But no snap condemnations, please. Barry says everybody has to go forward.